Saturday, February 06, 2010

One of Kobe Bryant's Last Upper Deck Cards Isn't an Easy Find

If it weren't for 2009-10 Upper Deck Exquisite, this would have been Upper Deck's final fully licensed NBA card:


From the front, it's got the same design as 2008-09 Upper Deck Basketball, which is odd considering there's also a 2009-10 Upper Deck Basketball set. So how can this be one of Upper Deck's last NBA cards? The back tells the story of the card's origins:


This is a promo card released in the DVD of the Spike Lee documentary Kobe Doin' Work. While the title is horrible, the movie's not bad. It follows Bryant through an entire game in April, 2008 and articulates his greatness as a player. If you care, here's my review for it. The DVD was released in late November, while Exquisite hit shelves only a short time after.

Be careful, though. If you go to track down the card and buy the DVD, mine was very damaged. It was inserted loosely in the case and flopped around in transit leaving the card pretty beat up. And I'm not sure if every DVD has the card as well, so I can't make any promises.

No comments: