I wrote yesterday about how important of a brand Exquisite is to sports cards. There is likely not a brand name out there that carries the same amount of weight – even after the loss of all major league sports licenses.

The set is now live, and some of the cards have definitely been quite impressive:

2013 Exquisite Peyton Manning / Andrew Luck Dual Auto

2013 Exquisite Sammy Watkins XRC Auto Base

2013 Exquisite John Elway Shadowbox Auto /25

2013 Exquisite Drew Brees Legendary Signatures Auto

2013 Exquisite Eddie Lacy Rookie Auto Patch /125

Being jam packed with big hits is not the issue at hand here, its what happens when you dont pull a big card to make up the enormous box price that Exquisite has carried since day one. Base Lacy auto patches are already being listed at about half the cost of a box, which means you can pull the best rookie in the product and still have more than half of your box to make up with fees in play.

That is a scary thought.

More importantly, this might not be a product that is worth breaking in single boxes, which has been the case in many high end releases for years. A scenario that calls attention to lack of resale in one box is common among big price tag wax, even more so in a year like this. Im not trying to be a Exquisite apologist, its just the nature of high end in general.

All that being said about the quality of the product itself, this release date undermines so much of the quality of the cards, that nothing else really matters. Its just impossible to justify waiting this long to release college licensed cards that can be produced the second an NFL rookie signs with an agent.

I love Exquisite, dont get me wrong, but this year may not be the best release. It definitely is the best looking run in years, but there are just too many things wrong.