I have spoken a lot recently about the added content for 2011 Topps Football, including the plethora of new parts to the product that havent been there before. Whether its extremely rare base rookie auto variations, 1/1 signed rookie letters, or the numerous relics associated with the Super Bowl Legends subset campaign, its been a great run. So much so that Rookies and Stars has barely made a raindrop splash in the ocean of people buying.

One part that I havent spoken much about, the 1/1 Sketch Cards from famed sports artists like Brian Kong, are back for another year, and look better than they ever have. Sports art has always been a cool thing to me, especially consdered how dynamic many of the artists are with their subject choices. I was actually surprised at how many people make a good living in sports art, something that especially evident at the Tristar Houston show. I was so impressed, that I bought and had signed one of the Peterson prints I found there.

In 2011 Topps, so far a few sketches have surfaced, but they look to be one of the rarest hits in the product. The quality of these cards is relatively amazing, especially when you consider how small the space is that they have to work with.

Check out some of the examples so far:

Larry Fitzgerald Color 1/1 Sketch

Tom Brady Black and White 1/1 Sketch

Desean Jackson Black and White 1/1 Sketch

Jordan Todman RC Color 1/1 Sketch

Personally, I love these cards, even though they do get somewhat expensive. They are a small piece of original artwork, and I think it would be tremendous for Topps to look at having player signed versions of some of these in a product like Five Star or the like. Its rare that you combine the rarity of the piece with the rarity of a player’s hard signed signature, and it could be a huge victory if pulled off correctly.

Last year, Topps made a poor judgment call letting players do sketches in the product, which was nothing more than a source of comic relief, but this is different. I have said a number of times how much I like that “painted” filter that makes the photo on a card look like artwork, however this could make it that much more real. The only examples of trying something similar to what I am suggesting come from 2008 UD Masterpieces and also 2009 Topps National Chicle Football. One was very visually successful, but for the Chicle, it was a relative train wreck.

Hopefully there will be more ideas that are as successful as these addtions to a low end product, as I have rarely seen companies continue to succeed in any industry without progress.