2005 Donruss Studio - Portraits - Zenith White

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: SP-91

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Portraits

Parallel: Zenith White

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 43/70

COMC Black Friday Haul #47

I posted about 2005 a lot over the years.  Mainly because Robin has a lot of cards from 2005.  As a matter of fact the most cards every produced for Robin were in 2005 with what I estimated to be right around 1000.  You can see the Yount-o-graph I did year's ago here.  I should update that.

Anyways one of the main reasons Robin has so many cards from 2005 was the fact that a lot of the insert sets he was included in had a gazillion parallels.  Case in point is 2005 Donruss Studios Portraits insert, it has over 50 different parallels.  All serial numbered, all barely different.  A lot has to do the with advertising on the back but also the border color, the photo color and the serial numbering.  But with so many to chase when one pops up on COMC and for a decent price I usually will pick it up.  

The Portraits set was a nod to the cabinet cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Although I'm at a loss if it was directly modeled after one particular set.  Maybe someone out there knows?

Anyways it's a great card from the last set of Donruss Studio that was issued before Donruss-Playoff lost their MLB license.

2005 Donruss Zenith

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Zenith

Card Number: 239

Card Type: Base

2005 a time when the shelves were packed with products.  Zenith was a tribute to the Pinnacle brand that came before Donruss' ownership.  Packs were about $5 each and boxes came with 3 hits.  There were tons of inserts and parallels in the set.  Out of the base cards only the Z-Gold parallels were numbered.   The card is pretty typical of the mid-range stuff Donruss put out in the mid-2000's and what Panini continues to put out today.  The player cropped and placed on a shiny background.  The Dufex parallels do look pretty neat though.

2005 Donruss Zenith Artist Proof Silver

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Zenith

Card Number: 239

Card Type: Parallel

Parallel Set: Artist Proof Silver

Ah, the good old days of Dufex technology.  Zenith was one of those sets that could go either way.  2005 was a big year in terms of just the sheer number of sets produced from all the card companies.  And if I remember Zenith wasn't cheap either.  Besides this parallel there is also a Gold Artist Proof and a Museum Collection parallel.  I'm only missing the Gold.

I'm surprised Panini hasn't resurrected this set yet.

2005 Donruss Zenith Museum Collection

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Zenith

Year: 2005

Card Number: 239

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Type: Museum Collection

Like a phoenix Zenith came back in 2005.  It had had a 4 year run back in the late 90's when Pinnacle Brands, makers of Score, was sold to Playoff which became Donruss Playoff, which is now all owned by Panini. Whew.  Anyways the big seller for Zenith was the Dufex shiny technology. And that was showcased in a lot of the inserts and parallel sets in the issue.

There are also gold and silver artist proof parallels and Z gold and silver parallels of this card.

Like most shiny cards like this the scan doesn't do it its shiny justice.  I wonder how long it'll be before Panini resurrects this brand?