Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022 – One of the longest-running products in the hobby is TRISTAR’s Hidden Treasures line. Started almost 20 years ago, it has featured mystery products that include anything from signed 8x10s to autographed jerseysTRISTAR provided me with a couple of boxes to open for media review.  For a football mini-helmet, I pulled Cowboys Hall of Famer, Randy White. In addition to his signature, he also included his HOF year inscription. The Roy Sievers 8×10 and the Joe Pignatano baseball I pulled also included inscriptions. All three items came already authenticated by TRISTAR, along with an info card detailing the accomplishments of the players. To find out more about Hidden Treasures, as well as what TRISTAR has on tap for 2022, I had the chance to catch up with Jeff Rosenberg.

KS: Jeff, TRISTAR Hidden Treasures has turned into a long-standing product for the company.  Did you ever imagine when it started that it would have this kind of longevity?
JR:
You know, at the time we started it, I was only worried about that year.  Conceptually, I thought we had something that could last, but from a practical standpoint at the time, longevity was hard to see. My original feeling was just as people would open up packs of cards looking for their favorite players, they would want to open signed memorabilia products too. It has been satisfying to see the line have this kind of longevity.

Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022KS: What are some of the newer upcoming Hidden Treasures products?
JR:
Looking ahead to 2022, we’re doing some World’s Greatest Card Chase products for baseball and football.  Our very popular football jersey product is returning next year. Every edition seems to sell out, so we wanted to do another one for collectors.

We’ll also continue to segment some of our products like football mini-helmets and baseballs. In addition to the regular product, we’ll also have Platinum. For Platinum mini-helmets, those will be geared more towards the high-end side. For the baseball product, it’ll focus more on baseballs that include inscriptions or players who are harder to find.

While my Astros didn’t win the World Series, we’ll be commemorating the Braves’ title with a signed baseball product in March. Overall, people love the products and they continue to sell out, so we want to keep providing opportunities to obtain them.

KS: 2021 saw the company being able to have big in-person signing events amid the pandemic, including the National.  All in all, how was 2021 for TRISTAR?
JR:
2021 went really well. We were very excited for it, coming off a tough year in 2020. We lost the shows completely in 2020. In June 2021, we got to do the Houston show, then the National in July. We were also able to start traveling and do signings with athletes again around May and June of this year. It was a start to getting back to normalcy while living with and dealing with the pandemic.

Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022KS: What have been the biggest challenges with conducting the in-person signings during the pandemic?
JR:
Three major ones. The ability to acquire the goods and products was tough. There were backlogs for things like jerseys and helmets, which made it hard to procure the product for signings. Getting to the talent for signings was also tough since people weren’t really flying.  Then even conducting the signings was a challenge. We’ve been cautious with our employees and the talent when it comes to being in a room together. It’s been a series of unique challenges we’ve never come across before.

KS: What extra steps and precautions, if any, have you had to take with the autograph signings and photo opportunities during COVID?
JR:
On the private signing end, we had our employees take COVID tests before and after signings.  Also, we do mask wearing for ourselves and the talent.

KS: Jeff, you had Spencer Rattler at last year’s National. With NIL deals for college athletes continuing to expand, do you foresee having more amateur athletes doing signings?
JR:
I really do. I think that’s going to become a normal things at shows. Everybody’s trying to figure their way out in order to be compliant with the rules. We love doing baseball prospect signings and would often have minor league prospects who had just been drafted coming out and do signings. Now, we’ll have college athlete prospects from the various sports doing them more. For example, at our Houston show early in the year, we’d always have a few top prospect signers who are expected to be drafted. For the 2022 show, we’ll have Texas A&M DE Demarvin Leal, who’s projected as a first-round draft pick. In addition to him, we may end up having some A&M players who are still college athletes.

KS: Hidden Treasures aside, what does TRISTAR have planned for 2022?
JR:
We’re sticking with our roots and putting on the shows, the signings, and the packaged products.  As I mentioned, we have our big Houston show in February. We’re bringing in seven members of the Astros’ Hall of Fame for signings, including Larry Dierker, Jeff Bagwell, and Lance Berkman.  We’ve also got Roger Clemens’ son, Kody Clemens, coming in for it. Other top-ranked baseball prospects, including Bryce Elder and Marcelo Mayer, will also be on hand, along with several Hall of Famers from multiple sports.  At the end of the day, we’re just trying to grow our business even further and continue to give customers what they want.

Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022 – More Resources

For more news and updates from TRISTAR, you can visit their website, tristarproductions.com, as well as their social media pages.

Twitter: @tristar1
Instagram: @tristar1
Facebook: TristarProductions

 

Hobby Musings: TRISTAR Continues Hidden Treasures in 2022 – Image Gallery


Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
Kelsey Schroyer

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