Found: 1952 Topps Baseball Case High Number

[ruth-gehrig]

Ok I found this on ebay. You didn't think I meant an unopened case had recently been discovered did ya? :p This is just the empty case 1952 Topps boxes came in. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-Baseball-High-Number-Empty-Case-WOW-Mickey-Mantle/370795093544?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3 D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D7401052524925934206%26pid%3 D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D370795093544% 26Anyways I have nothing to do with this auction but thought it was interesting. I guess it was part of Mr. Mints find of 1952 Topps cards. I wonder how far away from the BIN of 55k the 8 offers have been! :) Anyways as I viewed the box I got to thinking....If I were to stumble upon an unknown full UNOPENED CASE of 1952 Topps what would I do?? You wouldn't want to announce it to the baseball card collecting world would you? Wouldn't that skydive prices of unopened packs? Would you consign an entire box to auction? Would you send a few pack at a time to get graded? Would you rip some packs open in hopes of a PSA 10 Mantle? What would you do???

[39special]

I would open half of them,and sell the other unopened half a few packs at a time.It would be hard for me not to open them all.

[rhettyeakley]

No announcement as to the extent of the find. Consign a complete box out of the blue to major auction house and let the feeding frenzy begin. Then repeat every 3-5 years (or less depending on the set as you don't want it to be to obvious that this is going to be an annual thing for the next several years) or so until they are gone. I couldn't rip any of the packs, too much money to be had in their original state.

Obviously, this depends on the amount of up front money you were out as to the purchase price of the case. If there was a huge amount of money spent to purchase the case one may not have the luxury of this approach, but I think that would be the way to maximize profits. Basically, the exact opposite of what Mr Mint did!

[horzverti]

First things first...I'd have to buy a new pair of shorts.
Next, determine the series.
Next, open one pack, smell the cards.
Next, put band-aid on finger due to risk of handling such razor sharp cards.
Next, give the gum to my annoying neighbor's kids to chew.
Next, open another pack.
Next, another pair of shorts.
Next, can't stop ripping packs.
Next, get them graded and consign them.
Next, as Rhett wrote, consign a few boxes every 3 to 5 years.

Repeat.

That was fun.

[GrayGhost]

I would open bout 33 pct of em. sell a third of em as unopened, and put the others away in a safe dep box till i sell more, as the temptation to open would be too great if they were nearby;)

[HRBAKER]

I'd sell every last pack. I probably pack out one box myself so I could keep a nice empty box. High percentage of the cards would be wrecked by the gum by now.

[sayheykid54]

"Virtually every graded PSA 9 or 10 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle came from this specific case!"

Just a little over exaggerated don't you think???:)

[travrosty]

it would be a shame to keep them in the packs and sell them to someone who is only interested in keeping them in the packs forever. they are suppose to be enjoyed, looked at. if they are in the pack, then whats the point.

bust them out and keep them raw and show them around the shows. enjoy them.

[mcgwirecom]

Retire

[Bestdj777]

I would open every last pack, flip through the cards, and eat the gum. I could only imagine that the gum would make me sick, but after I recovered I'd send the cards off for grading, maybe keep a Mantle if there were one, and sell the rest.

[kneerat]

Does anyone have any guesses as to what the actual empty box is worth? I see there have been many offers. I've never seen another one. $5,000??

[hcv123]

First things first...I'd have to buy a new pair of shorts.
Next, determine the series.
Next, open one pack, smell the cards.
Next, put band-aid on finger due to risk of handling such razor sharp cards.
Next, give the gum to my annoying neighbor's kids to chew.
Next, open another pack.
Next, another pair of shorts.
Next, can't stop ripping packs.
Next, get them graded and consign them.
Next, as Rhett wrote, consign a few boxes every 3 to 5 years.

Repeat.

That was fun.


:D:D:D:D That was hilarious - let's see 24 boxes x 24 packs = 576 pair of shorts!!

[r2678]

All I can say is if I had that empty box in my closet, it would be the first thing my girl friend would want to throw away.

[tachyonbb]

I would have to open most of them. Curiosity is my middle name.

I would give two packs to my wife with the instructions that these are for our two grandsons. No matter what, do not give them back to me.

A couple weeks later, I would fake a heart attack and ask her to bring me the two unopened packs. If she brings them she fails the test. If she does not bring them she passes.

Assuming that I am still living after the above test, I would then open most of the packs, savor the smell, arrange the cards in order and enjoy. I would then save the best for my grandsons and start to gradually sell the rest and put the money into their college fund.

When my first grandson turned 8 I would give him a pack, let him rip it open and play with the cards. Nothing like a mint Mickey Mantle to put in your bicycle spokes. I would have a pack for each of the boys to open on their birthday.

Someday my grandsons will tell their friends how their crazy grandpa let them use a mint (insert card here) in their bicycle spokes to make noise.

[Leon]

There are 25 offers so far. Some things don't get that many views!! :)

[Runscott]

With this many unopened packs available, it's a perfect time to play '52 Topps Roulette:

Each player besides the owner, agrees to contribute a 'per played pack' amount in advance
For each round, each player gets one unopened pack
Each player shoots his pack with a .44
After each player has blasted his pack, you each check for HOF'ers
Anyone who had the audacity to destroy a '52 HOF'er has to contribute the total retail value of all destroyed cards to the pot
If two or more people 'kill' a HOF'er, person who killed the more expensive one pays
Game ends when no one blasts a HOF'er, or when all packs have been destroyed.
If anyone blasts a Mantle, the other players have to each pay him retail value
Since it's impossible to tell grade after being shot with a .44, all are assumed to be 'NM'


'Missed' cards cost the shooter 1/2 retail value
'Unidentifiable' cards cost all other players 1/2 Phil Rizzuto value

[sbfinley]

Does anyone have any guesses as to what the actual empty box is worth? I see there have been many offers. I've never seen another one. $5,000??

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing an empty 52' wax box at a show somewhat recently for ~1k. I couldn't imagine this case being worth more than that if at all. There are a plethora of items I see that I truly have no interest in other than "ehh, if my pockets were infinitely deep - sure." I don't believe this item even falls in that category.

[toyman55]

The way I read the add is it is a Empty Box ONLY. There are no boxes in it so what makes it worth $52,000.00?

[iwantitiwinit]

The way I read the add is it is a Empty Box ONLY. There are no boxes in it so what makes it worth $52,000.00? Until it sells nothing!!!

[perezfan]

It won't sell for anywhere near that amount (or even a fraction of it). Just add this to the infinite list of ridiculously inflated Buy It Now items on Ebay, that never go anywhere.

Ebay has become a Museum in which items aren't really even available for sale. There are random numbers assigned to these artifacts, for reasons unknown. These randomly assigned numbers have nothing to do with Market Value or anything approaching an actual sales price.

My guess is that this empty Topps Case would realize about $1,200 in an actual auction with real bidders.

[thecatspajamas]

I like how the asking price isn't even an even $52k, but rather $52,506.95. Plus shipping. (Well, I take that back, he'll ship it UPS Ground for free, if you don't mind UPS putting a boot through the side of it and stacking a refrigerator on top of it in transit).

The shipping I could understand if he has a standard listing template that applies to all of his items, but what's up with that asking price?

[yanks12025]

Now when you ship it, do you put the box inside another box or just throw a shipping label on it and let it go.