Mike D's Adventures in Wax

[steve B]

Sounds like fun!

And tell us more about tractor cards. I haven't heard of them but they sound cool.

[AGuinness]

Welcome to the board! Wax can be fun, although my impression is that if it were easy to break even, more people would do it and the prices would likely increase (thereby making it a scenario where you could no longer break even). Good luck!
I've got two boys, 6 and 9, and we've been opening a box of cards on Opening Day for years. It took them a little while, but they are both totally hooked on baseball cards now!

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by steve B

Sounds like fun!

And tell us more about tractor cards. I haven't heard of them but they sound cool.

My son has liked antique tractors since he was, well, an infant (my dad has half dozen or so old Farmall tractors). A number of companies made tractor trading cards in the 80' s and 90's - Goodyear, Ertl, and John Deere among them.

Not too many different sets were made, and they all seem to cost more than they should, but I've bought a bunch for my son, who loves 'em.

He's not that into baseball, as I mentioned above, but he does love opening packs and sorting them.

[Mike D.]

Thanks for the welcomes, all.

There's only one other person selling the Cramer set on eBay, and they are selling (and have sold) a few for like $44 each.

I listed both sets and the empty wax box for $74.99 plus shipping. If nobody bites, I have plenty of wiggle room to lower the price and still make my money back.

I've already sold a couple dups in lots, about $8 worth to date.

[Mike D.]

We picked up a couple wax boxes of 1991 Line Drive AA Pre-Rookie cards.

The two boxes were $13 delivered, so they were CHEAP.

We pulled a couple of each of most of the "major" cards in set...including two Ivan Rodriguez, two Jim Thome, two Bret Boone, etc.

Still, the set is way to big and too cheap to even bother with trying to complete.

I'll probably sell of the better cards to try to recoup the modest investment here, and I guess I could try to sell off team lots or something, but I"m not sure that'd be worth it.

So, a few lessons:

• Opening packs, even if the contents aren't anything special, is fun.
• Big sets aren't the way to go......small is beautful.
• The paper shredder and the compost pile may be busy from this pack busting project

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

• Opening packs, even if the contents aren't anything special, is fun.
• The paper shredder and the compost pile may be busy from this pack busting project

There is definitely some value in busting open packs, even if the monetary value of the cards doesn't add up to the box's purchase price.
Composting is a good way to keep surplus down - there are places to donate and some other ideas in this thread: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=263135

[tulsaboy]

My kids and I are opening boxes of 1987 Topps right now just for fun, and putting together a set the old fashioned way- from packs. They are, however, now used to the idea that dad "magically" comes up with a whole box of packs at a time, instead of how I had to do it- in stacks of 3 or 4 packs at a time. They think this opening packs of cards thing is neat. And every time they find a card from one of their favorite teams, they are excited. The couldn't care less about the McGwire or Canseco or Mattingly or Clemens cards...
kevin

[swarmee]

If you're going to bust oddball and minor league boxes, make sure to get a COMC account and send in any card that they don't currently have in stock. Many minor league cards of nobodies sell there for $2.50 each.
You can look up my COMC primer that I've posted here before to explain the site and how best to use it.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by tulsaboy

My kids and I are opening boxes of 1987 Topps right now just for fun, and putting together a set the old fashioned way- from packs. They are, however, now used to the idea that dad "magically" comes up with a whole box of packs at a time, instead of how I had to do it- in stacks of 3 or 4 packs at a time. They think this opening packs of cards thing is neat. And every time they find a card from one of their favorite teams, they are excited. The couldn't care less about the McGwire or Canseco or Mattingly or Clemens cards...
kevin

That's awesome, Kevin. Same thing with my son. He knows to look for Red Sox, but other than that, he has no idea who any of the players are - other than Nolan Ryan, because he knows I gave his cousin (named Nolan) a Nolan Ryan card recently.

[mrmopar]

All I could think of when I first saw this was the Beastie Boys. I had to modify the lyric slightly to fit the board. Paul Revere, about 2:50 into the song.

"I'm Mike D and I get respect. Your cards and jewelry are what I expect!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6hqrpBbeq4

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by AGuinness

Composting is a good way to keep surplus down - there are places to donate and some other ideas in this thread: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=263135

That thread was actually the very first one on this forum I read and posted in.

[Mike D.]

Next up was a 1987 Topps Mini League Leaders Wax Box.

36 packs, 7 cards per pack. I paid $15 delivered.

The 1987 Topps Mini Leaders set has 77 cards.

We learned a few things "ripping" this one:

• We like mini cards
• Small sets are the way to go, as we have a chance at complete sets more easily
• Lots of mini cards were packed in plastic "wax" packs, which are less fun
• When we bag up plastic wax pack wrappers to drop in plastic bag recycling at the local grocery store,my wife looks at us funny

We actually ended up about 5 cards short of a complete set, so not the best collation. Not sure what we'll do with these...maybe if I see more boxes cheap I'll grab more to try to get more complete sets.