Buying unopened packs

[Snapolit1]

Has anyone ever bought an unopened vintage pack off ebay or elsewhere (whether graded or not) and pulled some amazing card? I see people getting big bucks for certain unopened packs with the come on " . . . of course could include [FILL IN SUPER RARE CARD]." Seems to me that a relatively careful school kid could carefully open a pack with a razor blade and reglue it in about 10 minutes. Is any collector really going to let an unopened pack sit for decades when there is a possible rare card inside?

[GregMitch34]

Yes, my question would be, based on experiences, is there a general sense that such packs really have not been tinkered with? That such concerns are overblown or realistic?

[Griffins]

a lot of packs come from finds, where a case or a few boxes have sat in some grocers warehouse for decades. Such is the case with the Paris Tenn find of '54 and '54 Topps and Bowman packs, the box of '64 Standup penny packs and '65 Topps penny packs, and the 5 boxes of '54 Topps Canadian that walked into a show a few years ago. There was a box of Sport King packs in the early '90's, and a box of '52 Topps packs was broken up about 20 years ago at a show. There have been other instances of the same thing happening with different sets.
There are many things to look for when buying an unopened pack- roller marks, corner folds, etc.
Most vintage packs are worth a lot more than the sum of their parts, the value is in keeping it unopened.

[Snapolit1]

Thanks. Useful info. What about the holiday three packs of 1956 Topps cards I've seen on eBay. You can see the two outside cards on each of the three sleeves, but not what is in the middle. Wonder if those are safe to buy. A pretty cool item and I came close a few times to taking a shot on those.

[RaidonCollects]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Thanks. Useful info. What about the holiday three packs of 1956 Topps cards I've seen on eBay. You can see the two outside cards on each of the three sleeves, but not what is in the middle. Wonder if those are safe to buy. A pretty cool item and I came close a few times to taking a shot on those.

Those aren't worth it, they're repackaged and IMO a waste of money.

-Owen

[Snapolit1]

thanks

[iwantitiwinit]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Thanks. Useful info. What about the holiday three packs of 1956 Topps cards I've seen on eBay. You can see the two outside cards on each of the three sleeves, but not what is in the middle. Wonder if those are safe to buy. A pretty cool item and I came close a few times to taking a shot on those.

Totally fabricated after the fact, way after. Stay away.

I bought a 1951 topps redback pack showing Monte Irvin through the wrapper

[baztacula]

I bought five GAI-graded 1975 mini packs about 10 years ago. I kept one sealed but opened the other four. I got a couple Aaron Highlight cards and a Reggie Jackson and a Carew, I think. All were badly oc. It seems that if you get a couple packs loaded with oc cards, you can count on the rest of the packs in the box they came in to be similar. So I think that's why a lot of these packs are sold. Better to get some money from your box than a stack of off-centered cards.

Also, yes I'm certain a lot of these "unopened" packs are searched and resealed. I remember about 20 years ago my cousin and a friend buying dozens of 1980s-era hockey card packs from a sports card shop and getting nothing but commons, over and over and over. They went back a few more times to the same store and got the same crappy results on lots and lots of packs. The odds of that happening legitimately are about zero.

[ALR-bishop]

db-- is that the shop owned by Julia Ruth Stephens ? Does she still have an arm or what ?

[baztacula]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

db-- is that the shop owned by Julia Ruth Stephens

Probably. She is the spawn of Satan, after all.

[DHogan]

You might want to check out a dealer called The Baseball Card Exchange for unopened packs in all sports. They sell graded packs and raw ungraded. Here's the link. https://www.bbcexchange.com/default.aspx

[jfkheat]

BBCE is one of if not the most respected unopened pack/box dealer there is. PSA sends all packs to BBCE's owner, Steve Hart, for inspection before PSA will grade them. There are a lot of bad packs on Ebay. There are dealers that sell mostly resealed packs, raintele being one of them. I wouldn't touch any of the Christmas rack packs. There are still being made today.
James

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Has anyone ever bought an unopened vintage pack off ebay or elsewhere (whether graded or not) and pulled some amazing card?

Do vending machines count? A few years ago one of those "All Star" machines you see in supermarkets had packs of 1982 Topps. I bought a few packs, and I pulled a Ripken rookie.