X-raying unopened packs

[jayshum]

It looks like people are figuring out ways to determine what is in unopened packs using x-rays and CT scanners.

https://www.cllct.com/sports-collect...n-sports-cards

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Guaranteed it's been going on a lot longer than this.

[ALBB]

Saw on TV show - Goldin collectable king

They scanned an a sealed box with first edition I-Phone to confirm

[oldjudge]

Researchers at MIT's Camera Culture Group have developed a system that uses terahertz radiation (T-rays) to scan pages and read text through multiple layers of paper. The system first finds a specific page by sending a pulse of radiation through the layers, and then uses spectral information to locate printed letters.

[oldjudge]

Or, for those of you who have a pair of these in your attic:

[packs]

I remember visiting the Hall of Fame when I was a kid and they had sealed Cracker Jack boxes that they'd X-Rayed and had the X-Rays on display. I feel like one had a Walter Johnson in it but it was a long time ago.

[T205 GB]

If not mistaken I believe Jon Canfield discussed this back in the early 2000’s. I am sure technology is more advanced now days.

[Steve_NY]

Yes but how does this development affect the pack breakers? The ramifications imply that at some point in time the technology will be there to see every card in a pack. What a scary thought.

Going forward can’t the card companies use the same blocking technique that you can buy to protect your credit cards from being picked up in an airport. Can’t they block the xrays from seeing what’s in a pack by building that protection into all of the wrappers? That will probably increase prices but could alleviate the issues going forward.

[cubman1941]

Originally Posted by Steve_NY

Yes but how does this development affect the pack breakers? The ramifications imply that at some point in time the technology will be there to see every card in a pack. What a scary thought.

Going forward can’t the card companies use the same blocking technique that you can buy to protect your credit cards from being picked up in an airport. Can’t they block the xrays from seeing what’s in a pack by building that protection into all of the wrappers? That will probably increase prices but could alleviate the issues going forward.

They probably could but would they care? I don't think so. Increased prices might encourage them if they could do it cheaply enough so their profits would increase.

[packs]

The hit in modern packs is usually in the middle of the pack. I don't think this technology will ever help anyone who isn't opening a pack with only one card inside. Or who is more interesting in seeing cards other than the top and bottom card.

[steve B]

Pre-2000 while I was working in hydraulics we had a customer who made truck sized scanning devices for governments/airports/military.

The owner of our company visited them to drop some stuff off, and got a short tour of their shop including a smaller xray backscatter scanner.
It was clear enough to read magazine covers inside a briefcase. And that was their old prototype machine.

Another 24+ years of work on that could probably do a lot more.
One archaeology outfit has read text that was written on metal foil that was too fragile to unwrap.

A card pack would be pretty easy.

[ezez420]

I was in a show in Pa and these two guys were asking all sorts of questions about this. Thinking that they were slick


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[ocjack]

Went into a store in the 80's to buy some rack packs of cards. There were only a few out so I asked the clerk if there were any more in the back. She told me there were, but she couldn't put them out until the store manager went through them all and pulled the racks he wanted to buy. Met the manager a little while later and I told him what he was doing wasn't fair to other consumers. He felt it was a perq of the job. We later became friends and actually set up at card shows next to each other. But.......I never looked for rack packs from his store again.