Hypothetical Value of Unopened Packs

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

James, you make some good points. What if you have some vintage, unopened packs, where you are 100% positive of the provenance of where they came? What if the packs were so scare that people thought they never existed? What if you could actually see at least one of the cards in the pack and it is worth 10K plus? What if you had some graded by PSA and they are authentic, graded and sealed?

What would you do? What would anyone else do? I would REALLY like to know.

If the pack is factory sealed, how could you see what is in it? Only way is to tamper with it. I do remember that only occasionally you would buy a pack not fully sealed, perhaps one leaf loose from the other. You could perhaps see the bottom card (sorry, I never saw any 1 cent, one card packs; first packs I bought were 1967).

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by jingram058

If the pack is factory sealed, how could you see what is in it? Only way is to tamper with it. I do remember that only occasionally you would buy a pack not fully sealed, perhaps one leaf loose from the other. You could perhaps see the bottom card (sorry, I never saw any 1 cent, one card packs; first packs I bought were 1967).

Good question James. The first cello packs that I know of were produced in 1967, and you could see the bottom card. There were 2 cards in the pack, not 1.

[packs]

I've had a few 50s one cent Topps packs in the past. I remember the 1959 one cent packs to be really thin and if you held the wrapper tight to the card and up to the light you could make out the player.

[Touch'EmAll]

Statistically the odds are wayyy against you on opening a vintage pack to find something good. And even if you do get extremely lucky to find a star player, what you think the centering (among other things) might be like ? If you must go for unopened packs, I wouldn't touch them unless graded first. And then I would NEVER ever open them up. Honest best of luck whatever your decision.

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

Statistically the odds are wayyy against you on opening a vintage pack to find something good. And even if you do get extremely lucky to find a star player, what you think the centering (among other things) might be like ? If you must go for unopened packs, I wouldn't touch them unless graded first. And then I would NEVER ever open them up. Honest best of luck whatever your decision.

Yes, long odds but a guy pulled a 1955 Bowman Mickey Mantle from a live break at the National a few years ago, maybe 2018, and it graded PSA 9 at he National that year.

The slots for the 9 cards in the 5 cent pack were a grand a piece as well as I remember and the Mantle value at that time(obviously much higher in today's market) was $50K so a decent gamble.

Of course, the other 8 slots all lost most of their thousand dollar investment.

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

Good question James. The first cello packs that I know of were produced in 1967, and you could see the bottom card. There were 2 cards in the pack, not 1.

Cello packs were available much earlier than 1967. Not sure of the exact earliest year but I have seen them from the late 50's.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Cello packs were available much earlier than 1967. Not sure of the exact earliest year but I have seen them from the late 50's.

There may be individual packs, I'm not sure when the first cello's were issued. The ones I have are from 1967, but they are not from the U.S.

I did purchase a 1958 Christmas cello a few years back, it had a Mantle showing. I opened it and sent all the cards in - most came back a 6 or 7. I've attached a picture of the Mantle.

[rand1com]

The Christmas rack packs were repacked cards and were put together for promotions. They were not issued by Topps. The cards were mostly less than NM condition similar to your Mantle.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Cello packs were available much earlier than 1967. Not sure of the exact earliest year but I have seen them from the late 50's.

True, but I'm not sure how far back you can realistically authenticate them. There was more 3rd party repackaging going on back in the day than just the Christmas racks.

[gonefishin]

Yes, I knew the Christmas cello's were repacked. My thinking at the time I bought it was the surface should be in good shape. I was correct. A 6 is not a 10, but it's tough getting a high grade in any 56 Topps. I have a complete set that is mostly 6 and above. I'm happy having the Maris and Mantle in a 6.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

A 6 is not a 10, but it's tough getting a high grade in any 56 Topps. I have a complete set that is mostly 6 and above. I'm happy having the Maris and Mantle in a 6.

True that most vintage 6's will have nice to very nice / NM quality surfaces if nothing else. If you can live with a little OC and still very square if lightly touched corners, 6 is a really nice vintage grade. Many decently centered 6's would have been called "mint" with a straight face in the 1980's by dealers. Things weren't quite as precise back then.

[gonefishin]

I made a mistake in my earlier post, my 58 set - not my 56, is in great shape. Maris' rookie is a 58, not 56.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by jingram058

If the pack is factory sealed, how could you see what is in it? Only way is to tamper with it. I do remember that only occasionally you would buy a pack not fully sealed, perhaps one leaf loose from the other. You could perhaps see the bottom card (sorry, I never saw any 1 cent, one card packs; first packs I bought were 1967).

Many wax packs have wrappers that let you see at least part of the card on top and/or bottom. So you might be able to see the card number through the pack. Like you can with the 86 fleer basketball stickers which are always on the back.

Some baseball packs from all years have areas on the front you can see part of the card through. You just have to be really good at identifying the cards from only seeing a little bit of it.