opening vintage packs

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Posted By: robedits

...but the guy didnt strike me as a show off at all. To the contrary,he was pretty nice. Some Italian guy from Jersey...dont remember his name.
I remember the first cello he opened was one of my 58 t cellos. NObody on top,but the first card he pulled out was a dodgers TC. He went "ehh". About the extent of his emotions.
He did ask at the outset "you mind if I open some of these here?" I said no,go right ahead. I certianly wouldnt have opened them,as they were (and still would be) worth MUCH more sealed than the chance of pulling a major star.
When he yanked out (and I mean he opened these things quickly)stars from my late 50s packs (Aaron,Mays,Drysdale AS,etc) he seemed happy as they were all mint and centered. He tore open all of my 71 T racks and pulled out palmer (I think),2 stargells (from same rack) and some more big names (but still much less than the value of the racks).
Biggest card he pulled from everything he opened in front me of was a Mantle A/S from late series 60 pack,which I guess was a pretty big deal.He never opened the 68 Topps Ryan series box I sold to him. Never heard back from him,so I dont know how he did.
I also regret selling him my one 52 T 1st series pack,bright and greenish,and I wonder who he got from that one,too.
I think for the 8 grand or so he gave me I definitely got the better end of the deal. Still,I wish I had held on to them all. I just got tired of spending so much on unopened material and wanted to break the habit by selling it all.
ONly unopened pack I have left in my collection is a couple of Batman unopened packs from the 60s. Don';t know why I held onto them,but I did.
Also had an unopened Piedmont pack back around 1990 or so;sold that to a guy in Florida in 1993 (?). He emailed me back and told me he pulled a Joe McGinnity card,stained from direct contact with the cigs but nice otherwise. Don't have the pic file he sent me anymore.
I stopped collecting later vintage (50s/60s/70s) about 6 years ago when James Ryan (he of the White PLains shows) cherry picked the rest of my collection and older sets/stars (really nice guy)and I will now be starting up collecting wacky tobaccy cards!
My mom's great uncle was Nap Rucker (pitched for Dodgers early century),and I've already got the T212 (?)foldout of him as well as a nice mint silk-blanket...so I might focus on him for a while once I get going again (I met him for the only time down in GA right before he died in the 70s...was fascinated with his old uniform,hat and bats.Wish I had some of them for curiousity's sake. He was well liked in his community (I seemed to remember him being a local politician),but a real codger with little time for kids.
Anyway,LOVE this forum and Old Cardboard magazine...you guys and your stories fascinate me...thanks for letting me digress. I'm usually just a lurker.
Rob Brooklyn NY