Best Box or Pack you ever opened???

[Archive]

Posted By: dodgersin9

I opened a 1971 vending box in about 1998. From the 4th and 5th series. Many of the cards were O/C, including an otherwise mint Nolan Ryan, but there were some nice cards also. Got a couple mint Killebrews that later graded PSA 9, 2 Clementes that later graded PSA 9 and PSA 8, a PSA 9 Jim Palmer, and a few PSA 9 commons. The surprising thing was the low number of 9s. Based on the prices these go for at auction, I think people assume that vending boxes are loaded with 9s (or 10s- there were none in my box) but that is not always the case. I think I got only about a dozen 9s out of the box, although the Clemente by itself made it a good find. I think I sent in about 100 cards for grading, and ended up with mostly 8s but also some 7s. Only those cards I sent in were worth a chance of grading- all the others had issues, including dinged corners centering, etc. I ended up trading the Clemente for a complete EX/MT to NM/MT set of raw 68s, a deal I regret now. The prices today for unopened vending from '71 are, in my opinion, way high given the low chances of finding a lot of high grade cards. By the way, there were about 530 cards in the vending box, not 500. I thought that was cool, getting an "extra" 30 cards. Botom line though- I thoroughly enjoyed opening the vending box, and if I ever get another, I will probably open it as well.