Vending Boxes
mexpo75
Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭✭
What exactly are vending boxes? Is a BBCE sealed FASC vending box good?
PackManInNC
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mexpo75
Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭✭
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It is a box of random 500 cards, there are 24 boxes per case, they were used for making sets in the 1980's
They contain 500 cards (give or take in some instances...usually a few more than 500) and were, as I understand it, produced as a way for collectors and/or shop owners to open and build sets. I'm not sure how available they were to the general public. No gum or wax /cello wrappers involved to slow down the process of opening. It's kind of an all or nothing thing once you open one...unlike a box, it can't be "packed out", so you never really saw them on the counter at the card shop. I have had great success in finding high quality cards in them. If taken care of, the box houses tightly packed cards...like a brick. If not taken care of, any damage usually affects a lot or most of the cards. My opinion is that they are greatly undervalued, especially when you're talking about vending boxes from smaller sets, like 70's basketball. A wax box might yield 240 cards and is valued at 3-4 X that of the vending box.
They're called vending boxes because they were made for retailers to fill vending machines like this: https://lelands.com/bids/three-baseball-card-vending-machines
I have never seen one of those before.
bbce wrapped vending are good for resale since its been approved by a third party. if its not wrapped...its a tough resale since cards can be swapped around
There's a great little card shop in Dyer Indiana not far from Chicago - the guy in there had two of these old vending machines as recently as December. Those machines were SUPER ADDICTIVE for me as a kid in 1986. Put in a quarter and crank out a few random cards. Sometimes there'd be a GPK mixed in with modern commons and then the (very) occasional card with some relative value. I once pulled a 1968 Topps Boog Powell and it felt like what I imagine it's like to have a child for the first time.
Danny Tremont was my CYO Basketball coach in 1976. Danny had a penchant for making a quick buck hustling sets of baseball cards to his unsuspecting team. He would buy a vending case from Richmond News in Providence, bust it into sets, and then sell each of the kids on the team a set for $10. I suspect he was flipping before flippers were a thing. He had quite the hustle.
I am thankful that Danny Tremont was in my life. He taught me how to shoot a lay-up with two guys hanging all over me and he sold me my first card set in 1977.
When I came of "age" in 1987, I tried doing the same thing. I had the right idea but times had certainly changed as Topps was learning how to open up the production gates in a way never seen before.
Vending boxes hold a sweet spot in my heart - thanks for bringing up the topic!
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Back in the day (late 80s) I bought vending boxes of 500 Red Sox cards to make team sets for sale at card shows and town day fairs. Great fun.