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How does he do it?

ok, how does this seller Guarantee
that the pack he is selling you has a
relic or auto card in it....

unless he is opening, inserting junk,
and resealing the packs?!!

All my hot packs are 100% Factory Sealed and Guaranted to have a Memorabilia Card (Jersey, Auto, Mask, Football, Bat, etc)
imageimage

Comments

  • qualitycardsqualitycards Posts: 2,811 ✭✭✭
    Maybe he groped the pack til he felt the bonus cards...jay
  • how do you "feel" an autograph?

    imageimage
  • This topic has been exhaustively treated on the BGS Baseball boards.

    If you want answers you can find it there.

    Its too involved to answer simply except to say you have freaks who spend more time to try to "beat" the system in place and who can wax on this subject as if it were a doctoral thesis.

    By the way, though I'm a fan of PSA grading above all else, the BGS boards have far more action in 10 minutes than these boards do in a day; granted, on the whole this is a far more cerebral group, but it is like People magazine, a guilty pleasure...simple and varied...geared more to the modern collector.
  • ctsoxfanctsoxfan Posts: 6,246 ✭✭


    << <i>By the way, though I'm a fan of PSA grading above all else, the BGS boards have far more action in 10 minutes than these boards do in a day; granted, on the whole this is a far more cerebral group, but it is like People magazine, a guilty pleasure...simple and varied...geared more to the modern collector. >>



    Without hijacking this thread, even though the above may be true, I can't stand the BGS boards. All you read about are a bunch of grade school kids worrying about what their cards "book" for, and trying to outdo each other with long, drawn-out, useless signature pictures and quotes between every post. If I do happen to need to go to that site for some reason, it makes me appreciate a forum like this all the more.

    And now, back to the pack feeling discussion.
    image
  • RobERobE Posts: 1,160 ✭✭


    << <i>how do you "feel" an autograph? >>




    Ask David Copperfield,or Pen and Teller about card tricks,perhaps.image
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hey - back to this clairvoyant pack guy - w/o a PhD dissertation - is there a simple way they are doing this? Just curious - I am always amazed how guys figure this stuff out - like knowing where certain packs are in a box to select a hot RC, numberical sequence in cello packs etc. Thanx, Mike
    Mike
  • NickMNickM Posts: 4,896 ✭✭✭
    The numerical sequence in cello or rack packs from older Topps could be figured out by simple work - bust a fair amount of product and keep track of the sequences. In fact, Baseball Cards magazine published the sequences in 1988 (not that any cards from that year ended up being worth buying). In 1987, I made my own sequence lists for Topps racks, which I used to great advantage to get Surhoff/Magadan/Devon White packs (these three appeared near each other). Luckily I grabbed some Bonds, Larkin, and McGwire racks too.
    Some of the pack guarantees are due to stupid manufacturer tricks, such as putting the game used card in the exact same position in every box (which 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers and a number of other sets, including apparently 2003 Leaf Certified baseball, did) or making the packs of very obviously different thicknesses and not using spacers or decoys (early Pacific packs were the worst for this, as the insert card was literally added to the pack as an extra card).
    Other guarantees are due to pack feeling in one form or another - which can range from something as innocent as picking up a pack and realizing that the top card is die-cut to something as destructive as bending the pack, or to creating small openings in the packs to see what is inside by thickness or borders.
    Stay away from these sellers at all costs.

    Nick
    image
    Reap the whirlwind.

    Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
  • ndleondleo Posts: 4,064 ✭✭✭✭✭
    A certain hot basketball product that uses the minibox concept has the chase card in the last pack of every minibox. I found this out by busting enough product. All it takes is a little experience.
    Mike
  • joestalinjoestalin Posts: 12,473 ✭✭
    how can he feel autographs?

    Ill give you all a hint:

    notice he doesn't have any regular UD autos up.

    Kevin
  • NickMNickM Posts: 4,896 ✭✭✭
    joestalin - that hint doesn't help me (of course, I have opened very little UD product that didn't come from sealed boxes in years). Is UD making their autograph cards in some packs thicker than noral cards?

    Nick
    image
    Reap the whirlwind.

    Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
  • To CTSox:

    You indeed did hijack the thread because my commentary on the Beckett Boards was an aside to the general question of pack feeling.

    Now, if the BGS boards were as completely sophomoric as you paint them, then they wouldn't be the ones with all the answers on this topic, with this board having all the questions.

    They indeed do have a varied group of people including some obviously younger posters, but another whole subset of long-term posters who , in their own way, supervise the whole affair. In the end, my analogy to People magazine is a good one...you can glean a little info in an entertaining venue....it is certainly not "high tea" at The Plaza, but a good cup of Joe at the local coffee shop.

    Like many other things , it is an acquired taste...you haven't learned to literally and figuratively "read between the lines".

    Having experience on both boards, there is something good to be said about each..this is not a Board War like an SGC thing, but a valid distinction in the sometimes lifelessness of one board and all the action on another.

    In the end, it is a matter of taste, but I know some of the best posters here, Sean C. comes immediately to mind, contribute valuably on each, as hopefully, I do as well.

    As to "pack searchers" and their ilk, I will use the oft-mentioned label from BGS, "scum of the earth".image
  • BoopottsBoopotts Posts: 6,784 ✭✭
    I remember doing that with '87 Topps. As I recall, Ray Fontenot was ahead of him in the rak packs.

    By looking at the back of a 1989 Donruss wax pack, I can still tell you with 75% certainty if a Griffey, Schilling or Johnson is in there. I'm sure others have some stories as well.
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I was stationed at Fort Drum, NY in 1996 and I walked into the shopette that had a pretty nice selection of packs for sale - there was a guy going through a box of '96 Fleer and was "fondling" the packs - I asked him what he was doing - he replied, if you squeeze the pack from side to side, if there's an insert card, you can feel it slide because the regular issue cards that year had no gloss - he was right, because he opened it up and there it was: a glossy insert. Mistake by Fleer? Who knows? Hope Beach doesn't read this - he might want to have the guy executed!image
    Mike
  • No Stone...the Iron Maiden and Rack are quite sufficient .
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You got that one right - Pan man - I never knew what cold was till I moved to Watertown, NY! I froze my cards off! At Christmas it was -35 w/o the wind chill;image
    Mike
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭


    << <i>You got that one right - Pan man - I never knew what cold was till I moved to Watertown, NY! I froze my cards off! At Christmas it was -35 w/o the wind chill;image >>



    I had a buddy stationed there.. a couple year prior to 1996 though I think.. Darrell Vogler was him name.. heh..
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    pandrews

    Don't know him - never been to Ft. Bragg - were you airborne? Went to Benning in '76 while in the reserves - joined an SF unit in NJ while I was in school in NYC - went back in the army after grad. in '79. Ever been overseas?
    Mike
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    pandrewsimage

    Hey, at least they taught you how to keep in shape if want - I retired in 1997 - don't miss it very much - two wars too many - I got into collecting with those Topps DS cards with the gold logos - guys were throwing them away - thought they were sharp - told people - give them to me - sent them to my son - didn't realize he was making $ selling them to BB card shops!
    Mike
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I never found out how to spot a counterfeit though

    pandrews

    If memory serves me, SCD Bob Lemke's Vol.I of the Counterfeit Detector discusses these cards - I'm recalling that he said that if you have one good copy to compare with the bogus cards - it's easy to spot due to the fact that the gold logos were poorly duplicated - you know the Toppsvault recently auctioned off the plates for the logos.
    Mike
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I never found out how to spot a counterfeit though

    pandrews

    If memory serves me, SCD Bob Lemke's Vol.I of the Counterfeit Detector discusses these cards - I'm recalling that he said that if you have one good copy to compare with the bogus cards - it's easy to spot due to the fact that the gold logos were poorly duplicated - you know the Toppsvault recently auctioned off the plates for the logos. >>



    so now, whoever bought those plates from the topps vault can counterfeit all they want?
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    pandrews

    I didn't look at the scan of the plates closely but they may have x'ed them - I once bought a litho plate after the run and it had an X scored in it so that it could never be used again - but even if they didn't - the question my be: does anyone want them anymore? They may have gone the way of the Brien Taylor RC's e.g.
    Mike
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭


    << <i>pandrews

    I didn't look at the scan of the plates closely but they may have x'ed them - I once bought a litho plate after the run and it had an X scored in it so that it could never be used again - but even if they didn't - the question my be: does anyone want them anymore? They may have gone the way of the Brien Taylor RC's e.g. >>



    probably not too much demand for them anymore.. i still think they're neat, but I wouldnt pay much for them.. the Henderson i'm watching now is only at $13 and i'm not gonna bid on it.. i would prolly spend 5 bucks on it..
    ·p_A·
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
    pandrews

    That's probably about right - my son sold the last of ours in '96 before we left Ft. Hamilton for Drum - wished we had saved some of them for sentimental value - I had a great Ryan card - brought back some unopened packs - sold them to a shop for $25/pack! Back then, that was serious coin. If I knew how hot they were going to be after the war, perhaps I would have had the smarts to send home a bunch of boxes - the guys I worked with didn't want them - as I realized later, the guys who did collect were quietly hording the stuff and shipping it home - we didn't have to pay for shipping anything home - it was free! I felt like I had missed the boat - big timeimage
    Mike
  • TabeTabe Posts: 5,920 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Hey - back to this clairvoyant pack guy - w/o a PhD dissertation - is there a simple way they are doing this? Just curious - I am always amazed how guys figure this stuff out - like knowing where certain packs are in a box to select a hot RC, numberical sequence in cello packs etc. Thanx, Mike >>


    Pack-feelers (I'm not one, but reading Beckett has given me some info) generally do a couple of things:

    1) On autographs - I've actually been able do this myself for fun when opening boxes of 2002 Press Pass JE - often the autograph card is glossier than the rest of the pack. So you slide the cards back and forth and if they slide more easily than normal, there's an autograph in there.

    2) On autographs - often there's a hologram sticker on the back of the card that sticks up just a little bit. This can be felt on the card through the pack.

    3) On jersey cards - the jersey card often feels different than the spacer/decoy used

    4) On jersey cards - on some forms of 2003 Hogg Heaven, the tops of the packs are see-through white. So you slide the thick card up and actually look at it to see if it's a decoy or not

    5) On jersey cards - in some issues, they give you one less card if there's a jersey card in the pack. So count the cards in the pack and see how many are in there.

    I'm not condoning pack-feeling by any means and I don't do it myself (I swear, LOL. Just take a look at my tradelist if you want proof, LOL.) But it can be done and the guys that sell the packs on Ebay definitely don't open packs and re-seal.

    Tabe
    www.tabe.nu
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