rack/cello packs

ldferg

i've purchased a few rack packs over the last two weeks from ebay. when i receive these packs, they look nothing like i remember when i used to purchase them back in the day. the packaging looks to be homemade. and the contents are full of commons and several miscut cards. i would expect most of the cards to be common but out of 3 packs i would think at least one minor star would surface. the most notable of my pulls from these have been a 78 ron guidry and an 80 carew. have any of you experienced the same thing or is this just my bad luck?

TMc

Most of the home made or phonies out there are high dollar packs. Usually from the 50s and 60s. Its not worth the forgers time to make up $20-$40 packs. If you are purchasing older stuff, you better make sure that they are graded, or have a money back guarantee. The hard part is knowing what to look for in phoney packs. The forgers are pretty good, so be careful. There are tons of them out there. The bad guys made alot of money before the good guys caught on. They are recirculating around as we speak.

WinPitcher

if u pulled a 78 and an 80 from the same rack then yes i would say they are re made.....if you did not mean that and are talking abt 2 dif racks, tacks were so easy to search and whatever some people are selling on ebay you can be rest assured have been picked thru.

packCollector

I highly doubt you have a homemade 78 or 80 rack pack. just too much time and effort to go into making a $15 (80) and a $30(78) pack. if they were wax then i would say maybe you do as it costs these guys virtually nothing to make up 78 packs and they are such low value, not many complain.

were they sequenced , possibly.

all the racks from this era I have bought have been from trusted sources of mine. civalwarbobpat is a good source for 80's as he pulls them from cases , not sure if he is still selling them. the only 78's I have bought was a star pack lot from a good source.

ldferg

thanks. i guess i was just paranoid after seeing the packaging of them.

winp, it was separate rack packs.

wallst32

ldferg - It is more likely that you were either unlucky or the packs were searched, then being homemade or resealed.

By searched, I mean they can check the top and bottom cards and determine what cards are inside since the sequences are predictable. The 78s have a handful of key cards that would be pulled in this manner, and the 80s probably just the Henderson, and maybe Ryan. That's just the nature of the hobby, and something you should always have in the back of your mind when buying racks or cellos, no matter who the seller is. A good example of this happening was on the 85T stuff when McGwire got hot a few years back.

As far as the miscuts go, were the top or bottom cards miscut to give any indication?

I used to buy lots of 77-80 stuff to open and have always done better on the wax (though some of them were sealed wax trays). Come to think of if, even stuff 81-86, I've always done better on wax. Wax is a lot easier to reseal, but I would say it is less "searched" than racks or cellos.

ldferg

the top and bottom cards looked great in the packs. here is a link to the 78 auction:

78 auction

from the scan you can not tell but the left pack "warren brusstar" is severely miscut (the card is cut at a severe angle) along with 3 more in this stack not in succession but randomly throughout this one pack. the other 2 packs in this cello has no angled cards. and i received 40 cards rather than 39, probably not that big of a deal. i remember in 81 donruss would put 19 cards in several of their packs rather than 18.