1977 Topps Vending GAI 9 Vending Box results :(

reggie1

Hi again. I want to start a 1977 Topps baseball PSA Registry Set. I bought a box in GAI 9 cracked it and here are the results before grading. Most of the star cards and commons were either vastly o/c (80-20), dinged corners, lots of chipping along bottom edge and curling of bottom edge on the bottom of the card, where the paper stock under the top layer can be seen. Now i understand this was only 1 box so my results won't mean as much verses say a whole vending case or a rack case. I think the GAI 9 label specifically means all contents are untampered as it was fresh from an unopened vending case and it also grades the condition of the box. But the condition of the contents in the box is another matter. I think you have to be very careful on certain items. What is the best way to buy unopened to submit yourself for grading for your registry set. I think i might be rehashing a previous post about 1977 Topps GAI graded boxes but i'm not sure. As i recall another member said his results weren't very good either. When is Scott Susor going to start posting again as i enjoy reading his posts.

jrdolan

I'm sorry about your experience. Just as a side comment, I think it would be less expensive to buy most of the cards (not the big stars) already graded rather than get them raw and grade them yourself. Of course it's a pain to track them all down (but isn't that part of the fun of it?) and pay postage on singles and small lots. I hope you get some usable 9's out of that box. Hey if you have any nice duplicate 411 and 412, put them in my Bench set!

downgoesfrazier

Reggie,
77 is a very tough year. Your findings are the rule rather than the exception. I do have hundreds of extra 8's and 9's available if you'd like to put something together. Email me if you have any questions about 1977 Baseball or interest in some graded copies.

dgf

dude

<<I think the GAI 9 label specifically means all contents are untampered as it was fresh from an unopened vending case and it also grades the condition of the box. >>

I believe you are being a little too presumptuous that it was untampered with. Since those boxes weren't sealed, there is probably no way of knowing for sure if the box was searched and cards were switched before it was graded.

packCollector

my understanding is that GAI will only grade vending boxes from sealed cases. that's how it was when they started but may have changed. if you take the cert # and run it in their database there should be 23 other boxes in front of or in back of that #.

as for vending as dgf , the king of 77 said , it is the rule. I bought several of these back before they were expensive and you get dings , centering is miserable and all kinds of packing and print issues. If you get 40-50 high grade cards per box, you did well. I have stacks of o/c's as that is more common than centered.

If you like 77's talk to dgf, he is the man when it comes to those cards.

phil , email me , I have 1 more 10 left sitting on my desk with your name on it, 2 pop and redSoxJeff has the other. maybe more to come later , I hope.

dude

<<my understanding is that GAI will only grade vending boxes from sealed cases.>>

Hmmm, I was always under the impression that it's very difficult to determine if a case has been resealed. Does GAI also grade sealed cases?

reggie1

40-50 gradeable out of the vending box is exactly what i got. Packcollector knows his stuff. Thanks for the info.

downgoesfrazier

Reggie,
They're all "gradeable". What that grade IS, however, is the key.


dgf

downgoesfrazier

Duncan,

I need your email address again...my bad! Thanks!



dgf

gemint

If I recall, GAI originally stated that only boxes that came from a sealed case could get a 10 rating. Anything less than that grade only means they deem the box as unsearched but don't guarantee that it came directly from a sealed case.

For mid-70s onward, I think it's much better to seek out high grade raw sets to submit rather than playing the vending box game. Complete sets can be had for much less money, contain all the stars, and you know what you are getting when you drop your money. They probably won't yield PSA 10 Brett's but face it, how many vending boxes yield them? Most people don't bother to submit commons, so a nice high grade set should yield plenty of PSA 9 commons if you know how to prescreen them.

Pittfan

I have cracked a few 77 vending boxes in the last couple years. It is real hard to find Mint cards in those boxes. I averaged around ten 9's per box, with only one 10 ever. Although I did get lucky once and pulled a Gem Mint 10 1 of 1 Rod Carew. I then sold to Red Sox Jeff on Ebay. If it weren't for that card I don't think I would come close to breaking even on the boxes. You can pick up some cheap 9's on ebay for 5 bucks.

SOM

dgf - may I have your email address, to ask you about 77's? Thanks! Nick

magellan

Reggie , First of all, welcome aboard the 1977 bandwagon !

My strategy in building the set is to buy as many large lots as possible on eBay -PSA 8's are quite reasonable that way and you can sometimes find lots of 100 cards or more. I'm about 30 % complete on the set in 3 months by buying from eBay and members of the board. You'll find quite a bit of help here and dgf is indeed the king of 77's (no offense to King Kellogg intended).

Good luck with this set and happy collecting.

Dave

ctsoxfan

I posted about my recent 1977 vending experience on another thread, and I actually found fewer gradeable cards than you did, Reggie. But, I feel the ones I found were blazers, and I hope they do well. My box wasn't GAI graded, but I got a nice deal on it, and it was definitely unsearched. I am about to launch my 1977 set on the Registry as well (can't have too many at once, drives you nuts!), I would rate this set as my personal 3rd favorite (after 1980, and 1979). Looks like things in 1977 are going to heat up -

highend

why is it that wax seems to yield better gradeable material than vending?

packCollector

not for 77, I opened 10 packs recently and didn't get a gradable packs . all packs were purchased raw from a reliable source a few years ago and then gai graded before opening


gemint , I think you are thinking about packs. the original idea written in murphy's book , I think, was that a pack couple not get a 10 if it didn't come from a case. I think I read about the vending or was told by SR that they had to come from a case.

scottsusor

<< <i>why is it that wax seems to yield better gradeable material than vending? >>


Probably because the cards themselves were produced earlier -- meaning, the cutters were better aligned, blades were sharper, rollers weren't "dirty" (causing the "snow" effect), etc. These cards had to be produced first because they needed time for sorting, wax wrapping, boxing, and shipping to retail outlets. Cards for vending cases didn't require as much peripheral activity and were likely printed up later. They only had to be boxed up and shipped to dealers in plain boxes. Just a guess though.

Edited to add: Reggie1 -- Thanks for the compliment. It may soon be safe to resume posting new topics again. We'll see.

Scott

GATOR5

Reggie,

Sorry to hear you pain. I myself have launched into the 77's also buying a vending case from steve hart. It was factory sealed and compression tested. I cracked 8 vending boxes with pretty decent results so far and all will go to ebay this weekend. Some vending boxes provided great results and a few were horrible. Corners were pretty strong, centering an print can bring you to your knees. I have two vending boxes left to sell and the other half case will go into the closet.

Phil,

Give me a shout this afternoon looks like a slow day at work and the second shipment is in.

Gator

Pittfan

Gator5. If you don't mind me asking what did you pay for the unopened case?

downgoesfrazier

Matt,
ring...ring...ring...you really need an answering machine I'll get you this weekend.

dgf

RobE

Matt,
ring...ring...ring...you really need an answering machine I'll get you this weekend.