GAI unopened price guide

spazzy

I inquired with Mike Baker at GAI about the still forthcoming Unopened Price Guide and according to him it will be available within the next few weeks. As we all know GAI doesnt always make their deadlines all the time but when ready I think it will be a welcome addition. The prices for graded packs prices are all over the board. Look at the Mastronet auctions and the Mr. Mint auctions...some of those prices were unexplainable.A 1961 fleer football pack graded sold for 75.00 last night! Six months ago they were selling in the 160.00 range. Oversupply may be an excuse but we as collectors have not had a current price guide since the graded pack market hit. I hate to see a company that has their hands in the grading part to make a guide but if they tally the auction prices,ebay and show and private sales in a fair manner it has to be better than what we have now ...which is not much. If this clicks I would like to see a registry of some sort for unopened packs. There are so many different series and variations for some years..it could help breathe some life into this very wacky hobby.

bobsbbcards

<< <i>If this clicks I would like to see a registry of some sort for unopened packs. There are so many different series and variations for some years..it could help breathe some life into this very wacky hobby. >>


I agree completely. Hopefully GAI can get this done. I'll look forward to buying a copy of the price guide when it's available. Thanks for the info!

bobsbbcards

How rude of me...

Welcome to the boards spazzy!!!

It sounds like you're an unopened pack collector. Do you have any scans to share or stories to tell?

spazzy

Thanks for the welcome Bob. I do not have a working scanner right now but will attempt to grab one in the future.
I think everyone has their favorite stories of unopened pack heaven. I think a good thread would be what was the best cards that you pulled out of a pack that came back suspected tampered or resealed? I sent in a 1968 beautiful cello baseball pack when grading first started and it came back suspect. We had a little pizza and beer party with my friends and opened the pack ...We received beautiful cards including a very sharp colorful Tom Seaver card. I never have had it graded it since everytime i look at it i just smile....oh yes we kept the beer and food off it too.

jmoran19

I've had a 68 football series 1 wax pack returned as resealed so I opened it up. Pulled two HOFer's, Tommy McDonald and Dick Butkus, both are well centered and have sharp corners. The pack also contained 2 posters, one was Len Dawson. 99% sure it was not resealed. Rather have GAI error this way than the other way!

bobsbbcards

I've got a 1960 baseball pack that I fear won't make the cut if I send it off. Wrapper looks a little suspect. I half want it to fail the GAI sniff test so I can open it when I get it back (plus I can drink beer and pizza when I do it....well, I wouldn't drink the pizza.....never mind).

milbroco

Welcome to the boards spazzy.
Nothing much from me except that I bought a 1980 Topps cello pack that I thought was tampered with for sure because of the very loose wrapping. I opened it and the second to the last card was the Henderson rookie.......graded a 9 by PSA. Very happy naturally.

jayhawke

Does anyone have a link to the Al Rosen unopened pack auctions?

KansasJayhawk

Noooooooooo, I have my own little price guide (on packs that I collect), looks like the deals may be harder to come by once a "price guide" is out. It will be nice to have something, should be interesting to see what the prices look like.

bobsbbcards

<< <i>Does anyone have a link to the Al Rosen unopened pack auctions? >>



Here's a link. If you have trouble going to it, just go to ebay and get a listing of completed auctions by eacgallery with the search word pack*

Mr. Mint's Unopened Pack Auctions

rw2win

I'm betting on Monday...

spazzy

It is such a rush to once in a while open up a vintage pack for fun. We waste our money on 5.00 coffee drinks, and buy bottled water for 2.00 as well as the other temptations so why not just open a pack. We should have" OPEN ONE OF YOU VINTAGE PACK DAYS" and everyone who collects stuff like us report what they got. It could be a 1 cent pack or a 5 cent pack. We only live once so lets relive our childhoods.

spazzy

By the way did anyone see Mr. Mint boasting that he bought a rare box of 1961 football. The 1 cent box has 120 packs. He is selling them based on gai grade 275.00 and up. How rare can it be now that there are 120 packs now. Can it be absorbed or will it be a good deal in six months ?...I hope the later

TheCARDKid

<< <i>By the way did anyone see Mr. Mint boasting that he bought a rare box of 1961 football. The 1 cent box has 120 packs. He is selling them based on gai grade 275.00 and up. How rare can it be now that there are 120 packs now. Can it be absorbed or will it be a good deal in six months ?...I hope the later >>



Is that from his SCD ad?

bobsbbcards

<< <i>Is that from his SCD ad? >>


Yes. Story was that guy named Mike found the box in his aunt's attic and shopped it around to Mr. Mint and several auction houses. None of the auction houses would buy it from him (good for them, that's not what they should do) so he went back to Mr. M. Here's the price structure for all of you eager buyers:
GAI 8 $295
GAI 8.5 $350
GAI 9 $475
GAI 9.5 $575
GAI 10 $775

All prices are postpaid. I'd love to know what he paid Mike's aunt's nephew for the box. With 120 packs at the median price of $475 (ppd), the final "hammer" price for this sale would be $57,000. I really wouldn't expect this box to bring $57,000 at auction but I'm no expert on 1961 Topps Football penny packs. If every pack does sell and the box really would have brought $57,000 at auction (with buyer's penalty), then Mike would have netted $37,269.23 if he had gone the auction route. Mike's aunt is rolling over in her grave (assuming she's dead).

Axtell

Does GAI have a website? I am unable to find it.

bobsbbcards

GAI website

Why they don't have www.gaicard.com is beyond me. Also, the fact that they don't come up on google is equally baffling.

Axtell

Yeah I searched both yahoo and google for it, and couldn't come up with it.

Thanks for the link.

CDsNuts

Yay, 120 wax stained cards for $60k. Honestly, I can understand someone wanting a pack for its rarity, but I don't see how the box could be worth that much. To me, the mystique of a vintage unopened pack is the cards that may be inside and the possibility of them being in great condition. Only a handful of the 1961's will bring $300 in PSA 9 condition, and the best you can hope for out of that is a PSA (ST). Maybe it's just me being a guy who loves to open stuff (cheap or esxpensive), but I just don't see the value in the old penny packs.

Lee

Fletch1750

With all of the horror stories coming out of GAI, do you trust the GAI pack grading? I recently heard a story where a collector had several high dollar packs lost by them. Who are the experts grading them. I would feel a lot more comfortable if PSA were grading the packs.

Axtell

Just checked out their website and wow, it's a mess. Hard to navigate, tough to find the information you want.

They need to (a) register GAI.com or GAIcard.com and (b) get rid of the monkey designing their website.

Mantlefan

Yay, 120 wax stained cards for $60k.

Agree...you can't open them to get a gradeable card and how many FB wax pack collectors are out there? 20 or 30. Not a good deal.

With all of the horror stories coming out of GAI, do you trust the GAI pack grading? I recently heard a story where a collector had several high dollar packs lost by them. Who are the experts grading them. I would feel a lot more comfortable if PSA were grading the packs.

The GAI monopoly on pack grading is depressing. PSA would be well advised to jump in the market.

spazzy

I just dont understand why sellers would let Mr. Mint use their name to advertise his buys. If the persons name is really Mike , he should be pissed that good old friend Mr. Mint jumped in and made the potential of $30.000 off him and used his name...but i guess that was his choice. I prefer whatever i do to be a private matter.

Griffins

About 3 years ago I placed an ad in SCD looking for a particular set. I got called by a guy that had a stash of them, but he said he was probably going to sell everything to Rosen. He'd always wanted to be part of Rosen's "find". When I told him I was a collector that would pay top price (backed up by Mastro and ebay prior sales) and that Rosen was just flipping it for a quick 30% he said it didn't really matter that much to him, he just wanted to work with "The Mint Man".
You gotta admire good marketing.

Griffins

<< <i>PSA would be well advised to jump in the market >>



Joe all but shot that down at the registry lunch last year. It was pointed out that PSA gave it's competition a huge foot in the door and an open market in packs. While initially cringing at that reality, he did point out that most pack collectors only collect 1 pack of each year, and it wasn't that big a market. Additionally, GAI had such a jump in the market that it just wouldn't be economically feasible.
At least we won't have to endure the stories of how dealers can cross packs from PSA to GAI for a half point bump.

Fletch1750

SGC?

KING KELLOGG

koby

<< <i>SGC? >>




SGC also does not grade unopened packs.