My Unopened Material From BBCE Just Arrived!

envoy98

Woo Hoo! Let the ripping begin.

81Topps Cello Baseball
83 Topps Vending Baseball (already got a decent Sandberg RC in the first 75 cards)
84 Topps Vending Baseball
84 Fleer Cello Baseball
87 Donruss Wax Baseball

I'll let you know how it goes.

Hopefully better than the VG-Ex 4 I just got on my Namath rc...dammit.

softparade

joy joy joy !

TheCARDKid

The week isn't complete without a box break thread.

Scans! Scans!

ldferg

ditto the card kid...scans, scans.

Stone193

Josh
I got an email from Steve - he gave me 4 vending out of a fresh case.

Congrats so far!!

Don't be shy about scans! We want scans!

envoy98

Hmm. Well, I didn't hit the jackpot but I am happy with what I received from him.

Brief rundown of my experience

81 Topps Cello - Awesome. These were in great shape. I am VERY happy with them. Centering was good on most, corners were better than I expected for cello, and I pulled a few stars.. Good break and I had fun, I would buy another box. No stars showing on front or back of any of the cellos. Oh yeah, and gum stains were very minimal. Grade: B+

83 Topps Vending - I wouldn't buy this again. It was definitely not searched which is good. I pulled 2 Sandberg rookies, one is nice (9 probably) and a Mike Schmidt all star that is very nice. other than that, not a thing to speak of. The box was a bit damaged and there were probably 50 cards or so that were damaged as a result. Grade: C

84 Topps Vending - Save your $20. I did pull one card worth speaking of, and that's the Mattingly rookie. It was a fun break, again I don't think it was searched but there was substantial damage to the box and probably 100+ cards had significant damage, the good news is that 99% of them were complete no-namers...the bad news is that the entire box was that way. I did get a Boggs that was damaged. No Ryan, Ripken or Rose though. Grade: D-

84 Fleer Cello - Awesome again. I couldn't be happier with the condition of the cellos or the cards inside them. Centering was fantastic on 90%+, corners were in great shape, even on most of the top and back cards. No stars showing on front or back of any of the packs. The Mattingly is great, just a bit OC. Got a very nice Strawberry RC and some other ones I have to go through still. A fun rip, no problems with any of the stickers or anything either. Grade: B+

87 Donruss Wax - Again, should've saved my money. Was very odd, in the two packs I pulled rookies (Maddux and Bonds) I had a small stack of cards turned the other direction ie the first card was face up, the next few cards were the other way with the back facing me, then a few cards with the front facing me again. No other packs had that. I did get a McGwire and Bo Jackson and both of those packs were like the others...all facing me. I dunno what the deal was. The Bonds is nice as were all the cards in that box. I managed 1 Maddux, 1 Bonds, 2 Will Clarks, 1 Bo Jackson and 1 McGwire. 0 Rose, Ryan or Larkin. I did get a nice Clemens too. Grade: C

So I think I'll be checking out another box of 84 Fleer Cellos, 81 Topps Cellos and maybe some other stuff. I think I'll stay away from vending. This was a great experience with Steve. My stuff arrived via UPS today, it was packed very well and arrived quickly and in great shape.

I pulled out some really nice Carew's and some other cards (team cards etc) If anyone has any requests I'll be happy to see what I have. I'll probably have the majority of the HOF'ers and RC's holdered if they're worthy. If anyone has any set needs from any of these I'd be happy to help out as well. Or, if you're a player collector I'll see what I have. I pulled the obvious ones (Schmidt, Henderson, Rose, Ryan, Brett, Carew) There were some nice Carlton Fisk cards I saw...if anybody collects him.





Edited to add more scans.

rugbymarine

Were there any PSA 10-worthy Jim Palmers in the '81 or '83 Topps ??

envoy98

I'll be digging through them again over the next few days, pulling out PSA 10 quality cards. If I find any nice Palmers I'll let you know, I didn't pull any out while I was opening them though so I'm not positive.

Edited to say: Maybe 300DPI was the way to go on the scans...these look kinda crappy. I was trying to keep the size big but the file-size down a bit.

Stone193

Nice Ryno card Josh!

What's with the ripply lines?

mike

Downtown1974

The Topps Mattingly and the Sandberg look real nice!!

envoy98

The "ripply lines" are because I left the lid up on my scanner and as the bulb moves across in stages it tends to wiggle the cards a bit, so they look skewed in the scans. I don't have any black paper I can put behind them before I close the lid so they don't move... They aren't as goofy as they look in the scans.

Here's a higher res scan, with the lid closed. I don't know if that's better or not. :

Stone193

I thought this is a good place to discuss my 83T vending box break - I bought 4 - opened 2 and will stop!

They are the worst!!!!

All of the cards are OC - I was lucky to get the Ryno I posted. I have never seen centering like this in my life! With respect to BBCE, everything is good - they were not messed with or anything. Bad luck? Perhaps.

My strategy? I will return the remaining 2 boxes and order wax. If that is just as bad. I will put together one of the most BUTT UGLY 83T sets on the planet!

BTW, I'm not upset, angry or anything - it's just cardboard. I am enjoying looking at the cards.

I have some great observations - for one the Boggs and Gwynn photos stink. They could've done better.

That's it guys.
Will give you a report when I get an email from Steve. I wanted his input on the quality of wax with respect to centering.

Anyone else have experience with 83T cards? In 83 I was stationed in El Paso - would pick up some packs at the "Circle K" stop and shop but never bought enough to even try to put a set together and I'm not even sure where those cards are in my closet!

mike

As posted before - this is the proverbial "pick of the litter!"

RipublicaninMass

Nothing could be worse than my 82 topps wax, every pack had 2 gum stains and a wax stain. NO RIPKENS,Ryans, hendersons, bretts or Roses,

Doubt it was messed with, just my horrid luck

Knuckles

Sharp cards

ldferg

rmass, did your 82t come from BBCE?

RipublicaninMass

yes^

julen23

'82 topps wax .... yikes!

I bought a lot of 20 '83 cello packs for $25 yesterday on e-bay, I will probably stink up the joint when I open the cards. If I get 1 card near the Sandberg shown, I will call it a victory for good guys.


Julen

williplett

Yep, gotta love unopened stuff. I bought some 1981 cellos from Steve a couple weeks ago and was happy. My only issue was with the Topps printing press! Did you pull Sutter, Gossage, Gura, Garvey, Lynn, Carlton, Lopes, Reggie Smith or Bench?

williplett

A quick question about unopened. Is it generally considered better to get unopened wax or cello? It seems as though people sometimes have an issue with the corners in cello. What are any pros and cons?

ldferg

willi,
i sent in a few 81 all-stars. will let you know what they come back as.

digicat

Has anyone had any experience getting loose rack packs from BBCE? Get any packs with stars showing? I'm thinking of picking up some 1985 Fleer racks, as opposed to a wax box.

williplett

I have never ordered any loose rack packs, but I have a box of 1981 wax coming from BBCE. I had decent luck with my 1981 cello box but want to see if I have better luck with the wax

envoy98

None of my cellos had a rookie/star/hof'er showing front or back except for a lone 84 Fleer Cello that had Yaz on the front.

Skinpinch

1983 Topps vend boxes. What memories!! I must have sorted about four cases worth of sets of those cards back then! I opened so many of them that I don't know if it would be a thrill to buy one now. Maybe I should buy a few for old time sakes and sort them to make a set! Maybe get a good ole cramp in the forearm and shoulder to bring the memories back!

Memories.