Dark Ages in Collecting

Eddo33

Me and my brother were bored last night so we decided to open up a few packs that I had been saving for awhile
He picked out a 1989 Donruss wax box to open and since I needed a nice Clemens to add to my Clemens set, I said go for it.
Would you believe not 1 Rated Rc, and no star cards what so ever. I then started thinking back at how shady some of the dealer were back in the late 80's early 90's. How everybody was a dealer out to make a buck.

I remember buying about 10 or so 1992 Fleer Cello's trying to get the Rc Sensations, only to get the packs home and seeing a pin hole in the back of the pack and knowing I been made. It was too late to drive back to the Card show I got these at.

I know these aren't expensive items but it still ticks me off.

Anybody else have any horror stories from unopened wax from the Dark period.

RedHeart54

Didn't most Fleer cellos in the early 1990s have that pinhole on the back as to release air?

Most dealers knew, with experience, how to spot the collation in fresh boxes of Upper Deck by opening a pack on the top and then knowing what subsequent packs held certain cards. The honest ones would immediately mix up the packs after unsealing a box. I also knew of another who made a little measuring device out of wood to determine which packs held certain insert cards. The "fatter" packs always, of course, yielded the hot insert of the day.

I don't know if the early 1990s necessarily were "dark days". In any market with money to be made, people will take advantage of any advantages they can think up. There are probably as many crooked ways people make money in this hobby today as the '80s and '90s. The current fad is switching graded cards or selling cards graded by boiler-room companies that are obviously trimmed or otherwise altered. It just reminds us hobbyists to remain on our toes with every purchase.

BigRedMachine

Speaking of things I think are shady, I've got a friend who has been buying a lot of packs on ebay that guarantee an auto or game used.

Everytime he gets the pack, the pack always has a game used or auto, and the seller's feedback generally reflects this is almost always the case. The problem is, the game used cards he is pulling wouldn't bring $2.00. They're always pretty common.

I'm skeptical the sellers are somehow resealing packs. But most packs this day and age seem harder to open and reseal than of days past, so I don't know how they are doing this. If they are measuring/weighing/feeling the packs for game used, that's one thing. But the prices they are getting for them is not much. A lot of boxes my have two or three game used a box, but if you sell the game used packs for $10 a piece, that certainly doesn't cover the cost of boxes these days. And who is buying the other packs in the box? Certainly this isn't a shop owner taking out the good packs. Word would get around pretty quick no one is pulling any cards from his boxes. But it would be profitable to reseal packs with poor game used cards (i.e. a juan gonzalez bat card numbered to 1000) and get $10 out of them.

Any idea what the scam here is?? Or any idea as to what I might be missing. I have no seller in particular I'm worried about, there are plenty on eBay that seem legit. Just seems impossible to make a profit if it were legit.

Shawn.

iamthegreatcornholio

<< <i>Any idea what the scam here is?? Or any idea as to what I might be missing. I have no seller in particular I'm worried about, there are plenty on eBay that seem legit. Just seems impossible to make a profit if it were legit.

Shawn. >>



A lot of these scumbags do it at retail stores. They "feel up" all the packs on display. So not only are the packs they leave behind "cold", but the cards inside are usually damaged (bent corners, etc.) as a result of them feeling up the packs.

Stone193

Eddo
That's disappointing - not because of the cost but wanting to have some fun.

Many of the boxes from the late 80s and early 90s were reported to have identical collation - not sure about the Donruss boxes. Cellos - yes.

And I agree with RedHeart - there were "air holes" in cellos of that type with the 92F included. They did take advantage of that fact and put a halogen light up against the packs to find the dark blue rookie sensation card - as I was told at flea markets - the cesspool of shifty info on the card biz in the early 90s.

BTW, if you are still looking for that 89D Clemens - PM me your address - I'll check for you - and send the best one I can find - no charge.

Happy New Year
mike

Eddo33

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your generosity. I have a few on top of rack packs and don't need the card it just made me mad for him, as I was gonna give him the big named cards in the set.( Griffey, Schilling, Unit) He looked at me as if this was some kind of joke when we didn't pull anything.

I was just hoping to pull a dead on gem mint copy, I have it in a PSA 9.

That would explain why I never pulled any good inserts except when I got packs at my local Red and White store.

I remember buying tons of rack packs at Kmart and Toys or us and never getting the Griffey Rc.

I did get 3 Upper Deck Griffey's at a Kmart once, I was 12 and had no idea of collation back then.

Guess I was lucky there. Did trade one for a 1987 Fleer Will Clark when he was hot. Not so lucky there.

helionaut

The 92F Cellos had the airhole because the wrapper was basically plastic sealed by melting it shut. The airhole was needed to keep it from turning into an airtight pillow with the hot air inflating it.. But you didn't need a halogen lamp to spot the Rookie Sensations. They could easily be picked out through the white side panel of the pack.

The guaranteed packs on ebay are mostly resealed, some are just searched out by feel. It's not hard to do. You can either glue the packs shut, or melt them together because, again, the metalized wrappers are basically just plastic. Look on ebay for "plastic resealer" and you'll find them. So you are getting what you paid for. But if you expect there to be a Ruth signature in that "guaranteed" Legendary Cuts pack, think again.

I don't know about the 1989 Donruss box. Seems like maybe that box might've been scraped a long time ago. When boxes cost $9, packs were easy to reseal, and singles sold for $.50-$3, more than one scumbag tried to burn both ends of the candle.