Why I Collect Unopend - Please Share Your Reasons Too!

bigdcards

I like the look and feel of the wax. I like knowing that I could open it and find the perfect card and that set in there. I also really enjoy the different designs and colors on the packs. Non-sport is better in that way and it's fun to have the packs from my favorite old shows and the like. But the driving force behind my collection and why I like giving it the time I do is the same as most collectors. I love the memories and here's why....

My best memories from collecting as a child and even some of my best memories period are when I would go to the card shops in the 80s with my dad and my brother. It started when my brother wanted just to check out a shop. Well, my dad saw a '59 Mantle in the display case and was instantly hooked. Suddenly we were hitting multiple shops every weekend (frozen yogurt too). He would usually give us 5 or 10 dollars ('85 - '87). That was enough to love looking, but not enough to go hog wild. Regardless, I didn't drool over the cards in the cases. I dreamed of having the packs and boxes on the wall. I wanted to open them at the time, but I didn't get boxes, so the box remained the dream. I loved looking at the wall with the line of boxes that were open with packs on display. There was one shop who had all the packs in a long display that wasn't behind the counter. It was on the wall with the customers for us to just to hover over. He had every year lined up going back to '51. Back then I always thought it would be so awesome to have a '52 pack. Of course at $100 or whatever it was, was totally out of reach. But looking down the line was awesome at the time and I really wish I had a picture of that set-up. When we did buy packs and ripped them, I did liked and collected the cards, but it was never as good as the actual trip to the shop.

I do like cards too, but for the most part the sets are filled with players I don't know and images that don't interest me. The wax is what brings back that feeling of card hunting with my family. I have a few shelves at home in a closet that where my fake card shop display is set up. It's out of the way which keeps my wife happy. but it's right where everyone is all the time and I peek in a few times a day. Best of all, it smells like gum in there. I have a different closet where I keep my rotating inventory. It really smells like gum in there.

Beyond what seems like a solid investment, why do you collect unopened?

RookieWax

I collect unopened for all the same reasons you do. And I love the gum smell as well...so I leave out a pile of 1980s gum as a room "air freshener".

Big80s

I have a very small unopened collection, but I love the idea of owning pieces of history sealed in the form they were initially distributed.

Dodgerfanjohn

My grandfather was a semi pro player in the 30's and was drafted but broke his leg sliding during his last semi pro game, and in those days, that was that.

He started buying me baseball cards in 1980 when I was 8. They were literally everywhere. I grew up in Rosemead, CA(suburb of Los Angeles) and my grandparents lived nearby in Montebello. My mom would visit my grandparents all day on Wednesdays...stay at home mom, quite an antiquated concept at this point as those neighborhoods were blue collar and middle class(and still are). So my grandfather would pick me up from school on Wednesdays and we'd go to Thriftys that was at Montebello Bl/Beverly Bl for ice cream. They had cards, the Woolworths in that shopping center had cards, and so did the grocery store there. And there was a baseball card store there too. Quite a good one as I remember...I always drooled over the Pete Rose rookie. And then of course there was the Sav On and attached grocery store at Whittier Bl/Montebello Bl. And they seemingly always had the best choice of stuff at that Sav On. The racks were hung on pegs, not in the rack boxes. I kinda was always grumpy at the racks since they didn't have gum. But you could see a bunch of players. I probably tore through 25-30 1980 rack packs that year, and even more wax. But my favorite was the cello. The most cards in a pack with gum, and you could see a couple players.

Ten years ago, I was at a show and a guy was blowing out 1987 cello boxes at $3 a pop so I bought one, knowing full well it was worthless. And after returning to the hobby late last year I saw that some of the 80's unopened was lower in price than it had been when I collected in past years. So I pounced and rapidly completed a run of cello boxes 1981-1991(last year gum was in packs of base Topps). 1980 is at more than I want to spend, and not sure ill ever fork over that much money.

Also picked up a few 80's wax boxes, but will probably rip those at some point. So that's it. I like cello packs and boxes. They're easier to display than rack and look nicer than wax since you can see the top card.

RedHeart54

<< <i>I have a very small unopened collection, but I love the idea of owning pieces of history sealed in the form they were initially distributed. >>



That sums it up for me, too. I sold my wax tray collection last year but held onto some OPC hockey wax packs ('79, '80, 81..) and a few baseball packs. I just like the idea that the cards inside have been frozen in time for as long as the pack has been sealed.

Juggs

I've always wanted a display in my house of all the years wax that I collected as a kid ('78-86) with the boxes open so the packs were displayed. I may never get there, because I can't leave anything sealed, but I like to dream of it.

mrmopar

I collect only unopened packs that show Steve Garvey on the top or through the wrapper if it is not a rack or cello type. If I extended that collecting further at some point, it would only be about getting a type pack to show the different designs over the years, but that can also be achieved by collecting the empty/open wrappers too. Beyond that, the racks and cellos are obviously a big draw to player collectors and the value of unopened for the potential of what may be inside and the better condition usually is another obvious reason to collect them, but otherwise i don't see the point in leaving a perfectly good pack unopened!

I would have a terribly hard time not ripping open the best of unopened products, simply because that is what they were meant for.

aconte

<< <i>I have a very small unopened collection, but I love the idea of owning pieces of history sealed in the form they were initially distributed. >>



+2. Plus other reasons include:

I collect mostly 1975 mini unopened. It's my favorite set and I still have my first set I put together in 1976 with my dad and brother.

They display rather nicely.

Great group of collectors involved with unopened.

Not the usual run of the mill stuff.

Corncobb is a big fan of unopened too.

aconte

aconte

Here's on for mrmopar:



aconte

1957Braves

Great topic. Like everyone else mentioned, reliving my childhood through unopened packs. Most of my collecting was done in the ultra worthless junk era (86-91), so being able to go a few years back and get some sealed items are exciting for me. Part of it is investment as well. Lots of people like ripping the boxes looking for high grades, but there is a saying in the 1800s, only a few people got rich panning for gold. Most people made their money selling people the supplies to pan. Seems strangely relevant.

Dboneesq

<< <i>Back then I always thought it would be so awesome to have a '52 pack. Of course at $100 or whatever it was, was totally out of reach. >>


I know it's been shown many times on these boards, but I thought it was an appropriate time to show it again:

bunt

ahh heck, I'd lick that picture if I could. Not the manekin, but more towards the stack of boxes area. Possbly the 'bubble gum with 5 picture card' sign also. Would be fine with licking that. Anyione else in to this ?

Dboneesq

<< <i>ahh heck, I'd lick that picture if I could. Not the manekin, but more towards the stack of boxes area. Possbly the 'bubble gum with 5 picture card' sign also. Would be fine with licking that. Anyione else in to this ? >>



Hey, why not ... probably looking at about TWENTY-ONE MILLION DOLLARS in today's value. About 175 boxes with 24 packs each @ $5,000.00 per.

bunt

hahahahaa.. yep

mrmopar

yes, that would stay unopened in my collection if I had it. I'm sure that I wouldn't pay what the market dictates on it though. I seem to remember one like it, maybe this one, selling on ebay not that long ago. i wrote down what it sold for, but it is buried in notes and paperwork now. I like them, but they are a small portion of the overall collection. Too many unopened guys competing for the sake of the pack and not as much the player on top possibly?



<< <i>Here's on for mrmopar:



aconte >>

jmoran19

Cause it reminds me of easy times where all you had to worry about was going to grade school and getting enough friends to play sports till the street lights turned on

Can you guess which boxes have actual unopened packs?

PaulMaul

I wish I had the space for a display case like that. I've made a science out of compact storage.