X Out Wax Boxes
jfkheat
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How much does the X out effect the value of the Topps wax/cello boxes? For example, what would an 81 Football box be valued at in the X out and the non X out versions?
James
James
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<< <i>How much does the X out effect the value of the Topps wax/cello boxes? For example, what would an 81 Football box be valued at in the X out and the non X out versions?
James >>
If two otherwise identical boxes were listed for sale where one was an X-Out and one was not, would you bid differently on one vs. the other? If so, how much different? There's your answer.
For me, if I intend to rip it, it doesn't matter if the box has an X. If I were going to keep it unopened, then I prefer no X. Sometimes an X is good because it could supply enough peer-pressure to tear open the packs rather than store them sealed...
I opened an X'd box of 1984 Topps Hockey once and got 3 Yzermans and plenty of the other hits too, so I was content enough with the collation.
X-out boxes from the late 70's/1980's are for the most part complete boxes that the Retailer had to return for a credit. There is a small percentage of boxes collated from several partially empty boxes, but that is a small percentage. Back then they way it worked with retailers was that they had to Pre-Order the number of boxes they thought would sell of any given product. If they ordered say 10 boxes of 1984 Football for there store and sold out 6, they would then have one opened box and three sealed, they would normally throw the open box packs in a close-out bin and return the three boxes to the distributor for a credit. Either the Distributor were authorized by Topps to clearance them out or they would send them back to Topps. You would have to have been a very large dealer to have multiple open boxes of the same product going at the same time. Not saying it didn't happen, but I would venture that the percentage of boxes made from packs is 1-2% at worst.
It was the same thing with Comic Books, you had to pre-order the exact number of copies of an issue that you wanted for your store. If you ordered 100 copies of X-Man #132 and only sold 60 that month, you held them together and ran a sharpy across the stack of issues to make a black mark on the bottom or top pages. This is how you know now that a copy was returned. I have 300 count Boxes that have the Black Mark across them, as long as they didn't get careless or too fast, the comics in single issues are hard to tell, some almost not noticible, plus the fact almost no collectors know of this practice it really isn't an issue. I did because I lived, worked, and breathed in Comic Stores in the 80's! Back in the 60's and 70's, it was worse for collector's, they ripped off the covers and just returned them, throwing away the rest!!!
I could care less if a box is X-d out today.
My 2cents
Neil
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Unless it comes straight from a sealed case, it does not matter. The "non X out" boxes look prettier, but unless they came from a sealed case, they are just as likely to be a compiled box as an "X out" box is. It's also very simple to transfer packs from an X out box to a non X out box. Even X outs straight from a case have a possibility of having NEVER been touched before...many of those cases were returned to Topps in sealed form, opened up by Topps employees, had the X or Line placed on the box, resealed in a case and stamped "Final Sale".
<< <i>Here's my $.02-
Unless it comes straight from a sealed case, it does not matter. The "non X out" boxes look prettier, but unless they came from a sealed case, they are just as likely to be a compiled box as an "X out" box is. It's also very simple to transfer packs from an X out box to a non X out box. Even X outs straight from a case have a possibility of having NEVER been touched before...many of those cases were returned to Topps in sealed form, opened up by Topps employees, had the X or Line placed on the box, resealed in a case and stamped "Final Sale". >>
You kind of answered my question. I have a box of 1988 Football cellos with an "X" on it, and a 1987 Football cello box without an "X" on it. But I have a sealed 1988 Wax box WITH an "X" on it. Does this mean packs have been re-assembled into a box and then resealed?
<< <i>Not sure what you mean by "sealed"...do you mean like someone who once owned it wrapped it in cellophane or shrink wrap? I don't recall Topps "sealing" individual boxes...at least not in the 80's??? Anyway, to try and answer your question, I don't believe one can assume that an x out box is always a "pieced" together box....nor can one assume that a non x out box contains its factory original 36 packs. I just think that the x out boxes have sort of an unfair reputation as "lesser" boxes. Your 88 cello and wax boxes could very well have their factory original 24 and 36 packs....hard to know. I think the ONLY way to ensure you get factory original 36/24 pack boxes is to buy them from sealed NON X out cases....a lot easier said than done, but...... >>
In 1988, they seemed to have sealed the boxes in cellophane. I am not sure if someone resealed them or topps sealed them. I see topps sealed baseball as early as the 1990 (not sure before that).
James
<< <i>I think if I were ripping it I'd rather have a non-X box. The X box could be a compilation of a handful of packs from numerous other boxes. Collation being what it is, I'd rather rip 36 straight from Topps. >>
This is how I would prefer to do it as well. That being said Ive ripped plenty of both