Finally sharing my BBCE Black Friday purchases . . . an instant wax pack run and some football cello

detroitfan2

Just finished the last day of work for 2014 and finally have a chance to sit down and enjoy my BBCE Black Friday purchases.

First off will be my "investments" purchase. I had not owned a PSA graded pack until this order. Never really planned on buying graded OPC hockey packs, but quick research showed that Steve's prices were more than fair, especially with the 10% off sale. Sorry the scans are kind of crappy, just set up a new wireless scanner and seems to be worse quality than my 10 year old scanner:

detroitfan2

Next are my "to be ripped" purchases. My birthday was during the BBCE sale, and I got a $100 check from the world's best aunt. The following football cellos (1981, 1984, 1986) totaled $110, so $99 with the discount. As a small side note, I'm admittedly a bit disappointed in the packs. I would have thought they were worthy enough to be sealed with BBCE tamper proof label, but maybe my expectations were out of whack and that is not done on individual packs. And the back on the 1984 . . . there is no way I would expect to sell a pack sealed like that and have a happy buyer, but it is what it is. Ripping will commence in a bit, results to be posted:

lawnmowerman

Very nice Thomas! Is that an "all in one" scanner? You may want to pick up a dedicated scanner for better quality scans.

Uphill

Very nice indeed. Love the graded hockey packs.

esquiresports

Those hockey packs are very cool looking. Great graphics. Congrats on the pickup.

detroitfan2

<< <i>Awesome hockey packs...I picked up a 1992 Bowman baseball box FASC, 87 DR wax case, 78 Fun Bags, 80 baseball wax / racks, and 77/78 basketball PSA 8s. The 10% off and extra special deal on the Fun Bags as well as free shipping totally appreciated. Thanks Steve and crew! >>



Sweet, did you open the 78 fun bags? I really wanted one or two of those as well but couldn't quite swing it. 80 baseball would also be a fun rip.

Davis

Love the hockey packs. Was the 1979-80 OPC PSA 9 pack from BBCE as well? I dont recall ever seeing that listed on there. Do you mind sharing what the pack ran you?

detroitfan2

<< <i>Love the hockey packs. Was the 1979-80 OPC PSA 9 pack from BBCE as well? I dont recall ever seeing that listed on there. Do you mind sharing what the pack ran you? >>



Yes, all of the packs were from BBCE. The 1979-80 was listed at $650, so price was $585. It represented the single most amount of money I have ever spent on an individual trading card item, but I felt like it was a solid investment given the limited sample size of past sales I was able to find.

detroitfan2

OK guys, unfortunately not much to show on the rip. The 86 pack was the best of the bunch, although the second "half" of the pack had slight diamond cuts (see the Reggie below). Nothing much worthy of scanning other than some eye candy for lawnmowerman (I know he's getting ready to start his "Cowboy Placekickers Who Resemble Erik Estrada" project to go along with his "Cowboy Backfield" project). I'm still not buying that the 84 cello was legit. The other two cellos opened up like Christmas presents, the 84 opened like it was sealed with an iron (the final card in the pack had "meltage staining"). Plus, there were 5 duplicates in the pack. I tore through a lot of cello packs back in the late 70's and 80's, I sure don't remember getting duplicates in the same pack, at least not from Topps.

ReggieCleveland

I don't believe BBCE can wrap/package packs that PSA will slab. Hence why your cellos weren't wrapped.

80sOPC

I would let BBCE know about the bad cello, 5 dupes sounds a bit off. My guess is they fire another one off to you. You spent 1200+ by the looks of it so I'd ask them their opinion.

bigdcards

<< <i>I would let BBCE know about the bad cello, 5 dupes sounds a bit off. My guess is they fire another one off to you. You spent 1200+ by the looks of it so I'd ask them their opinion. >>



I'm just guessing, but I would think topps terrible qc is more likely to cause 5 dupes than a pack resealer. Seems like an odd choice if someone wanted a pack to blend in as much as possible.

MULLINS5

Love the pickups! I recently purchased my first graded packs from BBCE and am hooked. Looking to pickup the years/issues you have as well.

Not too bad with the ripping. It's about the fun, right?

Patrick

dtkk49a

I'vs never had 5.dupes in a cello ever. I would return it for a refund.

detroitfan2

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I did send Steve a note. The duplicates were in exact sequence. They were the first 5 cards in the pack and the last 5.

ReggieC, thanks for the info on the packs. I swore I had seen others on this board with packs that had BBCE "seal", but maybe those were rack packs.

Anyway, as Patrick says, the rips are still a blast.

miwlvrn

<< <i>Just finished the last day of work for 2014 and finally have a chance to sit down and enjoy my BBCE Black Friday purchases.

First off will be my "investments" purchase. I had not owned a PSA graded pack until this order. Never really planned on buying graded OPC hockey packs, but quick research showed that Steve's prices were more than fair, especially with the 10% off sale. Sorry the scans are kind of crappy, just set up a new wireless scanner and seems to be worse quality than my 10 year old scanner:





>>



Nice OPC hockey run! I've noticed that there are graded wax packs up on ebay right now from each of 1974, 75, 76, and 77 OPC WHA that would look good in that collection (I am not the owner of them)

fergie23

Based on your description the 84 cello pack was legit, Topps sequenced their cards into the late 80s. Steve might work with you because you spent a fair amount with him and he likes to keep his customers happy but it won't be because the cello wasn't authentic.
As for the condition of the cello you see that occasionally as well. Quality control at the Topps factory wasn't always perfect and BBCE guarantees authenticity not prettiness.

Your graded hockey pack run is nice are you going to pick up 83 and 85 OPC packs as well?

Robb

detroitfan2

Robb, thanks for the feedback. I figured the fact that the duplicates were sequenced made it more likely that it was NOT a reseal. I am for sure going to fill in the missing packs from the 80's.

miwlvrn, I would love to go back into the 70's with the packs. I'm unsure if I will do the WHA or stick strictly with NHL.

seebelow

The graphics are cool and present well. How are you displaying them?

CocoaBeachDodgers

Plus, there were 5 duplicates in the pack. I tore through a lot of cello packs back in the late 70's and 80's, I sure don't remember getting duplicates in the same pack, at least not from Topps.

So, I wonder if there are 5 Elways in a pack out there floating around?

jmoran19

<< <i>Plus, there were 5 duplicates in the pack. I tore through a lot of cello packs back in the late 70's and 80's, I sure don't remember getting duplicates in the same pack, at least not from Topps.

So, I wonder if there are 5 Elways in a pack out there floating around? >>



He meant he got 5 cards twice. Not 5 of one card

It happens, seen a 1959 baseball cello pack opened where the sequence for the first half of the pack repeated 4/5 cards deep in the bottom half of the cello

detroitfan2

<< <i>The graphics are cool and present well. How are you displaying them? >>



So far displaying them in the box that BBCE sent them in .

Steve already replied to confirm that a repeated sequence is not uncommon in cellos as Robb mentioned below.

Davis

If anyone else was inspired by this thread, the 1979 OPC hockey pack PSA 9 is back in stock at bbce. To me, this is a holy grail of unopened. I had to pick one up.