Any luck buying individual packs from BBCE?

MULLINS5

Adding some to my Group Rip order and wondering if anyone has bought and ripped individual packs purchased with any success.

ReggieCleveland

Sure. Got an Ozzie and a Nolan out of 4 packs of 79 OPC.

Pulled a Yount and Rose out of 4 packs of 78 OPC.

Pulled a McGwire and Clemens out of a handful of 85 Topps racks.

Mattingly from a few 84 OPC packs.

That's about it. I mostly buy boxes.

seebelow

His reputation with individual packs is as spotless as with various boxes. Many many examples can be found with a search of this forum.

In fact, many have attested that they've received cello boxes where steve obviously saw individual cello packs with stars showing and those cellos had remained in those boxes and sold by steve. Steve doesn't cherry pick known valuable cellos from boxes let alone unknown wax packs.

JWall037

<< <i>His reputation with individual packs is as spotless as with various boxes. Many many examples can be found with a search of this forum.

In fact, many have attested that they've received cello boxes where steve obviously saw individual cello packs with stars showing and those cellos had remained in those boxes and sold by steve. Steve doesn't cherry pick known valuable cellos from boxes let alone unknown wax packs. >>



I agree 100% with the above statements but I have read and been told stories by knowledgable dealers that the BBCE will gladly rewrap cherry picked boxes (cello or wax) after the key cards have been pulled for a fee. This allows the cherry picker to resell the box at BBCE premium pricing also giving the buyer a false sense of security.

grote15

<< <i>Sure. Got an Ozzie and a Nolan out of 4 packs of 79 OPC.

Pulled a Yount and Rose out of 4 packs of 78 OPC.

Pulled a McGwire and Clemens out of a handful of 85 Topps racks.

Mattingly from a few 84 OPC packs.

That's about it. I mostly buy boxes. >>



Those are some very nice hits, Arthur, in a small sample size! The 79 OPC Ozzie is an especially tough one~was centering decent?

jfkheat

<< <i>

I agree 100% with the above statements but I have read and been told stories by knowledgable dealers that the BBCE will gladly rewrap cherry picked boxes (cello or wax) after the key cards have been pulled for a fee. This allows the cherry picker to resell the box at BBCE premium pricing also giving the buyer a false sense of security. >>



If someone sends a box to BBCE for authentication how is he to know if the box has been "cherry picked"? Steve's obligation is to check the packs to be sure they haven't been tampered with. He can't verify that all of the packs are original to the box. Your statement that BBCE will GLADLY rewrap a cherry picked box is very unfair to BBCE. If a box has been cherry picked and sent in to be authentiacted the blame should be put on whoever sent the box in, not BBCE.
James

skrezyna23

<< <i>
If someone sends a box to BBCE for authentication how is he to know if the box has been "cherry picked"? Steve's obligation is to check the packs to be sure they haven't been tampered with. He can't verify that all of the packs are original to the box. Your statement that BBCE will GLADLY rewrap a cherry picked box is very unfair to BBCE. If a box has been cherry picked and sent in to be authentiacted the blame should be put on whoever sent the box in, not BBCE.
James >>



+1

wrongleg

I've pulled a 1978 Murray and Ryan from single pack purchases from BBCE.

ReggieCleveland

<< <i>

<< <i>Sure. Got an Ozzie and a Nolan out of 4 packs of 79 OPC.

Pulled a Yount and Rose out of 4 packs of 78 OPC.

Pulled a McGwire and Clemens out of a handful of 85 Topps racks.

Mattingly from a few 84 OPC packs.

That's about it. I mostly buy boxes. >>



Those are some very nice hits, Arthur, in a small sample size! The 79 OPC Ozzie is an especially tough one~was centering decent? >>



Oh hell no. I think it was probably 95/5 L/R. Still quite a thrill to pull an Ozzie rookie. I'm not sure if you're aware of this Tim, but some hobby enthusiasts might go so far as to generally characterize 1970s OPC centering as "poopy."

grote15

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Sure. Got an Ozzie and a Nolan out of 4 packs of 79 OPC.

Pulled a Yount and Rose out of 4 packs of 78 OPC.

Pulled a McGwire and Clemens out of a handful of 85 Topps racks.

Mattingly from a few 84 OPC packs.

That's about it. I mostly buy boxes. >>



Those are some very nice hits, Arthur, in a small sample size! The 79 OPC Ozzie is an especially tough one~was centering decent? >>



Oh hell no. I think it was probably 95/5 L/R. Still quite a thrill to pull an Ozzie rookie. I'm not sure if you're aware of this Tim, but some hobby enthusiasts might go so far as to generally characterize 1970s OPC centering as "poopy." >>



I opened a 77 OPC pack last weekend and pulled a Seaver centered 99/1 L/R and 85/15 T/B to remind me, LOL..

Juggs

Too many to list them all, but I can tell you that after I first heard about BBCE I did a small order just to test the waters. The very first pack I opened was a 1980 Topps baseball and I pulled a beautiful Henderson (that PSA thought was only an 8). A week later I made a larger order, which included a '78 Molitor/Trammell, an Yzerman OPC RC, and 2 Elway RCs.

Since then I've been doing pretty well.

Grimster

I have an order being shipped to me at the moment that has some packs. I sent in a box to get wrapped, added a couple other boxes and decided to grab some early fleer and donruss packs.

So I should have some first hand experience in the next few days, but until then I can just speculate that it will go as smoothly as my other box purchases have gone in the past

Juggs

<< <i>

<< <i>

I agree 100% with the above statements but I have read and been told stories by knowledgable dealers that the BBCE will gladly rewrap cherry picked boxes (cello or wax) after the key cards have been pulled for a fee. This allows the cherry picker to resell the box at BBCE premium pricing also giving the buyer a false sense of security. >>



If someone sends a box to BBCE for authentication how is he to know if the box has been "cherry picked"? Steve's obligation is to check the packs to be sure they haven't been tampered with. He can't verify that all of the packs are original to the box. Your statement that BBCE will GLADLY rewrap a cherry picked box is very unfair to BBCE. If a box has been cherry picked and sent in to be authentiacted the blame should be put on whoever sent the box in, not BBCE.
James >>

I'm not sure how Steve could even know the box has been "cherry picked". Also, with the poor collation for stuff before 1990, how do you even cherry pick a box? It's not like boxes are coming with only 1 hit and after you pull the hit from several boxes you combine the packs. I've seen, as an example, 81 Topps FB boxes with 3 Montana RCs in it.

PM770

<< <i>His reputation with individual packs is as spotless as with various boxes. Many many examples can be found with a search of this forum.

In fact, many have attested that they've received cello boxes where steve obviously saw individual cello packs with stars showing and those cellos had remained in those boxes and sold by steve. Steve doesn't cherry pick known valuable cellos from boxes let alone unknown wax packs. >>



I can attest to buying a 1984 Cello Box in the Summer of 2013 and one pack had a Mattingly on top. Also bought a 1985 Cello box once and almost every pack had a star op top. No Clemens, McGwire or Puckett, but Mattingly, Boggs, Sandberg, Gary Carter, Eddie Murray, HoJo, Dale Murphy, Fisk, Gossage. It was an incredible box.

MantleFan23

You should have no worries. I've purchased individual packs before and pulled RC's...most notably a Marino RC out of a 84 topps football pack. In addition, as part of our group rip one time, we broke up an 1985 topps rack box. I ordered one rack pack, and it had a McGwire rookie on top.

Jeremy

bounce

<< <i>

<< <i>

I agree 100% with the above statements but I have read and been told stories by knowledgable dealers that the BBCE will gladly rewrap cherry picked boxes (cello or wax) after the key cards have been pulled for a fee. This allows the cherry picker to resell the box at BBCE premium pricing also giving the buyer a false sense of security. >>



If someone sends a box to BBCE for authentication how is he to know if the box has been "cherry picked"? Steve's obligation is to check the packs to be sure they haven't been tampered with. He can't verify that all of the packs are original to the box. Your statement that BBCE will GLADLY rewrap a cherry picked box is very unfair to BBCE. If a box has been cherry picked and sent in to be authentiacted the blame should be put on whoever sent the box in, not BBCE.
James >>



I agree 100% that it's not BBCE "fault". And this is why FASC is such a big deal to some people (like me).

Dusto

I got one 1984 topps football cello pack for xmas and got a Marino in it.

Davis

I've had some luck. I didn't fair super well in the last group rip...but I have had some nice pulls. I pulled a Ripken RC from a pack a 82 topps. Pulled a Earl Campbell RC from 79 Topps.

PaulMaul

Years ago I ordered a run of cello packs from 1977-1982, with no stars specified. The '78 I received had Yount on top.

Mefer

I would not hesitate to buy anything from BBCE. Customer service is top notch and in the very, very unlikely chance you have an issue, Steve will make it right. If I had my eye on an individual pack, BBCE would be my go to source.

WalterSobchak

I once bought a '78 Topps rack pack from BBCE which contained a Hal McRae that I sent in to PSA- and it got the 10. At the time it was a POP 2, and I was able to sell it for about $250. This was back when you didn't have to take out a second mortgage to buy '78 Topps unopened.

That's the best hit I can remember as far as BBCE pack purchases. I can't remember any great star card hits. I seem to get a Pete Rose card in about 80% of the packs I buy from them. No idea why.

(Note that it's been a while since I've bought any packs from them.)

belz

It's hit or miss, but you can sleep at night knowing it's an authentic pack. I've had many duds, but I've also bought packs that had stars showing...I kid you not, I bought a an 81 rack with a real sharp Monk on the back. I usually buy wax though.

I love buying from BBCE. My very first box I bought from them is a pristine 84 football wax that I haven't touched...I believe it to be from a sealed case as it is so nice and possibly well before he was identifying fasc as such.

Good luck!!!