1976 and 1977 vending boxes

sushihotwings

I was watching this auction with interest and thought for sure they would sell for more. I must admit I am relatively unfamiliar with vending boxes as compared to wax, rack,cello so maybe nobody else is surprised. I always found it peculiar people would be willing to shell out large amounts of money for what seem to be basically large boxes of cards open to the world for anyone to search at any time and then sell the rest of the box minus the stars. Many have no seal so how do you really know somebody wasn't fingering out the best? What are the telltale signs that they are searched etc. These were shrink wrapped by a third party (not BBCE) so maybe others were skeptical as well even though the seller has excellent feedback. Kind of makes me wonder why both needed to be sold at once as well. Is there something that buyer will find on shipment that creates a question as to quality of the other? I am not making accusations. Just thinking aloud and curious how other people view buying vending boxes on Ebay and protecting yourself.





http://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-1...bly-RARE-/262353379093

grote15

Vending is a minefield unless you are certain of the provenance. The only certification that carries a strong premium without knowing for certain the boxes are unsearched is BBCE. In this case, it might have actually helped the hammer price if the seller had unwrapped the boxes to display the brick of cards within so that the bidder/buyer could scrutinize the patterning of the cards within the box.

sushihotwings

For instance, here is another listing of a vending box with a picture of the vending box lid open with the cards open to the world showing just asking to be picked through and placed back in. How do you know they aren't picked through with pictures like this? I have never actually held a vending box. Are they packed in there real tight and once the cards have been removed there is something obvious to see?



http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-T...10%26sd%3D262353379093

grote15

The cards within an unsearched vending box should bear alternating light and dark "striping" throughout the box and the cards should be tightly packed. It is difficult to know for certain if a vending box has been picked through, though, unless you sort through the cards. There was a guy on ebay last summer who was selling 78 Topps baseball vending boxes from a case he had. I bought one, opened it and discovered it was indeed unsearched, so I bought several others for a nice price (around $500 per box). BBCE certification removes a lot of that risk factor for the buyer, but with that comes a premium in pricing, too.

sushihotwings

Cool, thanks for the information. Definitely a plus with vending, if the box is good, you know there will be no wax or gum stains. Maybe a I will buy a modern cheaper one just to get a feel for one without the high cost risk to open and get a feel and look

Arsenal83

Grote is on the mark on this one. Even with the "striping" pattern on the cards, one could easily pull out a few cards to allow the rest of the cards to be thumbed through while in the box, remove the star cards and then replace the removed cards. So long as the number of cards removed aren't significant, the pattern would be seemingly unmolested and no one would know the difference.

Make sure you buy from a trusted source, who hopefully bought from a trusted source.

sushihotwings

Thanks Brian. I guess buying from a trusted source wins again. Another thing I have always found curious with potential for "Tom Foolery" is the 1 cent wax pack which I think might be one of the worst inventions ever. I mean the idea of buying a vintage 1 cent pack is very tempting, but what you are garunteed is a single card with a wax and gum strain and likely whoever you are buying from knows who the card is. So why bother? I admit I am not an expert by any means, but I assume more clever people have figured a way to see what card is through the wrapper in some manner or another even it isn't obvious to everyone. I am also assuming that most 1 cent packs have gum. Thoughts anyone?

flatfoot816

more than anything the seller could have sent it to BBCE for authentication and made 40-50% more on his sales. Why wouldn't someone do that? He notes BBCE in the description so it's not like he did not know about them. As noted even with the "vending pattern curl"--it's possible to search a portion of the box and then restock it. Don't buy vending if you cannot trust the source 100%

Dboneesq

Manny ... you are always up way too early ... I'm going back to bed for an hour!

1neatstuff

Manny i dont believe steve will authenticate single vending boxes unless they are from a sealed case or if they come from larry fritsch

grote15

Originally posted by: 1neatstuff

Manny i dont believe steve will authenticate single vending boxes unless they are from a sealed case or if they come from larry fritsch

Correct. Steve will not wrap/authenticate loose vending boxes. The only exception to that rule is boxes from Fritsch.

sushihotwings

Interesting how complex and expensive our hobby has become in order to make it safer.

thebaseballcardkid

Originally posted by: sushihotwings
Interesting how complex and expensive our hobby has become in order to make it safer.

If interesting = depressing and complex = shady.