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Which would you rather have.... Unopened or psa Rc's?
VintagemanEd
Posts: 922 ✭✭✭
Ok here is one of those futurevalue/ which would you rather have posts.... Let's be up front about it! There was a post about the boards being boring so let's have a discussion thread. I love unopened wax first and foremost over the years but in the past year it has been all HOF Rc's for me. So has your focus shifted? I am curious on thoughts of future value of unopened versus psa graded Rc's. If you had a Seaver RC in psa 8 and let's say a 77 and 78 Bbce baseball boxes which is worth more in 5 years? The Seaver or the combination of the 77 and 78 boxes.
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Let's liven things up with a topic that this board needs like a hole in the head!
Originally posted by: doctorperfecto
Prices usually plummet. Sell now!!
I'm still trying to figure out what you're bringing to the collecting community's table, both in this thread and in general. As far as I can tell, your forte seems to be asking silly questions without the slightest interest in whatever answer is provided, or posting snarky replies in legitimate threads. Either way, your behavior is not indicative of an actual collector, but rather is the tried and true behavior of someone who has been shown the door on numerous occasions.
Dodgers collection scans | Brett Butler registry | 1978 Dodgers - straight 9s, homie
Unopened is a form of gambling in the hobby. One day your packs can produce off centered garbage and the next rip they are all centered beauties.
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
All I know for certain is the National is great for winning eBay auctions at a discount.
I would love to believe that. All I get are visions of my competitors walking towards each other while using mobile phone apps and having a terrible mid-aisle collision as the auction is about to end.
As far as a graded rookie v bbce box, I would much rather have a centered '67 Seaver over a '77 box any day. I enjoy looking at my collection, upgrading and show them to other collectors.
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.
Great rack pack.
So, both, I guess
Could not agree more.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Well I honestly have been thinking about selling more of the unopened to fund more purchases of HOF cards but was concerned about a crash or correction on those soon
A correction is virtually inevitable after a runup like we've seen over the past few months. The $64,000 question is when will it take place.
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.
And who says unopened packs and boxes aren't enjoyable to look at? When I look at them, I like to imagine it in a time capsule sitting on a candy store shelf.
...now a rack pack w/ a HoFer is much better than a sealed box imho.
Great rack pack.
As is a rack with a manager giving everyone the bird.
...now a rack pack w/ a HoFer is much better than a sealed box imho.
Great rack pack.
As is a rack with a manager giving everyone the bird.
LOL, yes indeed.
Thanks, GMB.
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.
As to your question as it relates to investment purposes, it is my opinion that you need to look at them on a very case by case basis. For instance, in 2015 after the large unopened price run-up of 2013 and 2014 an unopened box of 1980-81 Topps BK (BBCE wrapped) was probably in the $4,000 range. Meanwhile, the Magic Bird card in PSA 9 had increased in value slightly and was changing hands for around $2,000. At that point, an investment in the PSA 9 RC would have been wise as it had room to grow relative to the run-up seen in the unopened box. PWCC sold a PSA 9 Bird Magic for $6226 the other day. Granted that may have been an anomaly, but prices have been solid in the $4k range for that card for a while now. So essentially, that card has doubled since 2015 (and at least in one case tripled)! Meanwhile, 1980 box sales have also seen recent increases, but only to the $4500-$5000 range. So while the HOF RC in this case doubled, the box has seen a 10-20% increase. In this particular case, I actually think both have come to their appropriate price levels as my opinion for this card and box is that the prices should be roughly equivalent. I think future price increases should see the card and box trade at equivalent increases. The lesson (if there is one) in this case was that when the unopened price took off and the RC price was stagnant, the bargain at the time was the HOF RC.
This principle also worked in reverse for 1986 Fleer. I don't recall the exact dates, but I remember buying a 1986 Fleer PSA 8 unopened pack for about $350 sometime in 2012 or 2013. The prices of those packs remained unchanged for years, even as the Michael Jordan RC continued to climb and climb (but still before the recent explosions). The example here probably started with the PSA 9 MJ RC selling in the $1000-1200 range and increasing to over $2000. So in this case, the HOF RC doubled and the pack price was stagnant. Fast forward and nearly overnight (around the time PSA stopped grading wax packs for a time because of the gum moving problem), the 1986 wax pack in PSA 8 doubled in price catching up and finding the level of the HOF RC's increase. So in this case, the unopened was the bargain as the HOF RC ran up and left it behind.
If you want a current example, 1986 Topps FB wax boxes experienced a recent doubling in price (and tripling and more in the case of FASC boxes). These were selling for $850 for the longest time, sometime this year someone decided that they should sell for more, a lot more. Prices jumped, and I actually sold my non X-out box for over $2k. At the same as wax boxes were selling for $850 Jerry Rice PSA 9's had been steadily increasing in value and had basically doubled from $250 to $500 at the same time box prices went from about $600 to $850. So in this case, the box was lagging the HOF RC. Earlier this year, we saw the exponential jump in box prices, but Rice RC's have "only" increased from $500 to the $650-700 range. At the current time, I would much rather buy 3 Jerry Rice PSA 9 cards than buy one unopened box.
Of course, all these examples are based on the memories of someone who has an infant and does not remember what sleeping through the night feels like, so there's that. In the end, there are two bits of advice that are usually pretty true no matter the market:
Collect what you like
and for the investor,
Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful
All I know for certain is the National is great for winning eBay auctions at a discount.
Shhhhh!! ??
If I were answering the question in the title of your thread, I would much rather have the cards than the unopened. After reading your OP, and seeing you're wondering about future value, I really have no idea. I'm guessing the unopened will appreciate more, given dwindling supply, but that's just a guess.
Dan, my friend. THIS !
THEY are going to add another rule on page one that says
"If entering a post it must have at least some specific value. The value can be of the following nature: knowledge, a viewpoint, a like or dislike, a suggestion, a fact, a lie with a caveat, whacky fun which most ignore, or other, which brings at least some substance to the reader so as to not waste prescious seconds of the readers life reading it"
Something really intrigues me about unopened packs and boxes (more so packs). I just really like seeing a pack from 1955 (just as an example), and knowing that there really aren't many around. I always wanted to get into collecting unopened vintage packs but they're just too expensive.
I'd really like to have/collect both but to answer the question... I'd probably rather have the graded rc's. Not because I think they will be more valuable in the future but I like having a nice, graded copy of a particular player. As for which will retain or gain the most value, I really couldn't speculate.
From an investment standpoint the market/time will decide which will be the more valuable. I do feel that liquidating single cards may be easier as there may be a broader(?) market for singles over unopened.
Agreed on both points, I know many singles collectors who don't collect unopened, but can't think of any unopened collectors who don't collect singles as well.
From an investment standpoint the market/time will decide which will be the more valuable. I do feel that liquidating single cards may be easier as there may be a broader(?) market for singles over unopened.
Agreed on both points, I know many singles collectors who don't collect unopened, but can't think of any unopened collectors who don't collect singles as well.
...but I don't know a single card collector who doesn't enjoy opening an older pack.
From an investment standpoint the market/time will decide which will be the more valuable. I do feel that liquidating single cards may be easier as there may be a broader(?) market for singles over unopened.
Agreed on both points, I know many singles collectors who don't collect unopened, but can't think of any unopened collectors who don't collect singles as well.
...but I don't know a single card collector who doesn't enjoy opening an older pack.
Fair point, but at current prices that's not really happening much with any pre-78. 80s is still a relatively cheap gamble in most cases.
Hiya Tim
We haven't talked much lately.
I'm with you all the way.
While I enjoy looking at my stuff, there's something cool about the "rack" and the allure of not knowing what's inside the pack.
I say: "can't we have both?"