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Mystery Vintage Pack bust: the ultimate thrill for an old card collector!
paleocards
Posts: 927 ✭✭✭✭
I got back into collecting vintage Topps HOFers at the end of 1999 and over the past few years I’ve developed a wonderful business relationship with one particular card shop owner who has, in my opinion, the best inventory of raw, high-quality vintage I’ve seen. He knows what I like and he has a great eye for the cards I collect.
So what is this “Mystery Vintage Pack bust” I’m referring to in the title of this post? Well for me it’s equivalent to the thrill that modern collectors (gamblers?) have when they bust a multi-hundred $$ premium pack or tin that guarantees low-numbered game-used and autos. Too often, however, I read how these packs/tins fail to deliver, leaving collectors complaining bitterly about being suckered by the card companies. Well, I figured that I can have all the excitement of busting one of those premium boxes but be guaranteed that every card that I “pull” would find a proud and permanent place in my collection. Here’s how: I email my budget and want list to the Card Shop Owner (I still need ~600 HOFers from between 1955-1975) and he pulls cards from his inventory to fill the order. He charges my credit card (no tax, he’s in a different state) then sends the cards to me Priority Insured (again, no charge on the shipping & insurance – he’s a class act all the way). The coolest thing is that I don’t ask and he doesn’t tell me what’s in my “Mystery Pack,” but I know that lurking inside that package will be high-grade, Topps HOFers that I don’t have yet.
When I receive the delivery, I savor opening it with my 12-year-old son. We slowly slide each card out, one-by-one, uncovering the top border, then a little of the photo, until we can guess what Topps’ year the card represents and perhaps the player as well. It’s as much fun as I can imagine having in this hobby. (And risk-free too, if a card doesn’t meet my standards he’ll take it back and credit me the buy-price on a replacement or on my next order.)
So here are the scans from my last 19-card “Mystery Vintage Pack bust” presented in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
1969 Topps #100 Hank Aaron
1969 Topps #375 Harmon Killebrew
1969 Topps #510 Rod Carew
1969 Topps #640 Fergie Jenkins
1967 Topps #166 Eddie Mathews
1964 Topps #29 Lou Brock
1964 Topps #120 Don Drysdale
1964 Topps #350 Willie McCovey
1961 Topps #200 Warren Spahn
1961 Topps #311 Whitey Ford WS
1961 Topps #472 Yogi Berra MVP
1961 Topps #517 Willie McCovey
1960 Topps #35 Whitey Ford
1960 Topps #475 Don Drysdale
1959 Topps #559 Ernie Banks AS
1958 Topps #2 Bob Lemon
1958 Topps #480 Eddie Mathews AS
1958 Topps #483 Luis Aparicio AS
1958 Topps #484 Frank Robinson AS
So what is this “Mystery Vintage Pack bust” I’m referring to in the title of this post? Well for me it’s equivalent to the thrill that modern collectors (gamblers?) have when they bust a multi-hundred $$ premium pack or tin that guarantees low-numbered game-used and autos. Too often, however, I read how these packs/tins fail to deliver, leaving collectors complaining bitterly about being suckered by the card companies. Well, I figured that I can have all the excitement of busting one of those premium boxes but be guaranteed that every card that I “pull” would find a proud and permanent place in my collection. Here’s how: I email my budget and want list to the Card Shop Owner (I still need ~600 HOFers from between 1955-1975) and he pulls cards from his inventory to fill the order. He charges my credit card (no tax, he’s in a different state) then sends the cards to me Priority Insured (again, no charge on the shipping & insurance – he’s a class act all the way). The coolest thing is that I don’t ask and he doesn’t tell me what’s in my “Mystery Pack,” but I know that lurking inside that package will be high-grade, Topps HOFers that I don’t have yet.
When I receive the delivery, I savor opening it with my 12-year-old son. We slowly slide each card out, one-by-one, uncovering the top border, then a little of the photo, until we can guess what Topps’ year the card represents and perhaps the player as well. It’s as much fun as I can imagine having in this hobby. (And risk-free too, if a card doesn’t meet my standards he’ll take it back and credit me the buy-price on a replacement or on my next order.)
So here are the scans from my last 19-card “Mystery Vintage Pack bust” presented in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
1969 Topps #100 Hank Aaron
1969 Topps #375 Harmon Killebrew
1969 Topps #510 Rod Carew
1969 Topps #640 Fergie Jenkins
1967 Topps #166 Eddie Mathews
1964 Topps #29 Lou Brock
1964 Topps #120 Don Drysdale
1964 Topps #350 Willie McCovey
1961 Topps #200 Warren Spahn
1961 Topps #311 Whitey Ford WS
1961 Topps #472 Yogi Berra MVP
1961 Topps #517 Willie McCovey
1960 Topps #35 Whitey Ford
1960 Topps #475 Don Drysdale
1959 Topps #559 Ernie Banks AS
1958 Topps #2 Bob Lemon
1958 Topps #480 Eddie Mathews AS
1958 Topps #483 Luis Aparicio AS
1958 Topps #484 Frank Robinson AS
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Comments
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Now collecting:
Topps Heritage
1957 Topps BB Ex+-NM
All Yaz Items 7+
Various Red Sox
Did I leave anything out?
I also have to say that you're quite the scansmith, paleocards. Those images look great!
MorrellMan - I'm keeping my cards raw for now, since I have no imminent plans to sell them. I also can't stand the prospect of never being able to hold the actual cardboard in my hands again. However, I haven't ruled out giving a pile of money to PSA some day...
yawie99 - I take a lot of pride in my scans, I think it's a great way to virtually share my cards with other vintage collectors.
highend - I was expecting someone to ask that question, but not surprisingly I'm going to selfishly keep my dealer's identity to myself.
stevek - As you guessed, I'm also going to keep the financial details to myself, but I will admit that quality doesn't come cheap. I also found it interesting that you'd expect that most of these would grade-out as "6's" while yawie99 thought he saw some that would come back "8's". I think that it's very difficult to tell the difference between ExMT, NrMt and Nm-MT cards with the resolution of the scans I provided (beyond the obvious centering differences). To tell the difference between a 7 & 8 I think you'd need much larger and higher-res images. Personally, after examining these cards with a magnifying glass, I think that most of these would grade "7" or better (but I have yet to make my first PSA submission, so I may be guilty of newbie over-grading).