I am sure it has been posted about before but I just was at a shop which had graded cards and graded packs for sell. Why would you want to pay to get a sealed pack that you can't (I mean you can but it defeats the purpose of grading the pack, I guess) open?

You mostly see graded packs for vintage sport releases. I think the biggest draw is having it authenticated to have never been opened. Old wax packs are fairly easy to reseal. People would open them, take the good cards and then reseal the pack with all commons.

The grading comes into play since the pack grade is a general indication of the condition (corners and edges mostly, no way to know on centering) the cards inside will be in.

So if you're looking to buy vintage, sealed, wax packs, grading gives you third party verification that the pack has never been opened, and the general condition of the cards contained inside.

At a Card Talk breakfast many moons ago I won a pack of six million dollar man from Topps Vault. I was advised to have it graded by them before attempting to sell. I ended up sell ing through ebay for $600+. If I was paying that much for a pack I think I would want it graded as well. As stated above grading is a way to authenicate the pack as vintage and untampered with by a third party.

Well here's the beauty of the unopened pack, you don't know what's in it.

Its kind of like the BBT story about Schroedinger's cat and I'm not looking up how to spell it.
Until the box is opened you can presume that the cat is both dead and alive.

Graded packs are usually vintage products, but it could be any product that has at least one very expensive card in it and the inventory has become depleted. Now that expensive card is very likely not in that pack, but it could be. And because it could be, the pack attains a certain value just by being unopened.

The grading as already noted is to ensure that no one has played around with it and resealed the pack after searching. The pack will stay graded and sealed forever because that is were its value lies. If it ever gets opened and no expensive cards are found in it someone loses a lot of money.

quote:

Its kind of like the BBT story about Schroedinger's cat...

Raven, you are far too erudite for this forum!

But just in passing the cat is clearly dead. If it was alive it would have taken huge exception to being shoved into a box, by tearing the wall out of the carton, peeing on the floor in annoyance and shredding your arm out of spite for good measure.

quote:

Originally posted by btlfannz:

quote:

Its kind of like the BBT story about Schroedinger's cat...

Raven, you are far too erudite for this forum!

But just in passing the cat is clearly dead. If it was alive it would have taken huge exception to being shoved into a box, by tearing the wall out of the carton, peeing on the floor in annoyance and shredding your arm out of spite for good measure.

Since I had to go look up erudite, I doubt it, but I appreciate the thought. And you're right, the cat is clearly dead.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
I am sure it has been posted about before but I just was at a shop which had graded cards and graded packs for sell. Why would you want to pay to get a sealed pack that you can't (I mean you can but it defeats the purpose of grading the pack, I guess) open?

As has been said before...
1: to validate it is original and untampered
2: to freeze it's condition at this point in time

For many vintage sets the packs and boxes are as collectible or more so than many of the cards. Nobody thought to keep them.

And if you're talking 100's of $$$ for a pack, it's not bad having a 3rd party's opinion.

Now, if it was a pack of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, I too would wonder about their sanity.

Ed

I don't believe there is any way to guarantee that a pack has been unopened! There has been nothing but scandals with these grading companies and giving better grades to certain customers.

Sure, some people will pay more for a graded card or pack, but I am not one of them.

This was "newer" packs. A charmed Series one from Inkworks. A skybox Star Trek Tos series 2. It just seemed odd to me but vintage or new a pack to me = open. I can save the wrapper but not opening a pack and preserving it with the cards inside is not for me.

quote:

Originally posted by barobehere:
This was "newer" packs. A charmed Series one from Inkworks. A skybox Star Trek Tos series 2. It just seemed odd to me but vintage or new a pack to me = open.

Stuff that new being graded seems really odd to me as well. Did they have them out to sell, or was it maybe just a display item? Or maybe they offer submission services to a grader, and those were just examples so they could show customers?

I really don't know why one would grade those packs. 1967 Donruss Star Trek, maybe. Post-wax era/foil packs? No clue.

Update.
- They had them out to sell.
They were gone when I returned and asked the owner of the shop about them, he said they were graded for a customer who never returned a couple of years ago! He put them out to sell. Sold them each for 5.00 where the customer quickly cracked the cases. He got a foil puzzle piece in Charmed. Nada in the Star Trek TOS 2 pack.