BBCE National Report, Part 2: Did anyone participate in a group break? Not that I know of at the show, but a group of people on the CU message boards managed to break the 1979 Topps Baseball Wax Tray Case ($30,000 case containing 192 trays.) As you all have seen, the price of unopened product from whenever through the early 1990s (the good stuff) has skyrocketed over the past couple of years. While prices may or may not have reached their peak, one cannot deny that the value of opening packs and boxes at todays prices is not like it used to be. We may be experiencing a new era of unopened buyers who are buying to hold rather than open. Thats not to say product still wont get opened (we sold at least six figures worth of unopened to dealers whose business is to open product to grade the cards for resale) but the percentages of who will or wont open have shifted considerably. Whats been going on with 1986/87 Fleer Basketball? As far as unopened product goes, next to the pipe dream of buying/selling a 1952 Topps Wax Box, 1986/87 Fleer Basketball is the product everyone wants to talk about. We had two boxes at this show, and both of them sold by the end of the weekend for $29,500 each. As mentioned in the part 1 of my National Report, we also reviewed two boxes for other dealers and determined they were not authentic, complete boxes. With the market the way it is, I bet well be getting offers for boxes on a more regular basis. In fact, a dealer approached me about the opened case for sale on eBay out of Washington. He wanted to know if he agreed to buy the case, if I would fly out there to authenticate the boxes. Im down with an all-expenses paid trip to the Pacific Northwest! Also, I was lucky enough to finally witness someone open a complete box of 1986/87 Fleer Basketball a few weeks back. The last time I was able to see this, I was barely out of high school. This time, I was prepared, and wrote down every single card that came out of the packs, noting all the times the sequence flips. Finally, after over two decades obsessing about every little thing about this set, I have the definitive pattern of how the cards come out of packs, including all the flips! How was the food at the I-X Center? By far, this has to be the worst show food ever. I found the staff to be friendly and helpful, but we were paying movie theater pricing for substandard quality. Theres no way the convention center staff would even think about eating this food, even if it was free! We continued to go back day after day because free time was scarce and we needed to eat quickly. Soda was $4 for 22 oz, $5 for 32 oz, and $6 for 44 oz? Fries served in a 12oz cup for $4? Id go on and on, but I didnt even try to sample all the options. The next time the National is here, Im going to make it a point to bring our own food, and even sneak in a dorm room refrigerator for drinks. Hands down, the Expoteria in Rosemont in Chicago wins for the best National Convention food option. Did you guys pick up any good leads on future deals? I purposely did not schedule any buying trips for after The National because of all the choice leads that surface at the show. Despite having a list of 25-30 leads from all around the country ready to go, Im glad that I waited. A deal has been offered to us that is so good, it immediately moved to the top of the list. Sorry wax guys, its not a stash of unopened, but if I can make this deal happen, well earn a ton of press over the collection. Hope everyone enjoyed my report on The National Convention. I think I covered a decent amount of topics, and look forward to your comments and more questions. The one topic I shied away from is the state of the vintage unopened market. That could take all day, and admittedly because my opinion could be considered biased, Im not really up to dealing with those who might disagree with me. Thanks for reading!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:06:20 +0000
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