Lately I’ve been collecting sealed booster box cases of 6…I think down the road they will have as much or more collectiabiltiy than single booster boxes because a full print run would be more easily achieved. Given that. Any opinions on my thought process?? 2nd question. Opinion on print run case booster boxes containing a full run of cards.Is that a reasonable thought process.THANKS
A full printrun would be easier achieved in a case? What?
1 Like
With these modern sets you’ll pretty much never get a complete set from a single case, especially if you are counting reverses. I usually open around 500 packs of each new release (slightly over 2 cases) and can’t remember the last time that allowed me to complete a set.
That said, buying cases isn’t a bad idea. It get’s you the best pricing and is the highest form of sealed product and allow you the option to sell the whole case, 6 boxes, 216 packs, or the final opened product and any mix of that.
1 Like
if you look at wotc cases now and even a few years back, cases never fetched a premium. I had multiple sealed and open and could never receive a reasonable premium on the case itself, because it was too expensive. Obviously, looking back they were all steals for the people that passed, but I was able to crack the case and get premiums on gem mint boxes.
treat boxes, complete sets, and individual cards as separate collectibles. No one wants to display a cardboard box with a sticker on it in their home, they want to display the booster box and/or cards to appreciate the artwork.
but buying cases is a good thing at release. you can usually save a few dollars per box.
7 Likes
Are you mixing up print runs and complete card sets? Or I am getting it confused? Because I’d like to see a case with an entire print run inside lol.
My personal experience as well lol… found it odd that David Persin has been suggesting that he can complete his master sets *almost* entirely with an average of 8 boxes and recommends splitting that with a buddy (for all the duplicates).
And to the question, like the person above said… who wants to stare at a sealed brown box lol… come on guys, I’m all for the speculative aspect of collectibles, but please. Dave and Adams have had a 1st edition Fossil sealed case for sale at 90k for like months now… (premium over the single Fossil 1st boxes) to no avail. The last sealed base case I saw publicly being displayed was an Unlimited case from MET7GAMES on YT some point last year. And if I remember correctly he bought the case at a discount, which allowed him to break it up and sell the individual boxes at a profit + I think he kept 1 or a few for his personal collection if my memory serves me.
Scott often says “sealed is boring” which seems to be a philosophy many many of the big time collectors on this board share and it takes time to wrap your finger around this concept, but eventually it clicks. So I can just imagine how boring a sealed CASE must be lol. The sole purpose I see for the sealed case model is simply just for long term storage as a lot of us do especially as new sets come out. The logic that buying a case (benefiting from a bulk discount) at or near the initial launch of a product just guarantees you to enter your position at pretty much the cheapest entry. I can count on one hand the times Dave and Adams dumped Pokemon sealed product at bulk and at a major discount in the last few years vs. what they do with the sports. A football hobby box that came out only like 2 months ago that sold out at retail of 250$/box → they now have the case at an average $/box at 55$ on sale lol… yet discounted the single box by 100$ to 150$… that just doesn’t happen in Pokemon and the times it’s almost happened in like MTG… the community steps in reaaaal quick to avoid a total disaster just because some distributors feel like dumping massive amounts of product at huge discounts.
1 Like
When I was a kid I heard someone talking about keeping your options open, and I latched onto that. I’m not saying it’s the best or most profitable idea, but if you’re set on buying cards as product, a case is the first in the chain and will give you the most options in future. It might only give you tiny degrees of additional options compared to ‘loose’ boxes, but additional nonetheless. Maybe you will be able to get them cheaper if you buy by the case too, I doubt by a lot however. Ten years down the line you may find that there is no real market for cases, in which case you can open them. You can’t do the same in reverse though…
4 Likes
Biggest problem with cases I think is that as the boxes become more expensive, the less affordable a case is for other people to buy in. Most people who collect sealed would want to display the booster box and not the case. Eventually I find that if you plan on selling, cases are going to be a challenge due to logistic issues (higher chance of damage, bigger size, more expensive to ship) and a smaller buyer base. It’s not a fair comparison but in my head I’m just imagining the likelihood of someone wanting to purchase 6 base set charizards in one transaction vs the people who just want 1 in their collection.
However, it’s not a bad idea to buy a case if you plan on getting a bulk discount!
aside from the aesthetic appeal people are talking about, is it easy to fake a sealed case?! i mean would you be down with dropping 500k on a sealed case of 1st edition base? i feel the cardboard case is the EASIEST to fake, compared to the booster box + seal itself. that would be the #1 concern. i know i have never seen a case of some of the older products at all.
It would be easy to fake for sure but the reality is counterfeiters don’t bother to go to those lengths (at least not yet). I have never heard a story where someone bought a 6 box case of some booster boxes and it turned out the boosters were fake or the box contained junk.
The big benefit I see with the sealed case is that if you do go to sell it then you could record yourself cracking it open and then pulling the booster boxes out. That would give confidence to the buyers. Imagine if someone had a 6 box case of 1st ed. base. It could be sent to PWCC or similar high-end auctioneer where they could crack it open live and then authenticate each booster box individually. Buyer would know that the shrink wrap is pristine and hasn’t been fondled by god knows how many people over the years.
Well, for the collector that wants a sealed case, this is exactly the risk we are talking about. a sealed case would be the most expensive sealed item in pokemon, and it has the highest risk of being fake.
and counterfeiters only want money, so why wouldn’t they?
1 Like