OK, first things first, for anyone who’s been here a few times, you may have noticed I missed the Card of the Week last week. Call it a combination of not really knowing what card to use, being disappointed it was the first week after the “Official” end of the NFL season (the Pro Bowl), and being laid up sick in bed.
And since it’s already Wednesday, I’ve decided not to bother going back to make it up. Check back this Friday, though–hopefully I’ll figure out who to feature.
But I do have a bit of a special feature for today, with what I think may be a unique box break–yes, it’s just a box of 2007 Absolute Memorabilia, and it’s retail at that–but here’s the catch–it’s a full 24 pack box, and I only paid $20 for it.
That’s right, the full box of 24 packs, with a $2.99 per each pack tag on the front of it, right above a line that says “Priced Per Pack Only – Do Not Sell as Full Box” also had a $19.99 sticker on it, which says “Sold as Full Box Only.”
When I brought it to the cash register, it didn’t scan, which makes me think even more that it was a mistake.
So, I guess it’s time to see if I got a deal, or if somehow they pulled on over on me. Find out after the jump…
Well, I’d say this was DEFINITELY a mistake by someone–to the point that I will probably head out tomorrow for a bit to see if I can find any more of these boxes at other stores.
Here’s the breakdown:
-110 base set (non rookie) cards, zero dupes, 73.3% of base set (after 6 of the regular 8 pack retail boxes [it’s a long story], and this one, I finally have the full 150 card base set)
– 1 regular rookie (#176, Jemalle Cornelius)
– 1 Silver Spectrum Parallel rookie (#170, Gary Russell–former Golden Gopher!)
– 6 Red Spectrum parallels (#20 Chris Cooley,#77 Deion Branch, #100Demetrius Williams, #114 Santonio Holmes, #122 Marvin Harrison, #136 Javon Walker)
– 1 Blue Spectrum parallel (#47 Jake Delhomme)
– 1 Canton Absolute Materials insert (Steve McNair, #154/200)
– 1 Marks of Fame Materials insert (Greg Olsen, #055/200)
– 1 Star Gazing Materials insert (Tony Hunt, #060/100)
– 1 Tools of the Trade Black insert (Michael Vick, #39/50)
– 1 Team Tandems Materials insert (Tony Romo & Terrell Owens, #055/100)
That’s over $120 in book value just from the inserts & parallels, for $20 in the store–almost a certainty that I can recoup that investment on eBay.
In case you’re interested in the long story I referenced of why I had purchased 6 boxes of retail (especially for a set I wasn’t that impressed with), the main reason was that I had purchased a box one day primarily because the box guranteed something along the lines of “One Rookie Jersey Card per box”–but I didn’t get one. When I emailed Donruss about getting a replacement card, they said I needed the lot number from the box–which I had already thrown out. So, I went to buy another one, and sure enough–another box with no jersey card. No purely out of spite I bought one more, sent them a letter explaining the situation with two boxes and no jersey card, and gave them the one lot number I had.
To Donruss’ credit, they sent me two jersey cards, and fairly quickly. Of course, one was a Jason Hill (a duplicate, no less), and the other a Joe Thomas, but at least they responded.
In 1990 I stopped in a convenience store that carried baseball and football cards. That were selling full boxes and single packs. I picked up an unopened box of 1990 Upper Deck Baseball that still had the wholesalers label on it that showed the SRP price per pack. I went to the cash register and started to check out. She rang it up for one pack. I tried to explain that it was a per pack price but she insisted that since the box was not opened like the others that she was right. I finally, happily gave in and left with an almost free box of cards.