Saw @TCAGaming show off his recently authenticated booster boxes via X-ray and was curious what other people’s opinions on doing this would be. For reference his video is linked below. He mentions having additional boxes out for grading too and information on what cards are inside (I think).
Would you consider having a booster box authenticated in this way? Do you think grading a box will become more common practice and will these hold premiums over ungraded boxes?
Will theme decks ever get this kind of treatment?
It certainly makes me consider sending my few boxes in, especially if it makes them more desirable, but I’m curious how much research they really do. It seems like Rusty needed to speak with a lot about box details that may not be pointed out without his own guidance. I would even consider this for more modern boxes like the 25th anniversary ultra premium box. A lot of this will of course be cost dependent. What would be cheap enough to consider doing it?
Back to the topic: I’ve always wondered, but could CT scanning feasibly tell the difference between an untouched box vs a resealed box seeded with the correct cards (e.g. with correctly seeded holos in the packs but that are MP/HP or of lower value)? I don’t imagine the CT scanning can get that granular. If not, then the game for resealers just changes, and maybe gets worse since they may be able to pass authentication with resealed packs still.
This is my concern as well. I don’t know how they’d be able to tell because resealing packs does not involve substances that are incredibly noticeable using CT.
Like any authenticating service, You have to trust that the company knows what they are doing, not only with the technology, but they need to be experts with specific Pokemon products that they are authenticating.
For me, i would want to see ALL of the data that they used to come to their conclusions.
It doesn’t seem like their cert checker is working at all for any cert other than the “XRA-TEST” cert at the moment, but judging from the info on that one, it does not give enough information for me personally. Though it really depends on what is being authenticated.
“The client does not know the card identities” implies that someone does know. And this hobby is based on trusting the least trustworthy people with stupid sums of money so I’m usually not interested in scanned boxes
Yeah, it does not really solve people’s concerns with sealed product.
I imagine it will go the way of pack weighing. It is a similar situation after all.
IIRC, there are already companies that popped up a few years ago where you can take your packs or boxes to get scanned for hits. If it is a dud, they will likely end up being “authenticated” with a company like this instead, similar to light packs getting graded or authenticated.
I was thinking more from the perspective of a sealed vintage collector though, since I do not open packs.
Sadly, applying the sticker onto the wrap / product itself would be a dealbreaker for me anyway.
i was told by the r/pokeinvestors that ppl who collect sealed booster boxes do not care about the contents as the sealed box itself is the collectible, which is why prices are so detached from what you can pull or other sealed products even
i think something like this is needed assuming it can actually detect sealed boxes at a 100% guaranteed rate, since psa is never gonna touch this category and resealed boxes change hands between the ig bros like 5 times before someone discovers that its a reseal
I don’t know what you mean by this tbh. There are many reasons why someone would want to collect sealed vintage. I’d imagine the people you’d find somewhere like PokeInvesting are more focused on investing and probably lean toward modern ETBs, which would explain why they hype up that kind of price detachment which we never had before.
I really don’t want to get into a market/price discussion though, that’s one side of the hobby I try to avoid.
I do agree that a sealed authentication service needs to be a thing, especially for boxes and packs. But like you said, only if it actually works. The main takeaway from my post is that it all comes down to trust, and that trust has to be earned.
Also, I think there are a couple of different ways to view this service and interpret peoples responses.
My perspective is as a potential customer looking to authenticate my item, one I intend to keep and am already confident is authentic, but would be interested in having the data to back that up.
I trust Rusty. If I bought from Rusty, I know he’d have my best interest at heart. Bad sellers are bad sellers with or without a trust me bro sticker.
After browsing this company, it seems they are not prepared for this, and the things Rusty says make it seem like he has to tell them what to do and look for. That is called consulting, and people charge good money for that. Their company’s real website gives you more info by the way. The card website is half baked.
For some funny reason, they want you to know on their card site that they are ITAR certified
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)
The Department of State is responsible for the export and temporary import of defense articles and services governed by 22 U.S.C. 2778 of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and Executive Order 13637. That section of the AECA is implemented by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR," 22 CFR parts 120-130). The ITAR is available from the Government Printing Office (GPO) as an annual hardcopy or e-document publication as part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and as an updated e-document.
I just for that part funny. Even funnier if they had to do it for a one time job. I suspect they have had to scan some old undetonated bombs or something horrifyingly scary.
