There is nothing wrong with this topic but there is a problem in the execution. It’s one thing to come here to engage in good faith in a discussion but another to make an extremely strong claim (twice now) and lash out when people disagree.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Is it possible that someone is reprinting old sets? Yes. There is nothing magical about the cards it’s just ink and paper. Is it likely? Well… it depends on the evidence.
An operation like this would require access to a 1999 style offset printer, proprietary holo sheets, either the original layout files or to somehow reverse engineer them. Cut and round the corners to appropriate dimensions. Spray on the top gloss. Recreate the same type of damage. Similarly doing all this for the boxes too. You would also have to recreate very specific things like the hits per box and pack order.
Based on the theory from the OP you’d also need to do this for multiple sets. And for some reason Jungle @ under 10k per box is prioritized over 1st edition base?
The question is, is there sufficient evidence to believe that boxes are being reprinted? The only evidence provided is that 1029 packs from 3 different sets were opened on whatnot this week. First, I question where this number is coming from since it’s not like you can look up sold listings afaik. Also, are they all from boxes? Are they all from a single source? Unclear. But let’s just say the number is accurate. That is 28.6 boxes, or 9 boxes of each set.
Is that number so shocking the only explanation is active reprinting? I would disagree. For instance, I just counted 30+ sealed Jungle boxes live on ebay right now. They printed millions of these boxes. And seeing 9 of them appear, the only explanation available is that someone turned on the printer again?
Here’s an alternative explanation. There are still a lot of these boxes. The EV for opening one yourself is always going to be negative. But what Whatnot is able to do is to spread that negative EV across a bunch of degenerate gamblers to a point where the sum total of the packs are worth more than the box. So an incentive system is established where every vintage box you can find and sell 36 slots is just free money. Why is it suprising that people would source and crack as many boxes as humanly possible under this system? If anything, it’s a good reason to buy and hold a sealed box today because they will continue to dry up.
Anyway, until there is serious evidence that boxes are being printed and manufactured today, there is no reason to believe it’s happening. When we see the listing of 600 of them on ebay or we see 4000 new PSA 10 Jungle holos get graded or something of actual substance, I’ll be more inclined to believe it.
That being said a part of me really wants it to be true so that this one wacko guy puts the egg on all our faces and he saw the signs before everyone else 