Those sets have a different box style where the packs are visible through the plastic from left and right side. Suppose it’s possible to reseal and replace packs if that Era starts leaping in price but for now it’s much easier for scammers to stick to WOTC / ex.
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Sealed product is meant to be opened. I’ve never kept sealed product long term because I am never comfortable not knowing what is in there. Or what might not be in there at all. Plus even when I know it to be genuine I just need to know what cards are in there. I collect cards not retail wrapping.
Even back when I was buying fossil and jungle boxes for ~$400-$500 each and base unlimited boxes for $700-$1,000 each I ran into a fake or two. I never spent too long looking at the outside or looking to determine if they were fake because I knew I was opening them so I never became an “expert” on them. There is no single person myself included that I would trust to buy a sealed box from. I would always have to open it. Obviously the market has had largely different thoughts over the years but they are getting closer to my own. I think once boxes cross that $100k mark it will be a lot less common for a box to be sold to be kept sealed for years on end. Pokemon has never really had a sealed premium in that the 36 guaranteed untampered packs have always been worth more than the whole and I think that will always continue to be the case. Especially when you tie in youtube openings from “internet celebrities”.
Personally I think the ideas about unsealing a box to verify and then reseal is just a bit silly. If anything maybe just someone like CGC could open a box and grade/encapsulate all 36 packs denoting them as box fresh. I don’t trust PSA sealed packs and not sure if I would trust even CGC packs. I’ve ran into resealed packs and am more comfortable identifying those in person, but still wouldn’t ever bet $10k+ on that. Hopefully we will get an in depth article from them showing some tests they do like they did with the non holo base 2 zard if/when they do enter into the pack grading world.
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Shadowless are the true 1st edition since every 1st edition started out as Shadowless and then was stamped post production.
I said it.
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I’m not buying it until chumlee says it
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Imo garys sealed boxes are a huge premium because they have been his for 20+ years.
People will pay a premium knowing they are 100% for sure getting the real deal.
So yes going forward documentation or proof of purchase from a retailer or very reputable person will go a long way for the sealed product game.
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It’s pretty simple really. If you buy anything from Facebook you’re gonna have a baad tiimeee.
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So we’ve seen a few people open their boxes and find fakes/reseals, but has there been anybody recently that’s opened their box and confirmed everything is as it should be?
What’s the plan in that case? Put it in an acrylic case and seal the acrylic case with some sort of tamper proof tape?
I’d actually like to do this for my Neo Genesis box, which I don’t have great provenance for, but I’d like to make sure that in the case everything inside looks legit, I do as little damage to the overall value as possible. I’d appreciate any tips!
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TCA did exactly this a few months ago on his channel. He signed and dated some security stickers I believe and resealed the box right there on camera.
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I’ve heard of a few people planning to open on Instagram live stream so if the packs are real they can do a box break / sell the packs. These days that can be basically the same amount of money as the box itself, with all the breakers the sealed box no longer has the huge premium it used to have over 36x loose packs with the exception of some sets.
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Gurus master plan:
- Buy a bunch of WOTC boxes
- Create a craze where everyone thinks their boxes are fake
- Everyone does box breaks instead of selling sealed
- No more WOTC boxes left
- Millionaire by Christmas
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I stick to booster packs themselves because it is relatively easy to discern if one has been botched or repacked. I am comfortable there and couldn’t bear to take a hit on a box where all I can do is weigh it
Hahaha he will… he will
The funny thing is: all of this worry could end up driving up the prices of boxes even further. As long as this fear/paranoia continues, boxes will be opened at an unprecedented rate.
But here’s the reality: there are ways to authenticate, with 100% certainty, sealed booster boxes. We may not yet know how to, but the reality is that these were uniformly mass-produced over 20 years ago. There’s a 0% chance that it’s impossible to authenticate them. Tons of of things have been counterfeited much more sophisticatedly and can still be authenticated. Booster boxes are not some weird exception.
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I wonder if one/a batch of shadowless charizards would become more expensive than 1st edition if it somehow became known and proven that the specific card/batch were actually the first ones printed, despite not getting stamped.
But that’s a tangent.
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If you think this hurts the sealed market you’re wrong and I’ll buy your sealed product at a discount if you’re worried about it.
The fakes I’ve seen so far were obviously fake once in hand. If you buy through Ebay and the box is fake you can get your money back. You need reference boxes to compare to and you can’t be blinded by the light. I think often times people simply don’t look close enough or they assume something is real so they miss all the red flags. Admittedly, I’ve done this myself. There are many variables that all add up to build confidence in a box’s authenticity. Buy from sources who have a reputation to uphold. Know what to look for. This is why simply having money isn’t enough. You need knowledge too. You shouldn’t be spending $375k on a box of cards if you don’t know anything about it.
I’m not going to open my sealed boxes or let a company do it. I appreciate the originality of a product even if it comes down to a plastic seal.
I like the idea of irreversibly marking an opened product. I think the best method on a box is some ink that will soak into the cardboard and a hole or cut out of some kind together. Maybe in a couple spots on the bottom of the box. Those who want it for display can still do it and the scumbags who want to reseal stuff will find it increasingly difficult to acquire material.
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Did not know that! I’ll check it out once I receive it. Thanks for the heads up! 
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I personally think a market for third party authentication of these items would be the best way to go. I know lots of people like it to be in the original packing and I totally get that, but when you’re dealing with the amount of money these things are selling for having a third party open it up, verify the contents, and then seal it somehow seems the best way in my opinion. It’s just a sad reality that the more valuable something becomes the more counterfeits and fakes will be made by dishonest people.
I agree.
I understand the appeal of this idea – a third-party could, today, break the seal on a booster box and authenticate it through examination of its contents. But I think that it would be better for a third-party to develop sophisticated authentication methods that allow them to assess boxes without breaking the seal. This may require reagent testing and/or having a materials scientist on staff. It might be super expensive and time-consuming to authenticate boxes in such a precise way. But with so many vintage boxes being solidly 5 figures, I think that there would be an actual market for this – even if it cost $1k to get a single box authenticated.
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I’ll do it, for free, you just have to pay for the shipping to get the boxes to me 
A problem I see with having third party authentication is if they couldn’t tell the box seal was legit without opening it how are they going to tell the pack seal is legit without opening the packs too?
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