[Stackfan]

I've heard this too ... they just packed them in chronological order ... so like, the Jordan is #57 ... if like the top card is 52 or whatever you know you're getting it.

OK, every time this set is mentioned I just have to share the worst card story ever.

Back in 1988, when I was first getting into cards, I went to a LCS in Sacramento for the first time.

I had just started playing basketball in junior high, so I was relatively interested in hoops (but still just getting started in baseball cards).

I noticed they had packs of 1986-87 Fleer Basketball by the cash register (not even behind the counter, LOL) ...

Three for $1 ... or a whole 36-pack box for $10!

I considered buying a few just to check them out, but went with a MUCH wiser investment ...

A box of 1988 Topps baseball! LOL

Man, that's a sad story. It happens though. My worst was pulling a nice gretzky Mirror Gold from Select, which at the time was worth quite a bit... and trading it in for some basketball cards, mostly a Penny Hardaway Beam Team. Well... Needless to say, Penny didn't hold his value very well. (Neither did the mirror gold, but not a bad)

Anyways... Would i buy a Graded Pack of 86 Fleer... YES. Assuming it's real, and the pack owner didn't know what card # XXX on the top, meant MJ or NO MJ. Hitting a good condition Jordan can bring in 1000$ of dollars. Compare that to NBA All time greats... that pack is around 350. And you hit a Jordan auto or a 50$ card. With 86 Fleer you have 10 hall of fame rookies, which SHOULD be a good condition you can pull. I guess it depends how much you like the vintage stuff.

ALso... I just completed the 86 Fleer set thanks to SLUM22. Fantastic seller/Trader! Certainly one of my favorite pieces in my collection. Although i've apparently lost the Karl Malone rookie card : / i'll have to search for that one.

[briankort]

Anyways... Would i buy a Graded Pack of 86 Fleer... YES. Assuming it's real, and the pack owner didn't know what card # XXX on the top, meant MJ or NO MJ. Hitting a good condition Jordan can bring in 1000$ of dollars. Compare that to NBA All time greats... that pack is around 350. And you hit a Jordan auto or a 50$ card. With 86 Fleer you have 10 hall of fame rookies, which SHOULD be a good condition you can pull. I guess it depends how much you like the vintage stuff.

ALso... I just completed the 86 Fleer set thanks to SLUM22. Fantastic seller/Trader! Certainly one of my favorite pieces in my collection.

I am totally with you if I knew there would be a Jordan RC inside. But buying one of these graded packs off the bay, you don't know and won't know until you have it in your hands. Also, no matter what other HOF RC you hit besides Jordan, you would probably lose money on the deal with a $350+ price tag. You would have to get a PSA 10 or BGS 9.5 on one of those other Rookies to make it worth the price. You could probably buy 6-8 MINT RC's from that set (other than Jordan of course) for less than the $350 being asked for one pack that you have no idea what is inside.

The 86 Fleer is a great set with so many stars and HOF players in it. Congrats on finally completing it.

[slum22]

Man, that's a sad story. It happens though. My worst was pulling a nice gretzky Mirror Gold from Select, which at the time was worth quite a bit... and trading it in for some basketball cards, mostly a Penny Hardaway Beam Team. Well... Needless to say, Penny didn't hold his value very well. (Neither did the mirror gold, but not a bad)

Anyways... Would i buy a Graded Pack of 86 Fleer... YES. Assuming it's real, and the pack owner didn't know what card # XXX on the top, meant MJ or NO MJ. Hitting a good condition Jordan can bring in 1000$ of dollars. Compare that to NBA All time greats... that pack is around 350. And you hit a Jordan auto or a 50$ card. With 86 Fleer you have 10 hall of fame rookies, which SHOULD be a good condition you can pull. I guess it depends how much you like the vintage stuff.

ALso... I just completed the 86 Fleer set thanks to SLUM22. Fantastic seller/Trader! Certainly one of my favorite pieces in my collection. Although i've apparently lost the Karl Malone rookie card : / i'll have to search for that one.

Thanks for the shout out Stackfan. You held up your end too, very easy to work with! Glad the cards got to you safely. Congrats again on finishing the set. If the Malone doesn't turn up, hit me up, I think I have a few extras.

@Briankort you are spot on about not being worth it to rip the pack. I would definitely not advise buying a PSA 8 pack to bust the pack. PSA 8 packs have been going anywhere from $280-350 on Ebay for the past few months.

If you are going to rip a pack. I would go for a PSA 7. You could probably get that for around $200-250 and the lower price would make it easier to recoup some of the cost of the pack by hitting a star non-MJ RC. As posters have already mentioned the 7 is for the condition of the wrapper/pack not the presumed condition of the cards inside the pack, so you may very well get just as high of a grade card out of an opened 7 as you would an opened 8 or 9.

I do think that unopened packs/boxes of classic sets or sets with classic cards can be good investments. You just have to have the mindset of not opening the pack or box.