How should I think about an factory sealed/unopened box of Superman #500 comic books? 1 1

[speteman]

Hello all,

I have an unopened factory sealed box of comic books of the issue Superman #500 from 1993. I see that folks get individual copies graded, but I wouldn't want to open it up because inside it might contain the holy grail of comic books. (Schroedingers comic book box anyone?)

How should I think about this? Is there a market for an unopened case?

Thanks in advance.

[shadroch]

While there is a market for unopened cases, Superman 500 was printed at a level that far exceeds current demand. How many are in the case? 200? Is Superman 500 printed on the side of the box?

[speteman]

7 minutes ago, shadroch said:

While there is a market for unopened cases, Superman 500 was printed at a level that far exceeds current demand. How many are in the case? 200? Is Superman 500 printed on the side of the box?

I'm out of town at the moment and can check later, but as I recall it was about 200 copies inside, and yes it's identified on the outside what the case contains.

[theCapraAegagrus]

They're, presumably, worth at least $2.50/each.

[Avi]

What "holy grail" comic is possibly inside?

[shadroch]

If the box was stored properly, there will be a number of 9.8s, and quite a few 9.6s.  

I'd leave it be. I sold a member an unopended case of Superman #1 a few years ago.  Originally he was going to send in the best 50 for slabbing but then decided to donate them all to some charity.

[William-James88]

23 hours ago, speteman said:

I wouldn't want to open it up because inside it might contain the holy grail of comic books.

I don't get that part, what holy grail? Inside is just the same comic, no?

[ExNihilo]

33 minutes ago, Will78 said:

That's the part that confused me. Maybe referring to a perfect  10?

Schrodinger's comic postulates that a sealed and unseen comic book is in a state of quantum superposition such that it is both a 10 and 0.5 at the same time.

[The Lions Den]

1 hour ago, ExNihilo said:

Schrodinger's comic postulates that a sealed and unseen comic book is in a state of quantum superposition such that it is both a 10 and 0.5 at the same time.

[speteman]

3 hours ago, ExNihilo said:

Schrodinger's comic postulates that a sealed and unseen comic book is in a state of quantum superposition such that it is both a 10 and 0.5 at the same time.

Bingo! That is exactly it. Schödinger's comic. I should've come up with that.

And to the other poster's point that it can be reasonably assumed that there are a number of 9.8s and lots of 9.6s, and if the value of a 9.8 is $75 and a 9.6 is $40, then maybe the box is worth several thousand dollars?

And then there is the chance there is a 10 inside, but who knows...

In terms of how it's been stored, the box has see wear and tear of near 30 years of following me around but I would expect that there is at least a central pristine zone inside the box that has experience virtually no outside effects.

Anyway, this discussion helps. I signed up to this board just to ask this question. Thanks all.

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, Will78 said:

1 hour ago, speteman said:

if the value of a 9.8 is $75 and a 9.6 is $40, then maybe the box is worth several thousand dollars?

The 9.6 will cost about $30-40 all together to slab so I imagine your profit on those would be very small.

On top of that, the likelihood of there being books less than 9.6 is very high.  It's entirely possible there are as many 9.4s (if not more) as there are 9.8s.  Given such a scenario, you would end up taking a loss on those books and they would offset any potential gains from sales of 9.8s.

[seanfingh]

20 hours ago, Will78 said:

AND I don't think anyone's mentioned that the polybag itself can damage the books, shrinking the pool of unpressed 9.8s even more.

To me the interesting question is - Is there a Platinum in there? Did they come 1 per case or were they shipped separately? I was pretty much out of comics when this all went down.

[comicginger1789]

These are cool. Personally though that issue means nothing to me. I’d look at what 9.8 (or better) sell for and assume I might get at least a couple and add the potential profit up. If it’s worth more than what someone would pay for the unopened box, then opening it is the answer.

[William-James88]

On 8/5/2020 at 5:27 PM, speteman said:

 

And to the other poster's point that it can be reasonably assumed that there are a number of 9.8s and lots of 9.6s, and if the value of a 9.8 is $75 and a 9.6 is $40, then maybe the box is worth several thousand dollars?

That would only be true if the comics in the boxes were already slabbed. But they are not. You have to pay 30$ more out of your pocket per comic before any of these comics are worth anything.

And I am sure there is no 10 in there. 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

The case could probably sell for more sealed as someone else may have the same theory as you, but I agree with what most on here have said . Short of sending in the best and even then trying to limit loss by prescreening you still may end up with a wash value wise.

On 8/6/2020 at 3:30 PM, seanfingh said:

To me the interesting question is - Is there a Platinum in there? Did they come 1 per case or were they shipped separately? I was pretty much out of comics when this all went down.

I may be wrong as I never opened a case, however I did receive several platinum editions of both 500 and 75 and they came later usually with a letter . I just tried looking back through my pictures and didn't find the letter for the 500 or 75 yet, but will update when I have a chance to dig and find them. In the mean time here are two letters I did find about Superman Platinum Editions. 

[Iconic1s]

On 8/5/2020 at 9:54 AM, speteman said:

I'm out of town at the moment and can check later, but as I recall it was about 200 copies inside, and yes it's identified on the outside what the case contains.

Would be cool to see some pics of the box. I’d personally keep it sealed If the box had a good description on the outside... really cool conversation piece sealed. Opened... it’s just a bunch of books that have probably been in those bags crammed in the box way too long for their own good.

[littledoom]

If I was selling it.. I'm selling it sealed in the box...

[comxdlr]

On 8/6/2020 at 4:30 PM, seanfingh said:

To me the interesting question is - Is there a Platinum in there? Did they come 1 per case or were they shipped separately? I was pretty much out of comics when this all went down.

Platinums did not come that way they were shipped several weeks after the 'shelf' version of both Superman 75 and 500.. so I would say the only way there is a platinum copy in the box is if it was a box that was sealed after the original shipping of the issue 500.   They were printed and shipped to dealers 1 per shop from what I remember.   I know we went through over 1000 copies of the bagged black superman in the first week.. and we received only 1 or 2 total Platinum 75's and i believe one came from a Diamond Distributors convention/meeting and only 1 of them was shipped to us directly

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Also here is an image of the letter sent from DC for the appreciation of completing the survey in which they sent two copies of the Platinum #500 

[Sneakerhead76]

I realize this post is old. Personally, I would take them all out, then bag and board for the future. Depending on how much you have moved them, 50% towards the center should be 9.8 or better. The bottom and top half might receive a tad more sliding and bumping around with various grades from 9.0 to 9.4.. You probably have spine roll on 25% because of the stacking, however they all should be able to be pressed out easily.  Ive had a few cases myself and bagged and boarded everything.