Subject:
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Re: MISB Set Prices vs. Opened Set Prices
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.appraisal
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Date:
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Sun, 6 May 2001 14:38:14 GMT
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Viewed:
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2330 times
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In lugnet.market.appraisal, Bob Parker writes:
>
> Also. like the other posts talked about, the age of the set is important.
> My current period of collection is Classic Space and Futuron. Since these
> sets are typically quite old, I expect to have to pay a premium for these
> sets, be they MISB or not.
Bob, from what I've seen Classic Space sets that are still MISB
will eBay at prices 4 times over that of opened sets. The
example you reference for the 6950 is not all that surprising.
> The relative safety of buying a MISB set is very comforting and helps when
> building the set after buying it. Then, the white pieces are white, no
> teeth marks, no color substitutions, instructions are not ripped, etc.
If you are a builder, the best deals to be found are when people
sell off sets that still have the pieces sealed in the polybogs, but
the box and printed materials are completely trashed, for whatever
reason. This scares off the people hounding after mint sealed boxes
to display on a shelf. And you get pieces in mint condition. I've
picked up a handful of Classic Space sets this way, for very little
over the price of "used" sets. They are now the best pieces in my
collection!
> Here's kind of what started me on this topic:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=581879888
> and
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=583489991
> This is an example of 2 sets, one opened and apparently complete in good
> condition and one that is MISB. This is a HUGE price difference.
> Especially for those of us who are going to build it anyways.
Well, aside from the sealed box, the condition of the opened
set is making a big difference here. That set is heavily used. I find
the 2 things to look at to judge condition (especially on Classic Space
sets) are the transparent pieces and the printed logos on the minifigs
and bricks. If you've never seen a mint C.S. set in recent memory,
the transparent pieces should be crystal clear, just like tinted
glass. The ones in this set are almost opaque---you can't see a thing
through them. Since the transparent pieces are that badly scratched
up, the rest of the pieces will be as well, plus dinged, dirty, etc.
You can also see the gold isn't that great on the minifigs, and some
of the white and grey pieces have yellowed. Plus you can see at
least one of the ultra-rare black technic axle pins at the centre
of the large wheels has been substituted with a grey one.
To be a fair comparison you would need to find a set with sealed
polybogs or open with mint pieces, but the packaging and printed
materials are demolished or missing. The price gap in your
example would narrow, but I would still expect to see the MISB set
go at 3X the price of the other.
The advice to just bid what you're willing to pay is my
recommendation as well. However if you seriously want to collect
MISB boxes as "hangar queens", but aren't willing to bid over
$30, then you're not going to have a collection. You will have
to bite the bullet and bid a competitive premium price for MISB
sets. And as long as there's guys like Dave Lovelace gunning
for the same set, I don't like your chances :] But if you want
things to build and are just looking for good condition with
instructions, then some patience should let you build a
respectable collection for much lower prices. I think I'm about
80% complete now for Classic Space, and I really only started
in December.
KDJ
_______________________________________
LUGNETer #203, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: MISB Set Prices vs. Opened Set Prices
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| (...) Yes, that makes sense - opening the set to build it instead of keeping it unopened as an investment is a very important distinction. Also. like the other posts talked about, the age of the set is important. My current period of collection is (...) (23 years ago, 4-May-01, to lugnet.market.appraisal)
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