How to tell a resealed box or pack (what the record can and can’t show)

Step by step

1. 01Know the factory seal for that product. Shrink-wrap seams, tear strips, glue patterns, wax folds and foil crimps differ by product, year and factory. Find a confirmed example of the same product, in person or in an auction house’s photographs, and learn its seal before you look at the one in hand.
2. 02Look at the wrap. A second layer of wrap, a wrap that is heavier, cloudier or more wrinkled than the factory’s, a seam in a different place, or printing on the wrap that does not match the product, are reasons to ask. So is a wrap too tight or too loose for the box.
3. 03Look at the glue and the flaps. On wax packs, the glue pattern and the fold; on boxes, the factory tape or glue against tape a person can buy. A flap that has been lifted and re-stuck shows a second glue line or a torn surface under a low light.
4. 04Weigh it against an example you know. Same product, same count, on the same scale. Weight varies from the factory, so a difference is a pattern to note, not a proof either way.
5. 05Read any authenticator’s wrap and label. Some services wrap a box or a case they have inspected and label it. Read what the label says it checked, and whether the box was wrapped from a sealed case or on its own. The label is a record of that inspection on that date, and nothing after it.
6. 06Read a graded pack’s record. PSA says packs are among the items it images front and back for its cert verification. A graded pack’s record shows the pack as sealed in its holder; compare the wrapper, the wear and the print to the pack in hand, as you would a card.
7. 07Ask for the history, and write it down. Where the box has been since it was bought, from whom, and how it was stored. Photographs of every face, the seams and the flaps, with the date, go in the record beside the answers.

What this check does not prove

• What is inside. No check from the outside reads the contents. A factory seal says the factory sealed it; it says nothing about which cards the factory put in, and an authenticator’s wrap says the same.
• A graded pack’s cards. Pack grading speaks to the wrapper and the seal. The grade has no bearing on the cards inside, and neither does this guide.
• That a plain wrap is wrong. Factories vary, and so do stored boxes. A wrap that differs from your example is a question for the seller, not a finding.
• Who holds the card now. A cert records the card and the grade on the day it was graded. It says nothing about who has held the card since, or how it got to the seller.
• What the card is worth. A grade is not a price. The lookup says nothing about value, and neither does this guide.