2015 National Sports Collector Convention: Kris Bryant Superfractor Surfaces

If you werent aware of Prospect Rush and their purchase of the 2013 Bowman Chrome Kris Bryant Superfractor Auto, and subsequent product/drawing built around it – it all came to a close at the convention. Basically, the company built a repack product around the card, which is definitely an insanely valuable card, and raffled it off to ticket holders pulled from that set.

The card is now on ebay, and it is still a candidate that another repack product company may want to purchase it for another go around:

2013 Bowman Chrome Kris Bryant Superfractor Auto 1/1 BGS 9.5

You can see the price tag is about as high as one can put on this card without generating laughter from the peanut gallery, and with how crazy his cards have been selling, its going to sell north of 10k. The question remains, are there any collectors out there who might be willing to outbid a company that is going to buy the card for their use? Those days might be over.

This type of thing all started back in 2011 and 2012, when Leaf purchased the Stephen Strasburg superfractor to be sold in a special repack product. Cards that sell for over the modern ceiling of 10k are big targets. The trend continued with many other chase hits that had been pulled and listed for sale from other Chrome products. Mike Trout, Jose Abreu, Yasiel Puig, Andrew Luck and others have all had chase hits sold to companies looking for a tent pole to their products. However, other sellers have resisted going that route on their chase hits, especially on cards that are not flavor of the month.

Personally, I dont actually think this is a bad thing, as long as the way the card is redistributed isnt shady. Running blind raffle ticket drawings definitely casts a bit of doubt, and isnt the way I like to see these types of things done. Although it guarantees the card will come out of the product, and not stay sealed in a box, it can be scammed in more ways than one would think. Doesnt look like this was the case with Bryant, but the possibilities are there.

The reason I actually think repack products do more good than harm, stems from the added buyers it adds to a soft market. Card values are down almost across the board, especially as more collectors become flippers rather than people who actually keep things they rip. With more sellers than buyers, things tend to get very difficult to profit from, and repack companies will help this a bit. By no means are they the answer, but any little bit helps.

That being said, its very difficult to profit off repack products unless the owners have channels by which the cards can be purchased at a steep discount – therefore almost negating what was said above. Some of this situation can be offset by a crazy tentpole card for the product, but once its pulled, the boxes are dead. Raffle tickets will stretch it out, especially if very little value exists in the rest of the product. You literally want people ripping for the sole purpose of getting tickets at that point.

I wish I had more information about the process by which repack companies are able to do what they do, but it seems pretty simple. Buy gradeable raw cards in bulk and grade with hopes of preferential results. So many people put extra value in graded cards, that its a formula that adds value without adding a ton of cost.

With Beckett RARELY grading a chase hit below 9.5, its almost a sure thing.

As anything with this hobby goes, doubt is not in short supply. There are skeptics everywhere, and rightfully so. You never know what you are going to get with something new until you actually get what you get. That tends to be a contract many are not willing to sign.

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