Hiya, Ken! Hope you're doing well, my friend. Thanks for the update on the '62 JELL-O Nellie Fox box winner. I am rather certain this collector was also blown away by the box when he first got to hold it in his hand. At that point, I think he'll be reassured at the decision he made to type in the big numbers on his eBay bid box to enter for it in the closing second! It was probably just like four guys going for a volleyball at the net, two from each side. They're giving it all they've got; one will get a higher or stronger hand/wrist on it, and come up with the kill for his team. The Fox box winner was the chap who decided he would go "this high", thinking he would certainly bag it, and likely bag it for less. However, there were probably three other collectors just like him. Just as my volleyball play scenario, each gave everything they had (put in "a sure winning bid", yet not realizing it would truly take that amount to win the dog fight).
Sometimes it takes even serious collectors "to think outside the box", and see the merits and elegance of an original complete box, from whence came a single card from the set they're struggling to collect in the first place. These collectors that were in the fight in the closing seconds ALL "GET" WHY THE BOX IS SPECIAL NOW.
The surreal idea that perhaps has never seized some of our other fellow postwar collectors are the implications with the 62/63 JELL-Os, starting with the fact the set was built ONE card at a time. Even with Post Cereal, you got at least a few cards. One thing in your favor, and disfavor, you could select any player you wanted, providing your Mom allowed you the privilege to select that flavor. What if the flavor was unappetizing to Mom, or if she felt no one in the family would like it, including you? This concept lends itself into why certain players chosen as the free prize on unpopular flavors would be very scarce.
Another factor in your disfavor is if you wanted a certain superstar, you likely would discover other kids in town also wanted Ernie Banks, or Mickey Mantle, or Sandy Koufax, or Ron Santo, or Warren Spahn, or Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays, or ....
Better end my musing, for now.....
---Brian Powell
P.S. Ken, if you get a chance to speak with the winner again, tell him congratulations from me, and that he must not feel eviscerated over what he had to pay to win it; rather, let the feeling of being exhilarated over winning it overwhelm the other! Way da go, big dog!!!!!!!! Also, please encourage him to buy a copy of NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. Tell him how. I've got plenty of copies left; or, he can go the Amazon route for the digital download. If he's going to plunk that kind of dough down to win a prized centerpiece, he owes it to himself to buy some decent literature that devotes 3 chapters to the General Foods' baseball card issues. Mine will not have the sheer info that Dan Mabey's would; however, in our secluded hobby, the more books the better! Always!!! Also, his personal info on an envelope is private, and will not be shared with anyone!-----Bri