Beware of "unopened" Cycle pack

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Posted By: Mike M. 

Apparently, there's an "unopened" Cycle pack on ebay. Collectors should be aware of its authenicity. The "rice paper" definitely doesn't seen right and I strongly believe "someone" actually wrap this pack by wax paper and then made the paper looks old. There are two wrinkles on the back of the pack (one on the bottom left corner of the tax stamp, one on the dress of the woman), such wrinkles would only be caused by sharp bending on the wax paper itself. You can also found a lot of those wrinkles on the side of the pack as well. Moreover, the "whitening" touches on the corners don't look right at all. If that pack was wrapped by the original rice paper, such corner touching damages would actually tear/break the fragile rice paper instead of showing "white" in color. In additon, the edges of the wrapper looks too "white" and seen to be "fresh" cut which doesn't match the rest of the articifial colored wax paper.

The seller has long history of selling 30's Sweet Caporal pack and claim as "T206 era" packs. He recently sold an partially "unopened" Piedmont pack with a 1909 tax stamp with black ink overstamp. In fact, "someone" rubbed out the last two digital of the year of that black ink stamp then the seller just simply claim it as 1909 pack.

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Posted By: Hankron

The rule of thumb for all the T206 brands packs that show up in auctions, is to place your bid as if there isn't going to be a T206 card inside. All these packs are nice looking and will look sharp on display next to your T206 or T205 collection, but almost none of them will contain a card.

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Posted By: Hankron

The only time I will allow you to go hog wild is if the pack is definitely sealed and has the correct date overprint and factory. Otherwise, bid as if it's a pretty but empty box.

One note on empty versus sealed packs. Old sealed packs are pretty stinky (the tobacco) and tend to leak the tobacco (Remember that GAI sealed tobacco pack?). So, even if someone buys a sealed pack to display next to their T206s, it is possible that she eventually will empty it herself anyway (often under threat from spouse). An empty pack can display as sealed and you have the fun of opening and closing the slide box.

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Posted By: Mike M.

The so-called "Unopened" pack has Dist State of New York which mean it wouldn't contain any t206. All T206 Cycle have Dist State of VA.