[QUOTE=TimBuckTwo;19790949]You are right. Probably a breaker who knew a breaker and had him submit it for him. Obfuscation. Do you follow?[/QUOTE]

If it was a breaker who was following orders from Topps/Fanatics, they would have use the Topps option to submit directly from the redemption center.

They aren't going to throw a bone to a breaker that offers a grading submission service. Since the BOCT think that the reason a store hasn't been named is because it didn't actually get pulled and they are protecting the breaker they blessed , they wouldn't have allowed some other breaker to get some pub. It would have been pushed as Topps took care of everything for them, from pulling it all the way through selling it.

[QUOTE=Rozarks;19790959]Ok, as well as not being impressed his track record, I’m also not any more convinced in the legitimacy of the situation. If that’s what you meant.

Also, does the guy getting favorable grades really matter much in this spot? This card could be a PSA 7 and as long as he posted/tied his brand to it, I would still be curious about where he fits into all of this. .[/QUOTE]

Let me ask this. If Fanatics is some puppet-master overlord that controls every little thing about the current how (that is the belief of the conspiracists), how did they manage to muff so much with this card?

My theory is that the father spent a ton chasing this card purchasing boxes from breakers. Then when he struck gold he devised a plan to create the maximum return. Fanatics of course buys in and the breaker who sold him the box gets clout from 'grading' services.

[QUOTE=PuddleMonkey;19790958]The future is now.[/QUOTE]

With McDonald’s it was a rogue employee. What some people are saying here is that it was officers of the company who acted to fabricate this story with the blessing of Papa Fanatic himself. That’s a big difference. I’m not saying it’s impossible, especially not with this company, but we need way more proof than what we currently have.

[QUOTE=cypher;19790969]My theory is that the father spent a ton chasing this card purchasing boxes from breakers. Then when he struck gold he devised a plan to create the maximum return. Fanatics of course buys in and the breaker who sold him the box gets clout from 'grading' services.[/QUOTE]

This feels way more plausible than most theories here.

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791024]This feels way more plausible than most theories here.[/QUOTE]
That or a Fanatics employee pulls it, and Fanatics makes a stupid decision to create this ridiculous story to cover it up instead of just keeping the person’s identity private.

There doesn’t need to be a story behind every big pull.

Seems a lot of you aren't familiar with HighEnd. He's not a breaker. He's one of the more prominent PSA submitters. I've submitted through him 3x and only received gems. Him picking up/dropping off at PSA is his biggest selling point and why you see a lot of prominent cards go through him.

That said, his involvement here is a headscratcher. Only someone entrenched in the hobby and grading would access and use him. A random "kid" wouldn't, nor would his dad unless he's a hobby regular.

[QUOTE=Grave252;19791041]Seems a lot of you aren't familiar with HighEnd. He's not a breaker. He's one of the more prominent PSA submitters. I've submitted through him 3x and only received gems. Him picking up/dropping off at PSA is his biggest selling point and why you see a lot of prominent cards go through him.

That said, his involvement here is a headscratcher. Only someone entrenched in the hobby and grading would access and use him. A random "kid" wouldn't, nor would his dad unless he's a hobby regular.[/QUOTE]

Wouldn’t the Dad [I]have[/I] to be for the kid to care so much and know the details he knew? Assuming the kid wrote the journal entry (which I think we assume he had some help, at minimum). From the beginning I assume the kid’s involvement was minimal. I just assumed the Dad hit the card, and said his kid did for fun. I don’t see that as too scandalous of a thing to do.

[QUOTE=Grave252;19791041]Seems a lot of you aren't familiar with HighEnd. He's not a breaker. He's one of the more prominent PSA submitters. I've submitted through him 3x and only received gems. Him picking up/dropping off at PSA is his biggest selling point and why you see a lot of prominent cards go through him.

That said, his involvement here is a headscratcher. Only someone entrenched in the hobby and grading would access and use him. A random "kid" wouldn't, nor would his dad unless he's a hobby regular.[/QUOTE]

I'll admit I'm not familiar with them, but I will point out that the name is HighEnd Case Breaks. You should be able to see why people assume they are a breaker as well.

I guess I should clarify. When I've used random family, I was saying it to indicate that it wasn't someone that Topps backdoored the card to. Not that they weren't regulars in the hobby.

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791044]Wouldn’t the Dad [I]have[/I] to be for the kid to care so much and know the details he knew? Assuming the kid wrote the journal entry (which I think we assume he had some help, at minimum). From the beginning I assume the kid’s involvement was minimal. I just assumed the Dad hit the card, and said his kid did for fun. I don’t see that as too scandalous of a thing to do.[/QUOTE]
Explain the fun to me when you’re keeping your identity a secret.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19791051]Explain the fun to me when you’re keeping your identity a secret.[/QUOTE]

Fun for the family themselves. They don’t need, or want, us involved with it. And that’s okay. Do you think they’re sitting there, one big happy family about to get a big day, and thinking, “You know what would make this more fun? Let’s bring in the miserable guys from Blowout!”?

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791055]Fun for the family themselves. They don’t need, or want, us involved with it. And that’s okay.[/QUOTE]
Don’t want anyone involved, minus the whole disclose to Fanatics that it was an 11 year old who hit it on Christmas, and oh, here’s his make journal entry for the fairytale for everyone to see!

It’s hard to wrap my head around how you can’t see how ridiculous your notion is.

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791044]Wouldn’t the Dad [I]have[/I] to be for the kid to care so much and know the details he knew? Assuming the kid wrote the journal entry (which I think we assume he had some help, at minimum). From the beginning I assume the kid’s involvement was minimal. I just assumed the Dad hit the card, and said his kid did for fun. I don’t see that as too scandalous of a thing to do.[/QUOTE]

I don't think there's any reason to doubt the part of the story that the kid pulled the card. There's plenty of stories here where Dad is the hobby regular and he opens packs with his kid.

It's plausible that the kid is the one who opened the pack and hit it. Everything after that, of course the kid had little involvement. People really aren't thinking that an 11 year old contacted Topps, set up this deal with HighEnd, and then negotiated with Fanatics Collect to auction the card, are they?

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19791056]Don’t want anyone involved, minus the whole disclose to Fanatics that it was an 11 year old who hit it on Christmas, and oh, here’s his make journal entry for the fairytale for everyone to see!

It’s hard to wrap my head around how you can’t see how ridiculous your notion is.[/QUOTE]

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around how anyone can care this much. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around how someone can be so grumpy on here all the time. We’re both struggling, man!

I’ve already said I have my doubts over the situation. I have questions. I’m a skeptic. I’m just not playing the conspiracy theory game. We need more info, and we may never get it.

[QUOTE=whitmm;19791057]I don't think there's any reason to doubt the part of the story that the kid pulled the card. There's plenty of stories here where Dad is the hobby regular and he opens packs with his kid.

It's plausible that the kid is the one who opened the pack and hit it. Everything after that, of course the kid had little involvement.[/QUOTE]

Completely plausible.

[QUOTE=whitmm;19791057] People really aren't thinking that an 11 year old contacted Topps, set up this deal with HighEnd, and then negotiated with Fanatics Collect to auction the card, are they?[/QUOTE]

I don’t think so, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there have been some really far fetched things said here.

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791064]Completely plausible.



I don’t think so, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there have been some really far fetched things said here.[/QUOTE]

This is true

[QUOTE=Grave252;19791041]
That said, his involvement here is a headscratcher. Only someone entrenched in the hobby and grading would access and use him. A random "kid" wouldn't, nor would his dad unless he's a hobby regular.[/QUOTE]

I would call myself a hobby regular. Regular as in normal dude who has participated in The National twice, bought, submitted, sold, and collected fairly regularly since 2017 (a lot narrower since 2022), and has participated in Blowout Boards.

I have never heard of High End Breaks and know nothing about them.

I think the point I am trying to point to here is that unless you are involved regular breaks and/or are a breaker (I am talking to you Daddio), you wouldn't know this guy.

It casts more shadow, not less, at the end of the day, for me.

[QUOTE=MiamiMarlinsFan;19791060]It’s hard for me to wrap my head around how anyone can care this much.[/QUOTE]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/wzH4tms/IMG-0251.jpg[/img]

As I’ve said, I think the most plausible explanation is that a Fanatics employee hit it legitimately while ripping their own wax. Nothing wrong with that. However, they proceeded to make the mistake of thinking they needed a story behind the pull that wouldn’t raise any suspicion. So instead of leaving the identity a secret (perfectly reasonable), they create this nonsense.

The biggest red flag is the decision to sell at Fanatics instead of Goldin. Goldin gets better prices on items like this because they market better and they know their high-end clientele. Of the top 25 sales between Fanatics and Goldin since 1/1/24, only 4 came from Fanatics.

[QUOTE=NYRE2PECT;19791069]I would call myself a hobby regular. Regular as in normal dude who has participated in The National twice, bought, submitted, sold, and collected fairly regularly since 2017 (a lot narrower since 2022), and has participated in Blowout Boards.

I have never heard of High End Breaks and know nothing about them.

I think the point I am trying to point to here is that unless you are involved regular breaks and/or are a breaker (I am talking to you Daddio), you wouldn't know this guy.

It casts more shadow, not less, at the end of the day, for me.[/QUOTE]
I’d say he’s fairly well known if you’re active on IG.

But take a look at the Skenes post and tell me if you notice the difference between every other post of his.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19791075]I’d say he’s fairly well known if you’re active on IG.

But take a look at the Skenes post and tell me if you notice the difference between every other post of his.[/QUOTE]

Maybe that's the big delineator...I am regular hobby guy, sans Socials.

[QUOTE=NYRE2PECT;19791069]I would call myself a hobby regular. Regular as in normal dude who has participated in The National twice, bought, submitted, sold, and collected fairly regularly since 2017 (a lot narrower since 2022), and has participated in Blowout Boards.

I have never heard of High End Breaks and know nothing about them.

I think the point I am trying to point to here is that unless you are involved regular breaks and/or are a breaker (I am talking to you Daddio), you wouldn't know this guy.

It casts more shadow, not less, at the end of the day, for me.[/QUOTE]

The company name is misleading.

Everything in America is polarized these days. It makes sense that Fanatics/Topps/Skenes is, too.

Maybe the dad is trying to hide how much money he spends on breaks from his wife.

[QUOTE=bub838;19791086]Maybe the dad is trying to hide how much money he spends on breaks from his wife.[/QUOTE]
The wife will find out if she looks at the 2025 taxes.

[QUOTE=KhalDrogo;19791072][img]https://i.ibb.co/wzH4tms/IMG-0251.jpg[/img]

[B]As I’ve said, I think the most plausible explanation is that a Fanatics employee hit it legitimately while ripping their own wax[/B]. Nothing wrong with that. However, they proceeded to make the mistake of thinking they needed a story behind the pull that wouldn’t raise any suspicion. So instead of leaving the identity a secret (perfectly reasonable), they create this nonsense.

The biggest red flag is the decision to sell at Fanatics instead of Goldin. Goldin gets better prices on items like this because they market better and they know their high-end clientele. Of the top 25 sales between Fanatics and Goldin since 1/1/24, only 4 came from Fanatics.[/QUOTE]

This seems plausible.