2001 Topps s2 – disaster box turned into a hit EXPRESS!

As I mentioned in my last post – my first purchase of a Topps series 2 box was an utter disaster.  Out of 360 cards in the box, less than 100 were salvageable.  Most of the base cards stuck together and looked something like this:

The Noteworthy insert cards all had the same issue – like this Frank Robinson below.

I was discouraged by this, and after opening the first 9 packs, I just decided to order a different box and hope for better results.  Some of it is just the nature of 2001 Topps – because my second series 2 box wasn’t very good either (though it wasn’t a complete mess like this box).

I opened that box first, and then put this one aside for a while.  I opened the rest of it a little later, and I’m glad I didn’t just throw it away :).  Other than the Noteworthy cards, all the inserts (and the big salvation below) were in fine shape.

So I knocked a few cards off my checklist.

But the biggest pull was in the first pack after I pulled the box back out – sitting in the front of the top pack on the lower right stack!

A Nolan Ryan auto – this is definitely in the top 5 pulls I’ve ever had.  Right up there with a Hank Aaron auto from 2012 Topps, a Jeter auto from 2008 Upper Deck Heroes, and a Griffey buyback Auto from 1997 SP.  So good things did come out of this box, which initially was such a disappointment!