Unopened baseball cards tend to be worth more than cards that have already been looked through and handled. This is because unopened packs and boxes are considered to be in pristine, completely factory sealed condition. Collectors are willing to pay a premium for items that still retain their original packaging and have not been touched by human hands.

Maintaining the packaging is important because it helps verify authenticity and proves the cards have not been tampered with in any way. An unopened wax or cellophane pack immediately establishes provenance and shows the collector exactly what they are getting without any uncertainty. Once packaging is removed, there is no way to be 100% certain of a card’s history or if any substitutions could have occurred.

Keeping products factory sealed preserves the original production run characteristics. Print runs and card allocation can sometimes vary slightly between different packaging of the same release year. A sealed item guarantees the collector knows exactly which production specifications their cards fall under.

On a purely economic level, sealed wax packs and boxes also represent a greater supply of salable units per item since the collector isn’t merely acquiring a single card but the entire contents. This spreads their investment over multiple potential hits rather than gambling on just one card. If collectors wish to break open the packs later for personal use, they still hold an unopened reserve to potentially sell.

The packaging itself can also become a noteworthy collectors’ item independent of its contents. Iconic designs from vintage years achieve their own significance and demand from individuals focusing exclusively on maintaining sealed wax and boxes as display pieces. Things like the classic green Topps wrapper of the 1950s-60s and the ’87 Donruss plastic have strong nostalgic cachet.

There are some caveats worth noting as well – unopened product is not always more valuable in every case. Often the difference in price depends on specific factors about the particular release in question:

Modern retail issues like recent Topps Series 1 and 2 are not usually worth much sealed since their print runs were so large. Much of their value comes from rookies, stars, and serial numbered insert cards that cannot be checked inside unopened packs.

Very old wax packs or boxes pre-1970s can sometimes be worth less sealed if condition/ centering/grading concerns make the individual cards inside difficult to reliably appraise while still in packaging. Collectors may prefer purchased loose.

Exclusive limited parallel printings and rare promotional items are typically valued based on their specific cards, not the packaging. An unopened pack with an otherwise unspectacular content lineup may not demand as high a return.

Error/variation cards that become highly coveted often overshadow the worth of their packaging. Collectors want raw cards to capture all nuances of the mistake/miscut under a loupe.

Sets with highly iconic visual designs like 1953 Topps may be appealing enough as complete but opened for collectors who want to appreciate the full imagery. Sealed product forsets like these is usually for investors.

While pristine unopened baseball items typically carry premiums due to provenance and multiple potential hits, there are numerous collecting and investment scenarios where the merits of raw individual cards exceed sealed product depending on the specific release, cards, and buyer priorities. A keen eye, thorough market research, and balancing multiple factors is needed to determine optimal presentation and ideal selling strategies for cards new and vintage on both an individual and wholesale basis. Maintaining packaging is usually safest to maximize returns, but not an absolute when rarities or condition supersede.

While factory sealed packs and boxes usually fetch higher prices due to provenance and supply/demand dynamics, collectors also highly value raw cards to inspect for errors, authenticate signatures, or appreciate full visual designs. Whether cards are worth more sealed depends greatly on the specific issues, cards inside, and buyer motivations. Both sealed and raw products have their appropriate niches depending on a given release’s factors. Careful consideration of all relevant attributes for each situation is necessary for collectors and investors to ascertain optimal strategies.