Should I open these?

[Abiky]

I have a set of Crypto Stamps 2.0 that I've bought a long time ago. They're sealed, never opened since the time of purchase.




I was tempted to open them just in case I have the ultra rare red stamp on my hands. But I'm not sure if opening the stamps will affect their value, so I'm asking for guidance in this regard. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

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[Bullion-n-BTC]

One of the hardest things to do in these situations is keep the packages sealed. I can’t tell you how many boxes of trading cards I’ve opened trying to find that “rare” card only to find nothing. The cost of the sealed box far outweighed the cost of the cards sold separately once opened. The fact of the matter is that if what you’re looking for is truly rare enough to be worth a lot of money statistically it’s not going to be in there. In my opinion you’d be a lot better off keeping them sealed in the original, unbroken packaging. Once you open them you’re only going to have regret at doing so. Trust me I know how hard the temptation is to resist but if you leave them alone for about a day or 2 you’ll forget all about them again. Just my 2 cents buddy.

[minerjones]

If I remember correctly, there is some kind way you can use a bright/strong light to see what you got.

Other collectors who are more knowledgeable in this area can add to this

[cygan]

i think minerjones is referring to this post by teeGUMES, where it is described exactly how to get all the information of the particular stamp without peeling the cover off
enjoy it

We can't look past this any further.

Austria Post Crypto Stamp 1 (CS1)
Austria Post Crypto Stamp 2 (CS2)
These both should be considered "Breached" straight from the manufacturer. After market sales depend solely on the integrity and honor of the seller. If you do not care about the Non-Fungible Token(NFT) or online portion of collecting these stamps then you are fine.

CS1 was found(allegedly) to have been gamed by insiders/post office workers due to the ability to scan the forward facing and uncovered QR code to determine rarity. Anyone that had an inkling about rarities and cryptocurrency hype could have easily pocketed Blues/Yellows/Reds and sent out the more common Blacks/Greens to consumers. Hard to have concrete physical proof of this happening but the upgraded security to the CS2 (inside packaging with a tamper proof sticker) proves that this was recognized as a security flaw.

The attempt to fix this issue with the release of CS2 has still proven insufficient and can be bypassed by anybody with just one hand and a light squeeze. The tamper proof sticker does nothing to stop this from happening. I was able to squeeze the packaging and carefully remove the card from its slotted position inside. I was then able to retrieve the seed phrase and once again squeeze the package open and slide the card back into the slot. Little to no damage done to the packaging or stamp itself.. nothing a few hours in between two heavy books wouldn't fix.


Now lets get to the major breach of not just CS2, but also CS1.


Both intact, I tried to show the serial to maintain authenticity through this story of pictures.

I took the previous two pictures inside but have moved into a pitch dark storage room for the next few. This is NOT needed for the effect shown on the CS2 stamp, moreso the CS1 stamp proves superior here but is still vulnerable to a flashlight and dark room. (This took me around five minutes, if I were a more nefarious actor I could have done a much cleaner job.)

CS1


CS2


As you can see in a dark room with a flashlight the seed words and QR codes are visible. With a better flashlight and some contrast adjustments(Photoshop) these could be a lot more crisp and legible. CS1 proves superior with the scratch n' sniff label over it but still doesn't hold up to a dark room and a flashlight.

I am unsure who created the actual physical portion of CS1 for Austria Post - will edit if/when I find this information.

The physical CS2 were made by a company named Variuscard and commissioned of course by Austria Post. Security testing appears to have been non existent.
Advice - If you ever want to avoid problems like this and work with the community, read THIS thread and you'll see how it should be done. (There is a lot of talent you would not expect in the Bitcointalk Collectibles community.)

As this post is about the physical portion of the cards being breachable by anyone that has ever come into possession of them I won't get into the OnChain Shop mess going on right now as that would be labelled as a fail rather than a breach. Special nod to Capacity Blockchain Solution GmbH and the Ethereum Network for that.

To sum up. Any and all CS1 and CS2 out there should be considered breached. If you bought straight from Austria Post then you're probably(maybe) alright. The sales that take place on eBay and in the Collectibles board here should be scrutinized and the character of the seller should be taken into account. If you only care about having the card in your possession and don't want to play with MetaMask/Ethereum/High Gas Fees then there is nothing to worry about. Both CS1 and CS2 are absolutely beautiful pieces to have in your physical collection.

Note: If you can do anything with the QR/Seed Phrase pieces I've used in this post, go ahead as they're now part of my compromised collection.

[ChiBitCTy]

One of the hardest things to do in these situations is keep the packages sealed. I can’t tell you how many boxes of trading cards I’ve opened trying to find that “rare” card only to find nothing. The cost of the sealed box far outweighed the cost of the cards sold separately once opened. The fact of the matter is that if what you’re looking for is truly rare enough to be worth a lot of money statistically it’s not going to be in there. In my opinion you’d be a lot better off keeping them sealed in the original, unbroken packaging. Once you open them you’re only going to have regret at doing so. Trust me I know how hard the temptation is to resist but if you leave them alone for about a day or 2 you’ll forget all about them again. Just my 2 cents buddy.

This is a bit debatable.  In regards to trading cards it really depends on which brand, year, etc.  There are examples of some cards where there may be a few harder to find cards that sell on the open market for much more than the box of un-opened cards.  Especially if it's pretty rare, most people assume that you wont find those cards in the pack in all likelihood, so the boxes don't sell for much.  However if you happen to land one of those rare cards, then you can get a lot more for it than just selling the unopened box.  So in these cases since the cards/packs/boxes aren't that valuable, then opening them is not only fun but can end up being much more profitable  There are certainly arguments for both sides of this, depending on a number of factors as I said earlier (brand/year/etc etc).

[xSlyy]

I have eight packs of first edition Duo cryptocards still sealed. You've now made me remember I haven't opened them. Thanks a lot for that!   

[Abiky]

If I remember correctly, there is some kind way you can use a bright/strong light to see what you got.

Other collectors who are more knowledgeable in this area can add to this

i think minerjones is referring to this post by teeGUMES, where it is described exactly how to get all the information of the particular stamp without peeling the cover off
enjoy it

We can't look past this any further.

Austria Post Crypto Stamp 1 (CS1)
Austria Post Crypto Stamp 2 (CS2)
These both should be considered "Breached" straight from the manufacturer. After market sales depend solely on the integrity and honor of the seller. If you do not care about the Non-Fungible Token(NFT) or online portion of collecting these stamps then you are fine.

CS1 was found(allegedly) to have been gamed by insiders/post office workers due to the ability to scan the forward facing and uncovered QR code to determine rarity. Anyone that had an inkling about rarities and cryptocurrency hype could have easily pocketed Blues/Yellows/Reds and sent out the more common Blacks/Greens to consumers. Hard to have concrete physical proof of this happening but the upgraded security to the CS2 (inside packaging with a tamper proof sticker) proves that this was recognized as a security flaw.

The attempt to fix this issue with the release of CS2 has still proven insufficient and can be bypassed by anybody with just one hand and a light squeeze. The tamper proof sticker does nothing to stop this from happening. I was able to squeeze the packaging and carefully remove the card from its slotted position inside. I was then able to retrieve the seed phrase and once again squeeze the package open and slide the card back into the slot. Little to no damage done to the packaging or stamp itself.. nothing a few hours in between two heavy books wouldn't fix.


Now lets get to the major breach of not just CS2, but also CS1.


Both intact, I tried to show the serial to maintain authenticity through this story of pictures.

I took the previous two pictures inside but have moved into a pitch dark storage room for the next few. This is NOT needed for the effect shown on the CS2 stamp, moreso the CS1 stamp proves superior here but is still vulnerable to a flashlight and dark room. (This took me around five minutes, if I were a more nefarious actor I could have done a much cleaner job.)

CS1


CS2


As you can see in a dark room with a flashlight the seed words and QR codes are visible. With a better flashlight and some contrast adjustments(Photoshop) these could be a lot more crisp and legible. CS1 proves superior with the scratch n' sniff label over it but still doesn't hold up to a dark room and a flashlight.

I am unsure who created the actual physical portion of CS1 for Austria Post - will edit if/when I find this information.

The physical CS2 were made by a company named Variuscard and commissioned of course by Austria Post. Security testing appears to have been non existent.
Advice - If you ever want to avoid problems like this and work with the community, read THIS thread and you'll see how it should be done. (There is a lot of talent you would not expect in the Bitcointalk Collectibles community.)

As this post is about the physical portion of the cards being breachable by anyone that has ever come into possession of them I won't get into the OnChain Shop mess going on right now as that would be labelled as a fail rather than a breach. Special nod to Capacity Blockchain Solution GmbH and the Ethereum Network for that.

To sum up. Any and all CS1 and CS2 out there should be considered breached. If you bought straight from Austria Post then you're probably(maybe) alright. The sales that take place on eBay and in the Collectibles board here should be scrutinized and the character of the seller should be taken into account. If you only care about having the card in your possession and don't want to play with MetaMask/Ethereum/High Gas Fees then there is nothing to worry about. Both CS1 and CS2 are absolutely beautiful pieces to have in your physical collection.

Note: If you can do anything with the QR/Seed Phrase pieces I've used in this post, go ahead as they're now part of my compromised collection.

I didn't know it was possible to see the contents of the stamps by only squeezing them slightly at the bottom. Does that mean both Crypto Stamps 1.0 and the 2.0 versions are compromised? I've bought mine (CS 2.0) on eBay around 3 years ago, so I'm worried the NFTs might've been redeemed already by someone else. I did the "light and the squeeze trick", and so far, none of my stamps are the red ones. I'm going to leave them sealed as make nice crypto collectibles. I wonder if the trick will work in newer versions as well (3.0 and 3.1)?

[owlcatz]

Afaik, 3.0+ was fixed by putting them in packaging that you had to tear open....

If anyone's interested, I have a number of cs 1.0 of different colors + xdigits for sale just PM me.  (Straight from the shop never tampered with etc)