When First Starting Your Collection Do Boxes Matter?

[CarGuy]

Boxes personify artistic characteristics of the time, the artwork...

Back in the day we had albums, the covers were considered artwork and designers like Hipgnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipgnosis) created some truly unique images.
Inside you got interesting liner notes that often gave you a glimpse into an artists sense of humor and you got to see who was credited and contributed to the tracks therein.
Often you got bonuses like stickers, cool album covers like Sticky Fingers and you actually got tangible stuff that showed you where your money went. You got property.
Now we get digital downloads with licenses that are not transferable and have less dynamic quality than vinyl.
Akin to instead of Oakleys with cool boxes with images of Ichiro, Finito or JPM with unique coins you got some sort of optical device that overlaid your retinas and only fit you?
It seems like every day we get a little more soulless...

 

[Rustpot]

I collect to wear and for personal pleasure. I'd prefer a box, but it doesn't bother me that much when I don't get one. Most of my pairs don't have boxes.

The only reason I've got some display cases is because the collection grew too large to just sit on the shelf. I'm not worried about selling them later, or having a museum quality collection.

 

[rightcoastnj]

i just take it or leave it.. i always ask if they have the box and original bag, but if they don't and ive already decided the shades are coming home with me, then it is what it is..

 

[lawman0210]

How do you know which pair had boxes, and micro bags etc? Do all pair have them? I have seen some pair that has a micro bag, a soft vault (like xmetal squared), outer box and a coin. My last pair from the vault was just slipped into a micro bag and a generic box.

 

[THE X-MAN]

ME LIKE BOXES .............................

 

[Rustpot]

How do you know which pair had boxes, and micro bags etc? Do all pair have them? I have seen some pair that has a micro bag, a soft vault (like xmetal squared), outer box and a coin. My last pair from the vault was just slipped into a micro bag and a generic box.

Generic boxes don't much matter, but pairs like X Metals, Artist, certain special editions, they came in special boxes with different artwork.

To know what it's supposed to come with? You'll just to have to do your research.

Older pairs came in boxes that had a stylized image of the pair on them. And the Monster series (maybe not the pup?) came in boxes with a sweet dog on them.

While it's true a pair is not truly complete without the box there's no reason to pass on pairs you want that don't have them. Unless you're like Romeo VanFrogenstein up there and are going for a collection that is as complete as possible.

 

[Rustpot]

Here's a couple good examples:

Magnesium pairs came with a Magnesium-specific box. I'd been searching for a pair for a long time, trying to spend around $200. This pair popped up at over $300, but it was like new, with box, and local. I'm happier to have the box, but I would have been fine without one.


And this is my collection of Frogskin. I have 13 or so pairs, these are my 9 unique ones (I have some duplicates). I have boxes for 5 or 6, but I only display one box for the series. It's one of the late 90's style with the stylized image, like I mentioned above. In my mind it's more important to have the box for these pairs since they're unique to the pair.

 

[CarGuy]

Lawman, I see in another thread where you are having an issue with a pair of Mars- unsure if the pair that you bought have OEM lenses and a fitment issue.
When you get a pair in the box with the serial matching you know that the pair in question left the factory came with that color lens.
When you get a pair of Mars, the Rubies and the Blacks had the same serial prefix but the Leather starts with M*xxxxx and Crater with Cxxxx so serials were unique to those colorways. If you get a pair of Ruby Mars without box there is no way of knowing if you bought a pair that started life as a Black pair and had lenses replaced with maybe aftermarket lenses.
When you get a pair with serial number match box you at least have a little more security that all is as it should be. Not for sure, but more sure. When you buy a Mxxxx pair of Mars with no box you have no way of knowing that the Ruby lenses are OEM. When you get a pair with a box but no serial match the odds decrease: Did you get a pair that left SGH with no box or the wrong box? Or did you get a pair that have been cobbled together with a box from here, a frame from there and lenses from way over there in aftermarket-land?
Therein lies the value of provenance to me. How did you feel when you paid what you paid for those Rubies and saw the issue? Wouldn't it have been a better experience had it been exactly as you expected? What is it worth to you to have a better experience while minimizing the odds of disappointment and ensuring the highest resale value?

 

[jk-27]

This is why Sunglass Hut sucks. I went in the other day to get a pair of Frogs but they didn't have the right box. For some bizarre reason they take all of the stock out of boxes and then, when people buy them, put them back in a random box. When I said I collected and needed the matching box the lady searched the store but couldn't find it, she said they must have been given away when someone bought another pair and they randomly put them in a box so all they have left are non-matching boxes. It's a stupid business in my opinion, with bad practices and poorly informed staff.

 

[CarGuy]

she said they must have been given away when someone bought another pair and they randomly put them in a box so all they have left are non-matching boxes.

Kinda like buying an ZR1 and getting Spark wheels and owner's manual...