Why lots beat singles, at first
Lots teach faster than any page of ours can: a box of twenty mixed ornaments shows you silvering loss, cap styles, and paint wear side by side, at a price where mistakes are tuition instead of tragedy. The Hunting Vintage chapter's grading rules apply to every listing below, with one lot-specific addition: count what you can actually see in the photos, and assume the rest is filler. A lot photographed from one angle is a lot priced from one angle.
What the first box should teach
Open it over padding, per the storage guide. Sort by material into the Cabinet's drawers and see which one you reach for twice. Grade the necks under the caps, because the fatal chips live there. And keep the ordinary pieces: every collection needs witnesses, and the piece that teaches you what common looks like is the piece that later proves what rare is. When one drawer starts winning, its type page is waiting.