Anime Value of opened box VS unopened (what should I do?)

I'm in a bit of a diellema.
So I was out buyin my Dad a present and I stopped by Newbury Comics, a CD/action figure/T-Shirt/some comics store. Basically it's CDs/Comic book store.
Anyhow, I knew there were a few CB action figures and when I once saw a picture of the Knockin' On Heavens Door Spike figure, I knew I must posses it one day. I was so shocked to see it at Newbury Comics (amongst a great collection of obscure figures) that I had to keep from yelling "Spike!!!!"
However the money I had was for my DAD not me. Anyhow, I bought it and something 4 my Dad anyway (me? Money? Who needs that?)
The real problem I'm having now that I'm so incedably excited that I actually possess this figure is that I don't know what to do with it! I'm not really into collecting action figures! Before this, I had exectly 3 and only one was even slightly valuable (it's autographed and even then isn't worth more then like $20.)
Now, normally I'd take it out of the box and display it on a nice precipace in my room, but there's several problems with that:

A. My room's currently a mess because I'm turning everything inside out to get rid of the Star Trek stuff and replace it with Anime stuff. The only anime thing I actually have now is a large CB poster of Faye that I wouldn't have bought if it wasn't the only CB poster for miles. Faye's cool and all but I don't put posters of sexy women in my room.
B. The box is pretty nice anyway, I just wish I could turn his head a differant direction. Who looks downwards when they hold their gun out at arms length?? Still, the box also has a great image of him printed on it that I'd have to toss. I really like this box! It's just in the way of my fully enjoying the possesion of this figure!

But the biggest problem I'm having is that I can see that this action figure isn't extrememly common, yet every anime fan I've ever met loves CB to death. It's clearly a very popular show, and there's only a limited number of these figures which will surely stop being made soon enough.
A popular show + a somewhat obscure collectable + the only one of it's kind (as far as I can tell it's only CB action figure yet made, the box dosn't list any other ones in a line)+ the First of it's kind + mint condition = $$$ in a short amount of time, as long as the show stays popular. I have a feeling it could.

But I don't buy collectables for their cash value! I buy em so I can use them! What if I open the box, play with it for 5 minutes, get bored, keep it for a long time, and in 10 years the figure is worth $200 if I had only kept it in the box??

I donno...too much of a risk...maybe I'll keep it in the box even though I love it soooo much...
What to do??

-Sarah of Borg

 

Well, well.
Someone in my family is an antiques dealer, and his specialty is pop culture memorabilia. According to him, don't even breathe on the box if you want to get top dollar for it later. Items in original, unopened boxes can fetch 50-100% more money than objects out of/without a box.

But hey, if you just want to keep this item for yourself and don't care about resale value, then just do whatever you want with it! (as if you didn't know that, lol).

 

I gave in and opened it. I won't know if it was worth it for many years to come...but for now I'm glad I did it...

-Sarah of Borg