Certainly a potentially fascinating find. I have lots of thoughts and a few questions. In no particular order:
Best as I can tell, that period has been completely passed over by GSN, so even if they're nighttime episodes, they likely are ones that haven't aired (maybe cigarette issues?). If they're daytime episodes, especially if there's more than a week's worth of them, then that's a solid find. And yeah, if they happen to be in color, then in our little world, the find is nothing short of historic.
Before anybody asks, there WAS a daytime TPIR on 1/1/62. Not one on Christmas, though. If the handwritten label is literally accurate, there would be seven shows in the box.
So, how big is the box? Have you looked inside? Seven 2" quad tapes would be a pretty big, heavy box. The dream would be that these really were recorded on color tape, but have been transferred at least once to something more practical. If by chance they made their way to U-Matic tapes, then your cost for transferring just went down to zero. Uncle Matt can take care of everything.
If they're filmed kinescopes, like other preserved TPIR shows of the day, the cost for transferring them wouldn't be prohibitive, especially if several of us went in on it together with you. If they really are 2" tapes, then you're talking about hundreds of dollars for each transfer, and then you have to wonder whether it's worth doing more than one. It would totally be worth doing one, though!
Keep us posted, and certainly contact me directly if you want to talk about any of this privately. I would love to offer my support in making this happen.
