That's ****. Looks like the package had been caught under the rear roller shutter of one of their bigger lorries.
Guys, I've said this here before regarding couriers and their refusal to cover "outer packaging" having pursued a successful claim through the court process against Parcel2Go: Ask them to point out where, exactly, in their terms and conditions, it states that this is not covered. I checked Hermes' T&Cs just the other day before dispatching a fragile item and NOWHERE does it state in the excluded and prohibited items that outer packaging is not covered.
Even should this fail at court then you can always fall back on the fact that the item is a collectible and the outer packaging is not merely something to keep the item in but contains a great deal of the value.
Even with modern stuff you can prove that the packaging is of value. Simply point out that if there was no value to it then why do supermarkets discount items with damaged packaging? Think of the dented tins of soup, etc. in the discount section.
An amusing twist to this, which flies in the face of their "no outer packaging" happened when I sent a guy a couple of EMPTY Lego Minifigure boxes. I sold him two empty boxes for £12. Packed and sent them. Hermes crushed the box and damaged one of empty retail boxes. I put in a claim, they refused it on the grounds they didn't cover outer retail packaging. I pointed out that the entire content of the package WAS outer retail packaging and therefore clearly it had value. They paid up without further argument.
It's a totally winnable argument and, if all else fails, take the simple step of registering a claim through the small claims court process as Money Collection Online (Govt. service, google it). It works!
And stormcab: awesome idea re the cheap plastic tubs.