Basketball Cards

Unopened Packs – To Open Or Not To Open?

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Here’s another great mid-90s article from Sports Cards Magazine about the unopened collecting niche; this one from Doug Koztoski includes info from Mark Murphy, the Baseball Card Kid.

Here are a few key takeaways:

  • “For every pack that is opened from a particular year, all remaining packs are that much rarer.”
  • Doug interviewed Mark Murphy, the Baseball Card Kid, for insights; he was the Steve Hart (The Baseball Card Exchange) of the hobby then.
  • Murphy said that Wax was the pack of choice with unopened collectors; I think that’s still true.
  • At the time, a 1-cent 1933 Goudey Sports Kings pack was ~$600
  • The article highlighted that ’59 football penny packs were pretty common, but a penny pack from ’60 is tough to find.
  • A run of 1950s baseball nickel packs was estimated at $61,500 in the mid-’90s.
  • Fake packs were already very commonplace at the time.

The Original Artwork Archive

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Welcome to the Original Artwork Archive! This is the hub for all the articles I’ve written about original artwork used to produce cards, sorted by sport and set. A lot of these pieces originate from the Topps Archives and Guernsey’s Topps auction, while others remain “lost,” buried in private collections. But thanks to the hobby library, I can scan and share photos from these and other past auctions and magazines, preserving these treasures for collectors to enjoy.

If you have any examples to share, shoot me an e-mail.

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Non-Sports

Original Artwork Hobby Books, Magazine Articles, and 101s

The Uncut Sheet Archive

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Welcome to the Uncut Sheet Archive! This is the hub for all the articles I’ve written about uncut sheets, sorted by sport and set. My goal is for it to be the definitive source of uncut sheet information on the web, offering insights into distribution, production quirks, and the factors behind why some vintage cards were so condition-sensitive, even out of the pack!

If you have any rare sheets to share, shoot me an e-mail.

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Hockey

Multi-Sport

Other Sports

Non-Sports

The Unopened Archive

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Welcome to the relaunched Unopened Archive! It used to have pages with photos of packs, wrappers, boxes, and cases from all the big pre- and post-war releases. This 2.0 version is more of a hub for all my blog posts about different unopened material. Over time, I’ll bring back the old content and add way more—like info about fakes, finds, sales, collation, and all the known products out there.

If you’re looking for a particular unopened product photo, shoot me an e-mail.

Baseball

Basketball

Football

Hockey

Other Sports

Multi-Sport

Non-Sports

Unopened Hobby Books, Magazine Articles, and 101s

Prince of Cards – The “Best” Unopened Product You Will Ever See

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Yesterday, I shared an ad from The Baseball Card Kid, with whom most collectors on the leading unopened FB group had fond memories. This ad from Prince of Cards didn’t precisely elicit identical memories.

The ad is a scan from the June 1996 issue of Sports Card Trader. Here are a few comments from collectors on the Facebook ‘Vintage Wax and Packs’ group after I posed this same ad on September 15th, 2024.

  • One collector noticed that the 1971 rack was bad since the header hole was wrong, and another group expert commented that the 1969 Aaron/Bench rack was probably bogus, too, showing just how far back people were fabricating this stuff.
  • Someone noticed that the 1975 mini box at $1,750 was actually higher than the price for one as recently as 2012 or so. And someone commented that they were getting them for around $400 in the early ’90s.
  • It’s not all bad; one collector said he bought a couple of 1986 Fleer basketball sets from Prince (in the late ’90s), and both Jordan’s graded PSA 8.
  • A collector remembered the huge find of sealed 61-62 Fleer basketball cases in the late 80s/early 90s.
  • Another collector recalled buying a 1969 cello pack from this dealer that, when opened, had two wax-stained cards in the middle (circa 1992). Another purchased some 1961 Fleer basketball packs around this time that, when opened a few years later, had 1980s Topps baseball cards in the middle.
  • A ton of collectors said the packs purchased from this dealer in the early ’90s were bad.

The lesson is to be informed and do as much homework as possible, especially when buying pricey items in the unopened niche. 

Mark Murphy The Baseball Card Kid – Unopened Advertising In Late 1993

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Today, the Baseball Card Exchange is the big player in the unopened space, but in the early ’90s, it was Mark Murphy, The Baseball Card “Kid.” Here’s an ad he placed in the December 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine.

You can see along the top that he had just bought a gorgeous run of 1970-1979 Topps Baseball wax boxes and was offering packs from each of them as the first products in the ad. Let’s compare prices in December 1993 to PSA 8-graded wax packs today:

  • 1970 Topps: $200 (5th/6th/7th Series) compared to ~$2000+
  • 1971 Topps: $175 (1st/2nd Series) compared to ~$2000++ (BBCE Auctions recently sold a PSA 8 1st Series pack for $6,667 and 2nd Series packs for $3k)
  • 1972 Topps: $65 (3rd Series) compared to ~$500-750
  • 1973 Topps: $110 (2nd Series) compared to ~$1k
  • 1974 Topps: $60 compared to ~$500
  • 1975 Topps: $90 compared to ~$1k
  • 1976 Topps: $35 compared to $350-425
  • 1977 Topps: $30 compared to ~$225
  • 1978 Topps: $20 compared to ~$150
  • 1979 Topps: $15 compared to ~$115

This ad has so many other awesome products, so I shared the advertisement on the Facebook ‘Vintage Wax and Packs’ group in early September 2024 to see what stood out to people who concentrate on this hobby niche:

  • Some were surprised by how high some prices were at the time; many thought that everything would have been a lot cheaper in 1993.
  • One collector commented that the 1982 Topps and 1991 Stadium Club boxes cost the same.
  • Many commented on how many “bad” decisions one could have made in that ad.
  • A lot of folks had bought vending boxes from him.
  • There were many comments about the 1986/87 Fleer basketball packs being $225 or $425 for two.
  • Many recalled fond memories of dealing with Murphy.

Happy collecting!

Unopened Case Clearance Specials In 1979

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In “I wish I owned a time machine,” hobby history is this advertisement from the December 1979 issue of The Trader Speaks for “sealed gum cases at the lowest prices ever seen!” And yup, that would be from Mike Cramer’s Pacific Trading Cards.

I shared this image on the Facebook “Vintage Wax and Packs” group, which led to some entertaining comments.

One person said he’d take an infinite amount of 1977-78 Topps Basketball; I agreed since I’ve only ever seen one photo of a wax case.

Another collector asked himself why he hadn’t bought a case for $25, responding that it was about $151 in today’s dollars.

There were a lot of comments about Mike Cramer, who owned the company. By the way, if you have any of his old catalogs for sale, please contact me.

The best comment was, “Funny that the priciest case then is the crappiest one now.” Referring to the 1975 Topps ABC Sports “Giant Stickers” for $40. They must have printed a million of them (and) or sold poorly because they’re incredibly easy to find today; a box was sold on eBay for $8 a few weeks ago.