Football Cards

Top 75 All-Time Classic Baseball And Football Cards

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In a ‘sort of related’ follow-up to my post the other day about the Top 25 Most Expensive Baseball Cards In 1993, are the Top 75 All-Time Classic Baseball and Football Cards In 1992.

These came from the August 1992 issue of Allan Kaye’s Sports Cards News & Price Guides (Number 9). I call it a ‘sort of related’ follow-up because I flipped through this magazine just after I flipped through the Sports Cards Magazine that had the Top 25 list; they just happened to have been published about a year apart.

I do like that the Top 75 list is organized by year; it’s already rather subjective. Unfortunately for some fans, I don’t think the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco or 1987 Fleer Will Clark would make the cut on such a list today, nor would the 1989 Pro Set William Perry or 1990 Action Packed Jim Plunkett.

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.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

The 1992 Galovich Report On Unopened Material

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Tony Galovich wrote the following three-page article about “investing” in unopened card packs and boxes for the June 1992 issue of Alan Kaye’s Sports Cards News & Price Guides; it brought about a lot of conversation on Facebook, so I thought I’d share it here too.

You can see that he highlighted some interesting history:

  • A 1953 Topps five-cent baseball wax pack sale for $11k in the summer of 1991.
  • A 1954 Topps cello pack with Hank Aaron showing that sold for $25k in the fall of 1991.
  • A 1934 Goudey wax pack with Jimmie Foxx on the bottom that sold for $20k in 1992.
  • All the 1952 Topps baseball wax packs emerging; including a find of around 800 in Seattle in 1991. He said dealers were paying $5k each for them and that someone had just opened a complete box
  • The find of an entire case of 1953 Topps five-cent packs (Canadian variation) a few years earlier.
  • The sale of a 1951 Bowman one-cent wax pack for $1,500 “recently.”
  • The price appreciation of 1961 Topps rack packs going from $600 a few years earlier to $1,500 in 1992.
  • A 1967 Topps high-number case selling for >$70,000 and the find of 1961 and 1962 cases.
  • The sale of a 1952 Topps high number case eight years earlier for over $200k.
  • He shared market prices for the following football products: 1959 Topps vending box-$2,200, 1957 five-cent wax pack-$550, 1964 Philadelphia rack pack-$450, 1984 USFL set case-$30k, 1972 high number wax box-$3,600, 1960 Fleer wax pack-$250, and 1966 Topps wax pack-$325.
  • From a basketball side he said that 1957 Topps packs were selling for $1k+ and that he heard of a vending case sale in 1991. He also said 1961 Fleer packs were fetching $500+. Also, 1969 Topps boxes were worth >$5k, with packs being >$500. In 1986, Fleer basketball cases were worth $30k, with the rarer 1987 cases bringing $10k.
  • Galovich also talked about how scarce hockey unopened products already were in 1992. 

As I wrote in the intro, I shared the article on the Facebook “Vintage Wacks and Packs” group, and it prompted some interesting comments:

  • One collector asked if the 1952 case was the Mr. Mint case, but that one was for cards from a case. However, another collector mentioned that he knew who sold that case and who bought it and that it sold for $450k, not $200k. Also, that year, NrMt-Mt ’52 Mantles dropped to $675.
  • Another collector mentioned that he’d been collecting since 1970 and had never heard of the ’52 case but had remembered the ’67 case. He also saw first-hand, around 1983, an unopened high series case of 63s.
  • The person who sold the 1954 cello pack with Hank Aaron on top commented that a large horde of Topps high-number boxes was found and sold at the KC show in 1980 between 1962 and 1967 by a retired Topps sales guy.
  • One of the group admins made a note of “the reference to the 1975 cello with Brett on top and Yount on back, BOTH of which just happened to be faced out (a known trademark for a certain someone who was active during that time), illustrates just how long ago star pack were being fabricated.” I suppose I need to republish my old articles about 1975 Topps pack collation.

Happy collecting!

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

36 1959 Topps Football Cello Packs

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PSA has slabbed 141 1959 Topps Football Cello Packs; I have to presume a few of them are crossovers from when Mastro sold this lot of 36 GAI-graded 2nd-Series examples in August 2004.

The Global Authentication encapsulated slabs included seven Mint 9s, two NM-MT 8.5s, two NM-MT 8s, 19 NM+ 7.5s, and six NM 7s. A bunch of stars were visible on the top or bottom, including Kramer, Mitchell, Parker, Jones, Tittle, Robustelli, Lebaron, and Taylor.

The lot also included the fully intact display box, advertised as in Ex/Mt condition.

These days, most individually PSA-slabbed 1959 Topps Football cello packs have settled at a base price of ~$1500 (despite their high pop) but can sell for much more with stars showing or a touch less if they’re in rough shape.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club

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I quickly snapped this photo while scurrying about the 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention because it looked familiar.

Once I got home from the show, I remembered the logo was also on the back of 1950 Bowman baseball and football cards.

Details are super scarce, so please contact me if you have more info, but in the early 50s, I remember collectors mentioning that Bowman tried having a collectors club akin to Topps’ Trading Card Guild (Picture Card Collectors Club). The Topps Archives mentions it in a piece titled Re-Rack. Given the boxes below, it could have been how Bowman re-packed unsold cards.

I found that Lelands has sold a pair of these boxes. This first one was titled 1953-54 Bowman Television & Radio Stars/Power For Peace Partial Cello Box (27/36).

It sold for just under $2k in February 2019.

This second example is a 1953 Bowman Power For Peace/NBC Radio & Television Stars Cello Box with 14 Packs. It sold for $879 in March 2022.

The BBCE website has an out-of-stock 1953 Bowman TV & Radio Stars Cello Box that they had offered for $8k.

I also had the following early Bowman cello box in my photo archives; REA sold it in 2021 for $3,960. They resold the same box in August 2024 for $6,900.

Again, please let me know if you have more information about Bowman’s 5-Star Series Picture Card Collectors Club.

Check out The Unopened Archive for more!

Calvin Murphy and Fran Tarkenton Topps Prototype Cards

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I ran across these circa 1970 Calvin Murphy and Fran Tarkenton “prototype” cards in Ron Oser Enterprises’ April 2000 auction catalog.

I’m unsure what to make of these items; the lot’s description explained that they appeared to be Topps prototype cards that were never issued.

The basketball card features Calvin Murphy of the San Diego Rockets, who moved to Houston before the 1971/72 season started. The writer said the style and size of the card were similar to those of the 1969/70 and 1970/71 Topps issues.

The football card features Fran Tarkenton as a New York Giants player, where he played from 1967-1971.

Both cards were still adhered to the original artist board and were described as being in perfect condition.

Let me know if you know anything about these items.

1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. Football Card Machine Front Advertising Display

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A little over a month ago, I published a piece about the Exhibit Supply Co. checklist cards. I highlighted slicks as being particularly important to this hobby niche. I then shared some vending machine header sign examples with slicks pasted on them.

Well, how cool is this display of 1948-1952 Exhibit Supply Co. football card machine-front advertising display pieces that was offered for sale back in December 2005?! 

The consigner arranged a group of seven different W468 football machine-front ads into a single, incredible, wood-framed, 32’’ x 43’’ display piece. The minimum bid in December 2005 was $300, but unfortunately, I don’t know what this lot sold for. The cards were all described as paper-thin (slicks) and adhered to the cardboard. And the upper-left example includes a super rare checklist printed on the image of Chuck Bednarik. There are just a handful of these checklist cards in the hobby. 

I also can’t say I’ve ever seen an Exhibit machine sign with yellow or green text either, AND the cards in the lower-left example appear to be attached (i.e., a partial uncut sheet of sorts)!

Here’s Mastro’s complete description:

The products of Chicago’s Exhibit Supply Company were designed to be sold in amusement parks and penny arcades. A lot of noisy excitement took place in those establishments, however, and a means was needed to divert customers toward the mute vending machines standing quietly ready to accept pennies and nickels in exchange for cards. The assembled layouts here offered were used on machine-fronts to draw attention and promote sales of Exhibit’s W468 football subjects, and the gridiron greatness depicted in this group of 7 different, very scarce pieces is astonishing in its scope. Featured among the placards’ depictions are key Hall of Famers, short-printed subjects, and the Exhibit collector’s most sought-after piece: the very rare Check List. Each layout consists of thin-paper Exhibit cardfronts adhered to cardboard or paper backings, with titles and graphics added; the layouts have been nicely arranged and matted within a wooden-framed surround (32″ x 43″ total dimensions). The items’ overall display quality is at least EX (some individual components are lesser), with most faults limited largely to fragile, once-exposed corners and surfaces. Includes: MACHINE-FRONT DISPLAYS (7) 12-1/2″ x 19″ panel 1) “Football Stars” display, 9 subjects w/ Young/Baugh/Lujack/Harder/Check List SP/Motley/Graham/Layne/Christman. (Check List SP with text overprinted on the image of Chuck Bednarik-is apparent EX/MT.) 8″ x 12-1/2″ panels 2) 3-subject, 2¢ display w/ McColl/Connor/Barwegan; 3) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Morrison/Sitko/ Tripucka; 4) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Turner/Hirsch/Dudley; 5) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Mastrangelo SP/Wedemeyer SP/Coulter SP; 6) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/ Trippi/Motley/Schlinkman SP; 7) 3-subject, 1¢ display w/Ratterman/Younger/Conerly.