Hobby Library

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!

Pacific Takes On The Goliaths

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Who remembers when super premium packs were just $5.99?

Anyway, the December 1996 issue of Sports Card Trader had an excellent article about Mike Cramer taking on the industry’s goliaths that I wanted to share.

But, before I share the article, it is interesting that the back cover features an advertisement for Pacific Trading Cards…

The article is still a great read, though!

Cramer also recently published a great book called Cramer’s Choice: Memoir of a Baseball Card Collector Turned Manufacturer. I encourage you to pick up a copy for your own Hobby Library; I’ll post a longer review of it in the future as I did for True Mint and Mr. Mint’s Insider’s Guide.

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.

The Top 25 Most Expensive Baseball Cards In 1993

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“For those with cash, here are the top 25 most expensive baseball cards,”…as reported in the October 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine.

What really stands out is that there wasn’t a single contemporary or modern card on the list (“Sorry, there are no Frank Thomas or Ken Griffey rookie cards on this list”). However, the author also pointed out there wasn’t even a Ted Williams or a Joe DiMaggio (despite their popularity in the hobby at the time). The “youngest” card was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (though only 41 years old at the time), which is like including a card from 1983 on a list today.

SCD’s Minor League Baseball Card Price Guide

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I’ve been looking for a Minor League Baseball Card reference for a while. Finally, I ran across an ad for one in a June 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine! There’s also a Standard Catalog of Minor League Baseball Cards out there.

I’d like to know if there are different editions; as you can see, the copy I picked up has a slightly different cover (text) than the one in the ad (2,000 sets vs. 1,900, for example).

Also, this is one of the rare examples where a book from the junk-wax era costs more than it did when it came out!

My copy is 480 pages long and begins with Dave Platta’s incredible 22-page “short” history of minor league cards. It’s a great read.

The book is arranged in two sections: pre-1970 and 1970-1992. Sets produced before 1970 are listed alphabetically, starting with the 1960 Armour Meats Denver Bears and ending with the 1950 World Wide Gum set. Sets made after 1970 follow chronologically and are arranged alphabetically by team name within each year. Upper Deck’s initial Minor League set from 1992 is the last set included.

Also, the pre-1970 sets generally include a short set history or synopsis, while the modern releases are mostly just a checklist with basic prices.

Despite the lack of detail, it’s still a fantastic piece for a hobby library, especially if you collect Minor League Baseball Cards.

A Pair Of 1983 Card Shows With Special Guest Stars

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I ran across the following pair of advertisements for card shows in the February 1983 issue of The Trader Speaks, so I asked folks on X which they would most want to travel back to 1983 to attend.

The first was the Baseball Card & Memorabilia show at the JFK Travelodge International Hotel on January 29th, 1983, with special guest star Hank Bauer.

The second was for the Sports Memorabilia Show #5 at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany, New Jersey, held on February 26 and 27th, 1983, with special guest celebrities Carl Erskine and Jimmy Piersall.

Folks preferred the JFK show at a ratio of 7:4. However, one collector said the Bauer show was the easy choice because they got both Piersall’s and Erskine’s autos in person before.

Which show sounds the most appealing to you?