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.
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.
This is what we in the hobby would call a “fun rip.”
These 24 GAI-graded 1969/70 Topps basketball wax packs were offered for sale together in Mastro’s April 2004 catalog. The original 24-count counter-sales display box was included, too.
Each 10-cent pack had ten cards and one of the year’s paper “rulers” inserts. The pack’s grades included GAI Perfect 10: 6 packs; GAI Gem Mint 9.5: 7 packs; GAI Min 9: 7 packs; GAI NM-MT+ 8.5: 1 pack; GAI NM-MT 8: 2 packs; GAI NM+ 7/5: 1 pack.
If you didn’t know, PSA started grading oversized packs around the fall of 2023, and most notably, Goldin sold a lot of 14 1969 Topps basketball tallboy packs in March 2024 for $148,840!
The packs’ grades included:
PSA NM 7: 1 pack
PSA EX-MT 6: 9 packs
PSA EX 5: 4 packs
At the time (June 2024), PSA’s Pop Report still only included those 14 packs.
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.
I’ve studied the unopened hobby niche for a while, and this is the first 1952 Topps Look ‘n See One-Cent Display Box I’ve seen. It was offered for sale in an April 2004 auction catalog along with a five-cent wrapper.
The cards from the 1952 Topps Look ‘n See set aren’t particularly scarce, but the unopened material rarely surfaces.
The 6-1/2” x 6-1/2” x 2” EX/MT conditioned display box originally held 120 1-cent wax packs.
Vintage unopened sports card material has been a popular segment of the hobby for a while now. One of the more prominent companies and industry leaders in the segment is the Baseball Card Exchange (BBCE), owned and operated by Steve Hart. Steve even authenticates unopened packs for PSA. In June 2020, they posted on their Facebook page about the “X-Out.”
Since not every collector has a Facebook account, I wanted to summarize their post and add more information so that everyone can learn a little more about unopened cards.
In the past, retailers pre-ordered boxes of cards, and if they didn’t sell all of them, Topps allowed them to return unsold boxes for credit.
For instance, let’s say that Topps originally distributed a Baseball Wax Box to a dealer for $20. Then, at the end of the season, Topps would allow the dealers to return that box for a $17 credit. Topps would in turn “re-sell” (blowout) those boxes to dealers for $10. (These numbers are fictitious and just used as examples). Well, they had to have a way to keep the “unsavory” dealers (there might be one or two lurking within the industry!) from buying those boxes for $10 and “re-returning” them for $17. Hence, the “X-Out” was born. When a box was returned, it was given the “X-Out”. From 1981 to 1988 Topps used various markings to identify “X-Outs” on wax, rack and cello boxes in all major sports and non-sports issues.
BBCE
1983 Topps Football X-Out Unopened Box
It seems as though they used everything from a crayon or marker to a 4” paintbrush to put an ‘X’ or a line across the top of the box. This ‘X-Out’ signified that the box had already been returned once, and it could not be returned again.
BBCE
1986 Topps Football Cello X-Out Unopened Box
Often, they just drew a line across the box as well.
1987 Topps Football X-Out Unopened Box
The ‘X-Out’ marking on some years were worse than others. I think that 1984 was the worst as they seemed to very, very generously deface the lids of their boxes that year. Another problem with the ‘X-Out’ is that they usually put the boxes back into the cases without letting the marking dry completely. So, when the boxes are removed from the cases today it results in many of the lids being torn off.
BBCE
The following picture of a 1984 Topps Football Box shows a piece of another box stuck to the top.
1984 Topps Football X-Out Unopened Box
Topps also marked the outside of those cases with “Final Sale” stamp.
You can see “FINAL SALE NOT TO BE RETURNED” stamped on this 1983 Topps Baseball Unopened Rack Pack Case.
1983 Topps Baseball Case FINAL SALE
A few former card shop owners have shared that they received some cases marked “final sale” in which none of the boxes were “X-Outs.” It’s possible that Topps had certain products that could only be returned for a limited amount of time and, therefore, didn’t require marking. Or maybe other products could only be returned by the case. One dealer noted that rack pack boxes that they received were never marked.
Additionally, there are cases from before 1981 that are marked “Final Sale,” indicating that exchange programs started earlier. For example, the 1979 Topps case below shows “Final Sale,” but we haven’t seen any boxes from this era with an “X-Out” on it. I’m assuming Topps noticed some shady behavior and started marking the boxes in 1981.
1979 Topps Baseball Case FINAL SALE
Non-sports cards followed the same pattern, as you can see on the Garbage Pail Kid box which has a black line across it, and the 1978 Topps Jaws 2 Case marked “Final Sale.”
Garbage Pail Kids X-Out Box
1978 Topps Jaws 2 Case FINAL SALE
If you have any other information or comments about “X-Out” boxes or “Final Sale” cases – be sure to share them in the comments section below.
