Wax Box

The Greatest Collection Of Vintage Bowman And Topps Football Display Boxes

by

A lot of people remember the April 2004 Mastro auction for the incredible unopened material they sold from, I believe, OPC’s archives. Perhaps overlooked a bit were all the empty vintage Bowman and Topps football display boxes they sold a few years later in 2008. 

It’s tough to put prices on items like these today in 2024, given the run-up in vintage unopened/display items, but here are a few sales:

  • REA sold a 1952 Bowman Large Five-Cent Display Box for $5040 in December 2023
  • REA sold a 1959 Topps One-Cent Display Box for $360 in August 2019
  • Heritage sold a 1959 Topps Five-Cent Display Box for $227 in December 2012
  • Heritage sold a 1950 Bowman Five-Cent Display Box for $690 in March 2021
  • Collect Auctions sold a 1958 Topps Five-Cent Display Box for $202 in November 2020
  • Memory Lane Inc. sold a 1957 Topps Fice-Cent Display Box for $736 in September 2017

1969 Topps And O-Pee-Chee Man on the Moon Wax Boxes

by

Non-sport seems to be getting a lot of hype these days, so I thought I’d share this cool auction from April 2004 of a 1969 Topps and O-Pee-Chee “Man on the Moon” wax boxes! As the lot said, space exploration was at the forefront of the nation’s consciousness during the late 1960’s.

The 1969 Topps Man on the Moon 24-count display box contained 24 ten-cent wax packs, while the 1969 O-Pee-Chee Man on the Moon box originally contained 36 5-cent packs (the box in this auction was incomplete with just 30 packs).

“Real Photos Of Men On The Moon!”

1966/67 Topps USA Test Wax Pack Display Box Uncut Sheet

by

Mastro’s April 2004 catalog featured this “only known example” 1966/67 USA Test uncut display box. It was described as an ex-Topps Vault item and was accompanied by that company’s LOA.

The 18” x 25”’ blank-backed sheet, printed in the US on regular cardstock, bears the unfolded, central rendering of a 24-count, 5-cent wax pack counter-sales box. Masto wrote that small proofer’s notes and printing alignment marks appear in the periphery of the sheet.

Lelands first sold an assembled 1966-67 Topps USA Test Wax Display Box (pictured below) in October 2017 for $8070 before selling another for $4555 in February 2019.

And for completeness, here’s a 1966 Topps Test hockey “cello” wrapper. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I found this one to credit the source.

1970/71 Topps Hockey Wax Box And 24 Packs

by

This ultra-scarce complete 1970/71 Topps Hockey wax box, with all the packs authenticated by GAI was offered for sale in August 2004.

The box was described as VG with minor surface abrasions on the unpunched lid and packs with the following grades: Mint 9: 2 packs; Nm-Mt+ 8.5: 9 packs; Nm-Mt 8: 10 packs; Nm+: 3 packs.

If you’re in the vintage unopened hobby niche, you know how tough hockey items are to find. The PSA Pop Report currently shows 29 graded 1970 Topps hockey packs, and I suspect many of them are cross-overs from this GAI lot.

Regarding pricing, BBCE Auctions sold this PSA 8 wax pack for $2225 in November 2023.

1962 Topps Baseball Display Boxes

by

I’ve never been a massive fan of the wood-grained 1962 Topps design like others, but the wax box and pack designs that year were awesome!

The two display boxes and unopened wax pack pictured above were offered for sale back in 2004. The pack is an “Extra/Stamps” variation; one of the 5-cent display boxes has “All The Great Major League Stars” as its front panel slogan, while the other features the “Extra/Stamps” front slogan, with a “Mr. Retailer” and “Dimes” lid-top design.

Interestingly, the “Extra/Stamps” design is featured on the 1962 Topps dealer sell sheet floating around the hobby.

Also, it’s a tough find today, but here’s a 1962 Topps 1-cent Wax Pack Box.

1950-52 Bowman and Topps Display Boxes

by

Vintage, empty display boxes just weren’t as popular as they are today when, in April 2003, this trio was auctioned off in a lot TOGETHER.

Included were a two-piece red and blue 1951 Bowman 120 Count One-Cent Box, a one-piece red and blue 1952 Bowman 24 Count Five-Cent box, and an incredible two-piece red and green 1952 Topps 24 Count Five-Cent Box.

The 1952 Topps box is particularly rare. It has a blue and white “NEW SERIES” label on the front pane of the bottom of the box.

×