best overall wax to rip? shiny or not & any era, any sport or non sport?
blurryface
Posts: 5,136 ✭✭✭✭✭
was just posed a pretty simple but rather tough question over beers by a buddy’s buddy. was making idle chit chat about cards and then the convo turned into ripping wax. guys background was pretty typical. born late 70s, collector thru 80s, makes decent money w ample supply of disposable income and just getting back into it. like seriously just heard about grading 6 or so months ago. was just getting ready to sub before psa shutdown. guy always loved to rip wax and has been doing so but is worried about topps/panini about to run the wheels off the presses w loss of licenses.
anyways, now that the backstory is dropped and back to the og question. i can honestly say i hadnt thought what the best overall value would be to advise. it seems like thered be a simple answer yet nothing really obvious comes to mind.
right now im just going thru and canceling out categories…
- anything 70s is prolly too expensive, not worth ripping at that price.
- a lot of 90s stuff is bricked.
- 2019+ is prolly printed too much or still to high priced.
- 2018 update is a no brainer but seems like a keep sealed situation
- late 80s mass produced stuff still viable esp w new grading costs.
guy favors football, baseball, non sports and anything 80s. likes basketball and hockey but not his 1st choice.
so what would be your suggestion be on say $5-$10k budget for someone not looking to just let the stuff sit sealed in a closet? and most bang for the buck, ie not a single box? could be a case. a medley of different boxes/years. ie more than just 1 right answer.
Comments
I don't think that you can go wrong ripping anything, and I mean anything, from 1987.
Since he likes Football I would start with something like this:
https://target.com/p/2021-panini-nfl-prizm-draft-picks-football-trading-card-multipack-8211-box-of-12-packs/-/A-83694944
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
78 Baseball - Topps or OPC - both are always fun options. Maybe foolish to rip, but fits the budget.
@blurryface
I think on some level, the right answer is in your buddy’s head. If this is any part nostalgia, he should base it on a player group he’d like to pull, a rookie group he’d like to pull or a set he chased as a kid.
But more straightforward, I’d vote for 1983 Topps Baseball for the Boggs, Gwynn, Sandberg rookies contained therein.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
For a football, late 80’s guy it is hard to beat those pro set years. So many rookies. Santa Claus, errors, etc. A hit in every pack. Cheap and fun.
Bosox1976
Nothing is really worth ripping at the moment, at least from a monetary standpoint. Modern (2000+) is all about the hits, and if you get the wrong ones your box is worthless. Older wax has condition issues when you do hit the card you are looking for.
I would agree with Bosox, given the age of the person involved, late 80s football is probably his best bet for something fun that won't feel like a total waste of money once the nostalgia wears off.
Other option would be a bunch of unopened packs from late 70s & 80s, sort of like the Xmas FB rip ssollars does each year. Since he won't know sequencing he should buy mainly wax packs. Finding legit, older unopened packs can be a challenge. I would not buy PSA graded ones for ripping unless they are very low grade, since you are paying a premium based on them being graded.
2018 update baseball is a fun rip but boxes are too expensive to really be worth it, he could buy a bunch of fat packs. I've been buying and ripping 2008 update, 2014 update, and 2018 update fat packs and it has been fun without breaking the bank. Haven't pulled anything amazing but hit regular RCs of Kershaw, DeGrom & Soto.
Robb
For football I’d go with 1989 Score tons of rookie and error hits and decent grading shot or 1991 Stadium club cheap and tons of Favre’s to grade.
My top pick would be 1992 Upperdeck series 2 basketball, they don’t brick and you can chase the top basketball card of the decade plus they grade decently. There’s also several Jordan and Marvel cards that can boost your returns if you don’t hit Shaq 10’s.
Join the Rookie stars on top PSA registry today:
1980-1989 Cello Packs - Rookies
those are my two of my favorite football sets. i got two favre rookies in my stadium club box back in 91. i hit on a aikman and sanders in the few packs of 89 score football. those would be fun to open again.
1987 Leaf baseball is significantly under your stated price point, and is a fun one to rip.
I also suggest 2005 UD hockey as a great choice, packed with great RC's.
On the new shiny side of things, consider some soccer, such as 2014 Prizm World Cup.
Dont cancel out
1969 Topps Football Series 1 wax.
Csonka, Piccolo, Namath, Unitas, Sayers
10 card packs and from experience they come out clean!
I recommend.
I second 1987Leaf and 1983 Topps. I would also add in 1983 OPC baseball.
John
Best newer stuff imo... 2009 basketball and 2018 baseball (sets/series with big 3 otahni/acuna/soto). Best 80s... 87 baseball (especially Donruss) and 80 basketball. I still think 75 football is undervalued too.
Agree that nothing is really worth ripping. Football, baseball, non-sports and '80's? '82 football, 83 baseball and '82 Donkey Kong. LT rookie, Montana 2nd year, Gwynn, Boggs, Sandburg rookies and jump man.
I haven't ripped a box to see first hand how the old high-sugar OPC gum affects the quality of the rip, but I would definitely suggest 1984 OPC hockey as far as content with lots of fun HOF RC's as well as tons of Gretzky cards too. Less than half the price of a 1985 Topps hockey box, sometimes even only about a quarter of the cost. A 1985 Topps hockey box will average 3 Lemieux RC's, but the odds of hitting multiple different good HOF'ers' RC's in the 1984 OPC makes it exciting. Plus, it is a great looking set design.
a ton of great suggestions and knowledge. keep going guys!
know the ins and outs of most of the standard wax, but are there any do’s/donts on say the pro set, score or 87 boxes? can non bbce boxes be bought w/o much worry?
Only in the sense that the expected value of these cards is low enough that you won't be hurt too badly if the packs are resealed or not.
I can't speak specifically to the 1987 or the Score, but the collation on the Pro Set was so poor that it is impossible to allege reseal on that alone. Not 1981 Donruss, but close. But yes, people were definitely resealing those back then.
Since you can find BBCE FASC certified boxes of 1989 Fleer baseball from the Ripken FF error run, I’d suggest that. It’s not super pricey and it’s a real rush to pull one of those cards from a pack for the first time.
I agree that ripping right now (and probably ever) is a good financial proposition. here is my advise:
this hobby is predicated on nostalgia. with a 10K budget and football as his favorite, I would recommend your friend purchase an unopened wax box of his favorite years. then buy a nice raw set of those same years, finally, I would purchase some nice PSA 9 examples of the key Rookies/Stars.
example: get unopened boxes of 83,84,85,86 and 87 topps. Get nice raw sets put them in binders/pages so he can look at the cards and not be tempted to rip his unopened boxes. then get nice graded copies of the Allen, Marino, Elway, Long, Green, Dickerson, Moon, Rice, White, Young, Kelly and Cunningham rookies.
If complete unopened wax boxes are above your friends budget, he could get an example of every type of unopened product from each year: wax, cello, rack etc.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Almost everything in a 1978 OPC baseball box is OC or miscut. Do not open this box.
If late 70s/80s/90s Topps products are in play I would also consider vending. Nothing like opening packs, no doubt, but if looking to land cards and want the best price per card you can’t beat vending.
Regarding 87Leaf, Fleer and Donruss. The condition /QC is brutal. Look no further than Chris’ thread. But guys like Arthur have dimed the big guys in 87L. So it is possible. Price point for raw boxes is really quite affordable. And I have bought several dozens over the years without any being resealed. Most are in BBCE wrap and many were opened. And yea, I know I’ve been lucky.
John
I have opened many 78 Topps and OPC boxes and done well. Ask Dan (Softparade) who has been the beneficiary of many high end raw cards from these rips.
I don't see much to rip either that is not a huge gamble. Back in 90's, we could calculate expected value of a box or case and almost guarantee a profit, but more importantly, it was almost impossible to get skunked.
For example, there was no risk to buying 89 Score FB at $18/box, $12/set or $10 for vending. The collation was great and those prices were available for about 3-4 years after release. I could buy Topps FB Vending cases through SCD from a guy named Steve Myland. He had all FB vending cases from 1981 to 1990 at $129 for 81, 84 and 86 and $99 for the others. You would get about 20 sets per case. He advertised these for years. I finally opened up my last 2 1988 topps vending last year and pulled 42 Bo Jacksons. PSA has my best 10 in grading.
The best rips were always Fleer Basketball. Another product with great collation that was obvious if anyone has tampered with packs, When I started to focus on collecting basketball in 1989, many dealers were practically giving away their basketball cards. Every body wanted baseball and FB, Bsk and Hockey were not bringing any collector interest. During 1989, I bought 5 boxes of 1986 Fleer $5/pack $150/box), and about 20 each 1987 Fleer $2/pack $60/box and 1989 $1 pack $30 box from my favorite Card/coin shop in Kennewick Washington.
Even after prices spiked the first time in the 90's, I was able to buy a 1971 Topps 500 card vending box from Mark Murphy, The Baseball Card kid. Price was $1,000 . Again at $2 per card, I wasn't taking much risk if it turned out bad. Turned out the box was clean (as was all the great stuff I bought from Mark) and had a PSA 7 Aaron, 2 PSA 7 Mays, 1 PSA 7Clemente and a PSA 8 Clemente that I sold last weekend for $2400 on Ebay.
I don't see anything from the 80's being particularly rare and often the quality wasn't the best. I had 2 1985 Topps Baseball vending cases with every card off center at least 70-30. Uggh. As for UD Griffey RCs, there is rumored to be several hundred thousand printed in total at various times.
Ahh, to be back in those simpler times. Now to go chase those pesky kids off of my lawn.
Not much nostalgia, but I think this years upcoming basketball class is loaded. I would stash or rip any good wax deals you can find when this comes out.
Also, is 1993 Finest baseball affordable? That was an important release at it's time and think it will hold its own over time.
I talked myself into some 89 Pro Set FB boxes. Didn't pay up for BBCE, just found a decent seller on ebay. Haven't ripped anything since some McDonalds Pokemon a while back. This thread is giving me the itch.
Bosox1976
I wish I got your boxes. They were a big waste of money. I would have done better to keep unopened or even graded the packs.