Two Interesting EBAY items

The53Kid

I came across two interetsing EBAY auctions.

Check out this one, 33 Goudey Lajoie

I was surprised to see the LaJoie being offered at all,let alone in this grade. But then I looked at the POP report and there are 8-8's and 12-7's. For some reason I was imagining it would be a much lower pop. Thoughts?

And now here is a question, is this real? I can't imagine so 1953 Rack Pack

First off, I've never heard of rack packs back in the 50's, and it is a private auction. Did someone just manufacture this on their own? And continuing on the 1953Topps subject, what would a pack of 53's sell for, if there even are any available? And how about just a wrapper or an old empty wax box?

Virtualizard

That is NOT! a '53 Rack Pack. Those Christmas packs (or whatever they are called) have been discussed here before. I can't remember exactly where they come from, but I know they are not worth wasting your time on.

JEB.

Mantlefan

53 Kid....Those packs did not appear in 1953. They were packaged as leftovers a few years later. Mark Murphy found a whole bunch of them recently for cards from 1953 to about 1960. The cards themselves have been handled and are not truly "mint". As for a pack from 1953, I've never seen one for sale. A nice one would go for $5K and up.

RedHeart54

As for the Lajoie, it gets its popularity from its legend (i.e. only produced for those who wrote to Goudey). Like the '52 Mantle, the pop numbers will probably not affect the price too much, though realistically, how many more will be found, let alone in PSA 7/8 condition?

MickeyC

Those packs surfaced through Mark Murphy, The Baseball Card Kid, maybe a year and a half ago. He dubbed it as a great find. He had racks from the 50's and 60's for sale, some with Mantle on top. Follow that link and you'll see he still has some.

The thought was, buy a rack, crack it open and grade the stars. From what I've read, because of the way racks allow cards to slide, the cards would have some wear, especially the corners, and would rarely grade high enough to warrant the high cost of the rack.

From what Murphy has said, Topps would take cards from each year, package them in a rack sleeve and sell them around Christmas time, hence the "Christmas Rack" as mentioned on Murphy's site.

The cards would be from all series, so you really don't know what you are getting.

I'd stay away. At those prices, there is not a good chance of grading out to get your money back.

Mark

waitilltheytrytosell

The only reason Goudey made the Lajoie again in 1934 was because collectors complained to them about the missing card. They would send one to you if you requested it. If you were the kind of person who would request one, you would be more likely to keep it in decent shape. It wasn't a double. Also by the time you got it, you just stick it in your set from last year, and continue buying and playing with the 34's now out.

Topps didn't make the Holiday Racks. They weren't packaged each year based on the year of the card inside. They were all packaged at the same time with cards taken from an accumulation of cards. The paper, plastic, staples are all the same. It is assumed then that the person or company that created the packs did so to sell the packs through their own five and dime type of stores, or to wholesale them to other people who had five and dime type stores. 1963 is the last year card that I recall seeing in these packs. This means that sometime between 1963 and a few years ago these packs were created. If you believe they were made sometime in the 1963 to 1969 era, as they probably were, then they would have sort of collector value as a novelty item. Something like that could have been made, and easily avoided the primitive hobby radar. The hobby was in full swing of development starting in the very early 70's, with the more desirable cards starting to be identified, so if they were made in the early 70's, then they were made for a different reason. They would have been made as a collector's item rather than a novelty item. The hobby would have been more likely to notice them too. The novelty nature of the item would wear off as the decades progress. The value is in the novelty of the item.

thejam

xmas racks are rip-off; cards are sstrictly off-grade; cards will be dupes, have gum stains, and an occasional bb hole; topps did not create these... there is no identifier anywhere on the header card ... these are trash .......some sellers says there is a reserve to protect investment.....the reserve is 20x time value of the cards ... its hard to believe the MM BB kid would 1) purchase these OR 2) after the purchase, to pawn them off on others

interchanges

Also, regarding the 33 Lajoie,
It kind of reminds me of the 54 Bowman Ted Williams. There's a reason for it's rarity, but yet, there seems to be plenty of them out there.
One reason for the (probably) inflated population is because on those high dollar cards, guys crack them out and resubmit them. If they happen to get bumped up a grade, it could easily bring them thousands of dollars.
So....(once again) please everyone, save your flips (psa labels) and turn them in once in a while to keep the pop report somewhat legit.
Like forest fires, if we all do our part......
(I should change Ben Wallace into Smokey the Bear)
Not today, GO PISTONS!!!!

kverd5432

If you believe they were made sometime in the 1963 to 1969 era, as they probably were

The 1963 to 1969 era?

Hubcap

Regarding the Christmas packs, I bought a ton of these when I was a kid from 1959-1963. The reason was that there were more cards in these than wax packs to flip. I did not collect any of these cards because they were miscut, severely OC, had bad wax stains, etc. Basically, they were rejects by Topps that some inventive person repackaged and sold to major five & dime chains. You never saw them in mom & pop stores which was where we bought our wax packs because Topps did not distribute these rack packs. I distinctly remember 1959 where there were low numbers and high numbers in the same rack. In fact, I also remember some years when they mixed years in the same rack. Why anyone would pay a high premium for these racks is beyond me, unless you want one with a major star on top just for kicks.

anjcollection

Hey Bruce-
Regarding the Christmas packs, don't waste your time. I've actually bought a 1959 Topps Christmas pack in the past and was sorely disappointed. Thankfully, the seller graciously refunded my money (the scan was poor so I couldn't really tell the condition, but I was told they were nrmt. They weren't.)

The53Kid

Thanks to everyone for the great information. I will definitely shy away from those rack packs.

packCollector

regarding Christmas racks as they are called, they were produced by an outside vendor with the consent of topps using topps left over inventory. they were produced all at the same time and not in the individual years based on the staples and plastic. if you are looking to grade the cards, then don't waste your time. if you are looking for a reasonably priced alternative to a wax pack from those years then they are great fillers as the wax packs will go for many multiples of $$$ since legit packs are few and far between there are however some packs that are better than others. i bought some that were purchased before mark m got to the find that I have resold to extremely happy buyers. the condition of the packs and the cards was extremely better than most of the crap that is sold over and over on ebay recently. also , it is become apparent that people have tampered with these for some unknown reason given the cards are not mint. if you look at the candy cane patterns on the wrappers, the packs with uneven patterns that appear to fall off have probably been tampered with.

Wondo

I bought one of the racks last year and promptly returned it to the seller - no problem. The racks cannot be that old, IMHO, the staples used had a blue protective coating on them. That is a relatively new application. Does anyone know when they started coating staples.

John

packCollector

I followed up with someone who was close to bringing the original packs to the market and their best guess at the time that these came out based on the staples and plastic was 25-30 years ago putting production in the early to mid 70's. The reason they are considered authentic and collectible is that they were made at the same time and not made after that and they were made with Topps consent from Topps inventory. global will not grade them because they were not made by topps' factory.

waitilltheytrytosell

Topps had nothing to do with the making up of these packs.