Is Buying Old Wax Still A Good Investment??

brianwintersfan

Just curious what others thought about buying wax boxes from the mid to late 70's to stash away. Does a box of 76/77 Topps basketball which sells for about $1,200 today have the growth potential to be a $2,000 or $2,500 box 10 years from now?? Not asking for crystal ball predictions but I was just wondering if this stuff will have much more room to grow. Will those years ever be looked at like stuff from the 50's and 60's is today??

Boopotts

<< <i>Just curious what others thought about buying wax boxes from the mid to late 70's to stash away. Does a box of 76/77 Topps basketball which sells for about $1,200 today have the growth potential to be a $2,000 or $2,500 box 10 years from now?? Not asking for crystal ball predictions but I was just wondering if this stuff will have much more room to grow. Will those years ever be looked at like stuff from the 50's and 60's is today?? >>



Why would you take the risk? God knows what Larry has in his warehouse. If it turns out he has five boxcards full of the stuff you just bought you're essentially SOL.

If you're looking to buy old wax as an investment I'd think something pre 1958 would have to be the way to go.

brianwintersfan

<< <i>Why would you take the risk? God knows what Larry has in his warehouse. If it turns out he has five boxcards full of the stuff you just bought you're essentially SOL. >>



Well that might be the case but for someone who collects mid to late 70's basketball you don't see as much pop up for auction as you do baseball. A fine example is the 75/76 Topps set. There is a box up for auction on Ebay now but I can't tell you when the last one showed up there. Mastro had a two box lot in their last auction as well. Either there isn't much out there or people like Fritch are sitting on it. Why do certain years never pop up for sale?? Could that much of it be locked up with certain big dealers??

julen23

cards and investing do not correlate...

roth ira is a good investment.

Julen

brianwintersfan

Well I'm not talking about planning my retirement around baseball cards but just dropping a little F you money on a few nice boxes and see what happens. About 20 years ago someone could have said the same thing about some stupid red, white and blue basketball cards that Fleer just came out with. Now look!

Boopotts

<< <i>cards and investing do not correlate...

roth ira is a good investment.

Julen >>




Certain cards do, and certain ones don't.

Overrated

Buy any grade 52 topps Mantle! best value bar none!

Boopotts

<< <i>

<< <i>Why would you take the risk? God knows what Larry has in his warehouse. If it turns out he has five boxcards full of the stuff you just bought you're essentially SOL. >>



Well that might be the case but for someone who collects mid to late 70's basketball you don't see as much pop up for auction as you do baseball. A fine example is the 75/76 Topps set. There is a box up for auction on Ebay now but I can't tell you when the last one showed up there. Mastro had a two box lot in their last auction as well. Either there isn't much out there or people like Fritch are sitting on it. Why do certain years never pop up for sale?? Could that much of it be locked up with certain big dealers?? >>



The flip side of that is that if there hasn't been much popping up then it would only take a small 'find' to send prices downward. The demand curve trends sharply downward on sportscards, I believe, so small increases in quantity can have a huge effect on price.

That being said, though, I think there's still plenty of room for growth in pre 1980 basketball cards, as well as for football and hockey. The current prices reflect the fact that baseball has been the dominant 'collectible' sport for the past 100 years. But who's to say that will continue going forward? Also, while an small increase in supply could have a strong effect on buying prices, a small increase in demand could have a similar effect on selling prices. Right now there are exactly 5 1975-76 Topps sets on the registry that are over 50%, and that's for a relatively small set with very cheap prices for PSA 8 commons. All you'd need is another dozen or so guys to get involved in that set and prices would probably tick upwards. There's only been around 6000 cards in this set that have been given a 'collectible grade' (PSA 8+), and there are 330 cards in the set, so many cards must have a pop of 15 or lower in PSA 8+.

Also, there are probably far, far fewer high end raw cards collecting dust in shoeboxes up in somone's attic. We probably haven't even scratched the surface of the number of nice, raw 1975 baseball cards out there, but I doubt that's true for basketball. So if a demand arises for more PSA 8+ cards it's not like everyone can pull their complete sets out of the foot locker and send 'em in to PSA.

5STAT

let's see....since 1984 when I 1st got into this...I've sold a ton of product that I thought had peaked...

in 1989 I sold a case of 80-81 Topps Basketball...for $1200....it was junk back then...I had paid $200 for it in 1986....
Spring break was good that year...BUT....

Back then I also had 76-77 Basketball vending cases.....couldn't get rid of the stuff!!!! Again,...like $600 a case...

Wax has come and gone through the years...and as everyone knows...most of us just want to rip it...lol
so with that theory in mind....as time goes on...there WILL be less and less of it unopened...and the right years should yield good returns.
Not everything is going to go up...so choose wisely...

How many people got burned holding 89 Hoops cases...or 89 Upper Deck baseball...
Going back to the 70's...either way..MOST of the product just isn't seen in big numbers.

Looking back though...basketball has helped me 2nd to baseball...
In 1986 I was forced to take 20 sets of 86-87 Fleer Basketball...and 4 wax boxes to settle a $300 debt!!
THAT paid off...
Cases of 89 Score Football at $212 factory direct....those paid off...
When I closed my 1st store in 1994..I was buying 84-85 OPC hockey at $75-$85 a box all day long!!!
Everyone thought I was nuts...and even I got out of the market when it went over $250....
SHOULD'VE hung on!!! Now at $650- $750 a box....I could've been rolling..

So who knows....it's all about what is expendible....if you've got it....bank on a few...if you get a deal, buy it. You should almost never lose...YOU know what you're doing!!

The Set Registry has undoubtabley surged the unopened market....and keep in mind...there's always the "I've got to have it " croud...the people with left over dotcom money...or company shares that went through the roof..

What seems like alot of money to an everday collector...is sometimes just play money to others....hold it long enough and it comes around!!

Boopotts

<< <i>Buy any grade 52 topps Mantle! best value bar none! >>



Agreed. The mountains may crumble into the sea, but that card is never coming down in price. If it was going to happen I think it would have happened by now.

brianwintersfan

<< <i>Right now there are exactly 5 1975-76 Topps sets on the registry that are over 50%, and that's for a relatively small set with very cheap prices for PSA 8 commons. >>



Well compared to baseball it's a small set but at 330 cards it's big for that time period and especially big for a basketball set.

TheCARDKid

In 70's Topps basketball, the rarest years for wax are 71/72 and 73/74.

I remember when you could buy 71/72 packs 10-12 years ago in SCD for $300 a piece. There just aren't many of them out there...they've sold for $900-1,000 recently in high grades.

The sub par stuff like 78/79 or 79/80 hasn't gone up as much percentage wise. 76/77 is in the middle.

The best investment is going to be a combination of:

-The highest grade
-Rarity
-The demand for cards in the set
-The likelihood of being opened up

60's and 70's racks have done really well (71 Topps racks were relatively cheap not that long ago). Once those are opened up, it's not like there's cases and cases of the stuff that can replenish the supply.

I'm curious to see what PSA grading of packs will do to the market.

spazzy

I think 1976 basketball is still a good buy because it is very hard to get high grades because of large card and printing format. I think 1972 basketball is still sweet as well as 1972 football 3rd series (depending how much Mr. Fritsch has left)
Has anyone noticed that in the last few years there have been some great finds of unopened stuff in CA.? What is the story there? I thought Michigan was always a hot spot as well as Pa.

fsjeter

I think a strong case can be made for mid-70's basketball wax and vending. Even Fritsch was selling 76-77 Vending boxes for $700.00 just two years ago. Now he's selling for about $1,200.00. As long as there are vintage collector's, there will be a strong market for older wax and vending. People like Fritsch, BBCKid, Dave & Adams, Baseball Card Exchange, and Wax from the Past make a pretty good living on older unopened material. Just my $0.02.

Scott

Pittfan

The more the POP's go up the lower the prices go down. I can remember when 1 of 1 pop 9 in the 1975 baseball were going for $200+ now the pop's go up to 10 and the card sells for $15.

calleocho

I think that Given PSA dominance in the registry..things could get interesting for wax when they finally start grading packs.

Even thought i prefer cards to packs , i would be pretty impressed with a complete run of topps packs.

I could see how that run could be a popular set in the registry.