What do you think is the best deal on BBCE right now?

XanaduNow

What can I say? I enjoy sifting through the site and seeing what looks good. I've noticed a few things tonight that seem to stand out for being great in the bang-for-your-buck department. I'd love to hear about anything you guys stumble across.

1.) 1991 Stadium Club FB Wax Box ($55) - They sell packs for $2.50 and the box has 36 packs in it. Do the math. Plus, the Favre goes for around $50 and you've got an excellent chance of pulling at least one.

2.) 1987 Topps FB Rack Pack ($2.50) - You get roughly 12% of the set for $2.50. Flutie RC, Jim Kelly RC, Herschel Walker RC, Cunningham RC, 2nd year cards of Jerry Rice, Steve Young, Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Boomer, Bernie and the old reliables (Montana, Elway, Marino, Payton, etc.)

3.) Early 80s O-Pee-Chee Wax Packs ($1.50) - Sure, they usually don't include the #1 RC card for the respective Topps issue but there are still RCs of Baines, Sandberg, Gwynn, Raines, Puckett, Gooden, Mattingly and Strawberry as well as all the usual suspects of HOFers. With the sets about half the size the odds of pulling one of these cards is pretty good ... or at least better than the Topps issue.

4.) 1984 Topps Baseball Rack Box ($55) - I don't really collect '84 Topps but compared to the regular issue wax box it's a no-brainer. The wax box goes for $45 and the rack box has twice as many packs and they're the racks ... even better for condition. If this set is your thing you can't go wrong with this buy.

Anybody found any other great deals? Please share.

For the record, I have no affiliation with BBCE. Just enjoy rippin'!



Arthur

packman

I am a baseball card collector. However, I have always thought that the 1982 Topps football wax boxes were significantly undervalued for the cards available. You have Montana's second year card (regular card and In Action card). You also have key rookies (regular and In Action) of Taylor, Lott, Munoz and Collingsworth (I am a Gator fan). I opened two boxes recently for the purpose of putting a nice raw set together.

David

5STAT

packman...I agree with you....the 82's AND 83's are cheap..


I was at a shown last Sunday and bought 2- 1982 Topps Football cello boxes for $200 for the pair. There are cellos with stars showing...they look brand new...figured I'd rip them soon also.

Made alot of sense to me...especially when a guy came up to the table aside of me and bought some sort of 2005 or 2006 Trilogy box for just under that price.....I have no clue on the newer stuff..it stopped selling at my store last year...so I stopped stocking it.

But let's see...a brand new box with only a few packs for $175 or $180...or 2 boxes of 24 year old cards for a couple bucks more...

DeutscherGeist

Help me with some of this vocabulary.

I collected since the 80's, so I know what a wax box of 1986 Topps cards looks like. It has 36 wax packs.

What is a rack box????


What are cellos?????


Maybe I have seen them, but pics would help.


The 1984 Topps rack box sounds like a good deal if it truely has twice the cards of a wax box. Less damaging to cards too? Sounds real good.

Estil

Boy, busting upon a carton (I like calling it a carton rather than box, although I know box is the prefered term, and NO, I'm NOT a smoker! ) of packs does sound like a lot of fun, but the problem is that most wax cartons go for much more than the cost of a complete set, and generally if I really like a set, I'll just go with a complete set, which is cheaper and guarantees you all the cards (though I do often like to get a wax/rack/cello pack to go with it). Though I did come close to bidding on a real cheap 1994 Fleer case to try to get as many different insert cards as I could, though as you all know, I chose to simply buy the first 9/12 insert sets from a friend of mine and try to get the others on Ebay.

Surely there's gotta be some kind of wax carton I could get where it would be feasable to bust open and be able to make a set (like I did for the non sport 1994 Harvest Heritage cards (based on Ertl farm toys and their real counterparts) a few years ago) and not feel silly for paying more for the wax carton than for what a complete set goes for.

Oh well, you guys have fun!

XanaduNow

Geist,

Since you expressed interest in the '84 Topps rack box I'll use that issue as an example.

In the 80s you could obtain Topps cards in 5 different ways (if I'm not forgetting something): wax packs, cello packs, rack packs, vending product and factory sets.

Wax Packs (usually about 14 cards)


Wax Box (36 wax packs)


Cello Packs (usually around 29 cards wrapped in cellophane)


Cello Box (24 cello packs)


Rack pack (3 individual packs wrapped together in cellophane, usually around 48 cards total)


Rack Box (24 rack packs)


Vending Box (500 cards)


So, doing some quick math gets you 72 packs worth of cards in a rack box, twice the amount you get in the wax box. The best part is that they're much more condusive to grading because you don't have the gum and/or wax issues that you get in a wax pack (essentially losing two cards per pack) or the corner damage you can get with the cellos. I've never cracked a vending but I think it goes without saying that 500 loose cards in a cardboard box isn't an ideal packaging system when you're talking about grading cards.

Hope this helps. BBCE

Estil, I can appreciate your collection of sets. For a while (back in the day) I used to collect only factory sets. If that's your thing then I guess you're right, why drop the coin on some unopened product when you can get the whole set for cheaper. But if you're talking about purchasing hand collated sets, I'll have to disagree with you. The hand collated sets aren't a good place to find high condition cards (typically). Between the Set Registry and folks here just generally submitting cards to PSA (and other companies) for the elusive 10, we're usually looking for the best possible condition of a particular card and unless you stumble across a copy in person (I'm not a huge fan of buying raw on eBay) than unopened material is a good way to find them. Plus, let's face it, it's fun.

Arthur

tennesseebanker

While the hand collated sets arent good places to find high grade cards, Factory sets can be. I have bought several Factory sets and received lots of high grades from them. So that may be one way you want to go also.

RipublicaninMass

DUDDE!!! 84 topps cello with Nick Esasky rookie showing@!

Estil

I will say if I ever win the lottery though, I might start seeing if I can collect nice clean wax cartons of all the major 1980s sets (cuz those are neat collectibles and are much harder to come by than just single packs). After I at least extend my Topps set run to 1970 of course. Oh yeah, and a complete run of at least the Topps factory sets would probably be fun too. But as it stands now, my income is quite limited so I'd better stick with my current projects for now.

5STAT

DUDDE!!! 84 topps cello with Nick Esasky rookie showing@!


Ahh the good old days.....back in 89..I could have gotten $10 for that pack alone!! lol

XanaduNow

Wow. Guess I should've kept my mouth shut.

I just checked the site and there are no more '87 Topps rack packs left. That's the last time I tell you folks when I spot a deal.

Arthur

DeutscherGeist

Xandau,


Thanks for educating me. I get it now and have seen those packages when I was a kid in the 80's. Its clear to me now.

Here is the interesting thing. There is nothing really earth shattering about a few 1984 Topps cards. I mean, even the Mattingly rookie in MINT condition is not a big deal to obtain in a PSA holder ($20?). Commons are worth next to nothing in reality, so much so, that nobody even bothers to sell them.
With that said, a sealed pack or a sealed box all of a sudden becomes a commodity. Its that "unknown" factor that drives the desire of otherwise worthless cards.

Its probably more worthwhile to keep a factory sealed box of 1984 Topps, 1991 Stadium Club, or 1990 Leaf sealed in its original state. It is worth more and easier to sell. I think there is always a market for something sealed even if its worthless unpackaged and raw.

I have 1987 and 1988 Fleer Update sets factory sealed. While the Maddux, Smoltz and McGwire cards are nice to have out, but the chances they will be in a condition I like are not going to be high, so why bother opening the boxes and making the set worthless only to have a Smoltz rookie that can barely get a PSA 8. It is easier to buy on ebay or simply go on buy sell trade on CU to buy a pack fresh card.

Enough of my rant. You get the idea. If I do buy the sealed box of 1984 Topps, I would leave it that way, unless I wanted to have fun opening them and could careless about sacrificing $45 for the hours of fun. Heck, people blow more money at bar, or on a date, so its chum change in the real big picture of things.

5STAT

There is nothing really earth shattering about a few 1984 Topps cards. I mean, even the Mattingly rookie in MINT condition is not a big deal to obtain in a PSA holder ($20?). Commons are worth next to nothing in reality, so much so, that nobody even bothers to sell them.

Not necessarily true!! I had one of the 1st bulk submissions of 84's...close to 3 years ago. I had ripped a vending case and graded close to 400 cards. At the time...most 10's were low low pops..if not 1 of 1's...

I know the set isn't earth shattering....but I popped 5 Mattingly 9's....all sold...I had a PSA 10 Ripken All Star that went for $120+....and so on and so on..

Yes, in the end..I moved the common 9's for cost..maybe even a little less...

But it broke down to this...I made $400-$500 profit over the whole ordeal....I still have 4 vending sets sitting on my store shelve...and an 800 count box of stars that are Nm-MT or better.

I found that although alot of people may not be building the set...there are player sets..and team set builders that are all too eager to snatch up their favorites in high grades.

1989FleerBillRipkencollector

<< <i>While the hand collated sets arent good places to find high grade cards, Factory sets can be. I have bought several Factory sets and received lots of high grades from them. So that may be one way you want to go also. >>




Just be careful of the ones that are shrink wrapped in bricks. Donruss I think?? I have seen cards so tight in those bricks the corners had to be affected.

BSUballer

say i have $65 to spend on football or baseball cards from the 80's!! one box, a box and some packs or...just a bunch of random packs, what do you guys suggest.. prolly buy from BBCE so prices from there..opinions are appreciated!!

aaron

blindflyer

BSU --- I just bought an '85 Topps rack pack ($14) + 2 packs '89 Score ($7ea)

If I had $65, I'd probably do what I did above, plus add another few rack packs (probably another '85 & one '86 Topps).

Alot of guys have been recommending the '82's or '83's --- so you could go that route as well, but I'm personally just not a huge fan of those.

it also depends on your motives. If you just want to bust, get more product -- if you're looking to get some high grade premium cards, spend a bit more and go for the better years.

I'm personally putting together an '89 Score set (hugely underrated in my opinion), hence my choice of '89 Score. I also picked up an '89 score factory set from BBCE last night as well.

-Tom

BSUballer

im more lookin to go for high grade stuff...but i dont know what years to aim for..thats my problem, i can never decide lol...thought i would be able to get some help here!! thanks for advice!

aaron

XanaduNow

I really like the '86 Topps FB racks at $25 a piece. I'd probably go with two of those, a cheap box just for some fun ('88 Topps at $12 or '89 Pro Set Series II at around the same price) and then a few '87 Topps wax packs to round it out to $65.

Arthur

blindflyer

BSU --- if I wasn't clear in my last post, everything I was talking about was football...

To me, the baseball card sets in the '80s have way too many cards (700-800+) to make busting a pack a very good deal.

The bigger bang for your buck is definitely football --- the set size is half or less ... For instance, '89 Score football is like 330 cards and you have some great pulls like Aikman, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas RC's --- plus a bunch of HOFs.

'85 Football Rack pack is $16 --- and high grade '85 Topps stars and semi-stars are highly coveted.

And I agree with Arthur, '86 Topps football gives you Rice and Young rookies plus the same stars as '85 Topps.

None of those sets have more than 350 cards --- so your odds of pulling big names is much higher than in baseball.

The same is true in hockey if you're a fan (which I am) ...

If you absolutely have to bust baseball, get something cheap, like 84 or 86 Topps or low 1990's stuff.

-Tom

Buccaneer

If I'm looking at it right, why is a 1989 Fleer wax box the #1 top seller? I couldn't even give that stuff away on eBay.

DeutscherGeist

I can see why Xanadu recommends rack packs to ensure quality cards. Its better than all other methods of packaging. However, I am not sure about the vending box. Theoretically, one would think a vending box might be unkind to corners. Well, it depends on how the box has been handled. I have heard of many success stories about high grade condition in vending boxes. No wax, no stain. The corner wear will only come about if the box has been mishandled. Back in 1998 when McGwire was on a tear, many people went for the 1985 Topps vending cases to ensure a high grade McGwire rookie.

5Stat had success with vending, so he would know how the condition of cards are from such a package.

Both vending and rack packs should be good to yield high grade cards. What do you think 5Stat?


by the way, 5Stat, my post sounded too critical of the 1984 Topps and that's not how I wanted to come off. I know a Mattingly in PSA 9 will always sell, but what I meant was that even that great card is so affordable and easy to find on ebay. A Mattingly in PSA 10 will fetch +$200! With the right condition, the 1984 Topps cards can be a hidden treasure, of course. I am thinking of getting that rack box since it is so affordable and it contains the players I like such as Mattingly, Molitor, Strawberry, Van Slyke, Boggs, Brett, Gwynn, Clemens, Morris, ..... I can imagine the value going up for unopened material since there is always less of them every year. Unopened material looks attractive behind a glass shelving unit when arranged properly.

XanaduNow

If you pull a Clemens out of that '84 rack box I'll give you $200 for it.

Arthur

80sJunkie

<<If I'm looking at it right, why is a 1989 Fleer wax box the #1 top seller? I couldn't even give that stuff away on eBay. >>

Believe it or not 89 fleer baseball is always my best seller also . I have went through at least 20 cases of it this year alone.
Working on securing a deal right now for 30 more cases. It's very plentiful but i dont understand its a consistant sell

Estil

<< <i>Just be careful of the ones that are shrink wrapped in bricks. Donruss I think?? I have seen cards so tight in those bricks the corners had to be affected. >>



Yes, you're right, that would be the Donruss factory sets (1983-91; possibly 1992). As you all know, I do runs of complete sets (my latest project is Fleer/Ultra master sets 1992-95) and one run I have is 1981-92 Donruss. Of those, the only ones that did not come from factory sets are 1984 and 1992. Now, I don't really collect cards for PSA purposes (although all my key 1980s cards look beautiful and many probably have an excellent chance of a 10 or 9; I'm afraid with my luck I'll spend all that money on grading and get all 7's/8's ), but a Donruss set in binder/pages pulled straight from a factory set does look quite beautiful (especially my 1985 set). But when opening one, be SURE to check the bricks first to make sure they're all there. I once opened up a 1986 Donruss factory set and didn't realize that one of the bricks was missing and replaced by a duplicate of one, and I had to go through the dealer's commons box to fill in the missing 55 cards. The Canseco RC (and the dealer himself said so too) I got was very nice though.

Oh, and don't forget, the 1985 Donruss factory set is the only way to get the corrected Tom Seaver card, which is worth considerably more than the error card that was in packs.

Estil

<< <i><<If I'm looking at it right, why is a 1989 Fleer wax box the #1 top seller? I couldn't even give that stuff away on eBay. >>

Believe it or not 89 fleer baseball is always my best seller also . I have went through at least 20 cases of it this year alone.
Working on securing a deal right now for 30 more cases. It's very plentiful but i dont understand its a consistant sell



>>



Well, maybe not that surprising. I mean, the 1989 Fleer set is an attactive set (but not as attractive as the 1989 Donruss set; love the colorful borders, and the 1989 Topps set brings back childhood memories) and does have the famous Bill Ripken ERR and a Griffey RC (or was that in the Update set?), so why shouldn't it be a good seller? If only more 80s sets got more respect.

cardpool

Wow. I've never seen this site before. I'm drooling!