Where would I go to find listing of Topps Packs?

Jdurg

With all the talk going on about box breaks and pack rips and whatnot, it got me thinking. I have all of the Topps sets from 1980 through the present, so why not put together a set of sealed packs from 1980 through the present? The problem is that I really don't have a way to verify how Topps distributed their cards on a year to year basis. I figured I'd start out with just the standard Wax Packs since those are what I remember best when I was growing up. Although the pack itself changed in the mid 1990's, I'm still looking to get just one copy of the standard pack. I think these would be neat to display next to the completed sets.

So if anybody has any idea on how I could verify what Topps distributed, or if anybody has any packs they want to get rid of, I'd appreciate the information.

Stone193

Jd

I would consider calling Steve at BBCEx - tell him you found out about his web from the PSA boards and have a project to complete and ask for his input.

I think it's the best way to get really nice packs. And ask him what products were available in each of those years - he will know. E.g. as you know, in 1983 - Topps did a mylar type sealed pack as a test in Michigan - most of the product was wax. Would be nice to have a sample pack to go with a rack, cello, grocery pack (if available) of that year.

mike

Jdurg

OMG!!!! I'm just drooling looking through the items offered at his site! I think this is exactly what I needed to find. Thanks for the info.

Stone193

jd

You're welcome.

You're a breath of fresh air!!!

Jdurg

Hehe. Well, in all honestly I'm just a collector who doesn't want to get caught up in all of this "OMG PSA 10 ASDELKJHD#*@%!!!!!!" fad that turned me away from collecting in the first place. I like raw cards and sets because that is what I remember about the cards when growing up. You didn't open up a pack and see graded, sealed cards. I also don't remember cards from the 70's and earlier because I wasn't around back then. I like the cards from 1980 onward. I find that I tend to go through little phases, usually around tax return time, where I just go on a buying binge and try and complete a good portion of my collection. Lately it's been the Topps Inaugural Parallel sets, and the Mantle and ilk insert sets from the 1990's.

This pack thing just seemed like a neat idea and I'm just hoping I'll be able to find a way to buy just one pack and not have to pick up whole boxes.


EDIT: Heh. This is irony. The site went down completely right as soon as I found some of the packs I was looking for. lol.

Estil

<< <i>With all the talk going on about box breaks and pack rips and whatnot, it got me thinking. I have all of the Topps sets from 1980 through the present, so why not put together a set of sealed packs from 1980 through the present? The problem is that I really don't have a way to verify how Topps distributed their cards on a year to year basis. I figured I'd start out with just the standard Wax Packs since those are what I remember best when I was growing up. Although the pack itself changed in the mid 1990's, I'm still looking to get just one copy of the standard pack. I think these would be neat to display next to the completed sets.

So if anybody has any idea on how I could verify what Topps distributed, or if anybody has any packs they want to get rid of, I'd appreciate the information. >>



Well welcome to the club, Jdurg! I too own a run of Topps from 1978-2004 (I hope to get to 1974-2006) and I also love to collect packs to go with them too! So you want to know what kinds of packs Topps had and what years? I guess I can tell you about it, at least 1981-1994 or so. Here's a list of all the Topps packs I'm aware of and what years (taken from both BBCE and my personal collection):

1980: 15 card wax pack (25 cents), 25 card cello pack, 42 card rack pack (69 cents), three wax pack rack (<75 cents?)
1981: 15 card wax pack (30 cents), 28 card cello pack (49 cents), 48 card rack pack, 36 card grocery rack pack
1982: 15 card wax pack (30 cents), 28 card cello pack (49 cents), 51 card rack pack, 36 card grocery rack pack
1983: 15 card wax pack (30 cents), 28 card cello pack (49 cents), 51 card rack pack, 36 card grocery rack pack
1984: 15 card wax pack (30 cents), 28 card cello pack (49 cents), 54 card rack pack, 36 card grocery rack pack
1985: 15 card wax pack (35 cents), 28 card cello pack (59 cents), 49 card rack pack, 42 card grocery rack pack
1986: 15 card wax pack (35 cents), 28 card cello pack (59 cents), 49 card rack pack, 36 card grocery rack pack
1987: 17 card wax pack (40 cents), 31 card cello pack (69 cents), 49 card rack pack, 100 card jumbo rack pack
1988: 15 card wax pack (40 cents), 28 card cello pack (69 cents), 42 card rack pack, 90 card jumbo rack pack
1989: 15 card wax pack (45 cents), 29 card cello pack (79 cents), 42 card rack pack, 100 card jumbo rack pack
1990: 15 card wax pack (50 cents), 43 card cello pack, 45 card rack pack, 106 card jumbo rack pack
1991: 15 card wax pack (50 cents), 45 card rack pack, 100 card jumbo rack pack
1992: 15 card wax pack (55 cents), 45 card rack pack, ?? jumbo pack
1993: 15 card wax pack (one gold), ?? mini-jumbo pack ($1.39, two golds), ?? rack pack (three golds), 41 card jumbo pack ($1.99, five golds)
1994: 12 card wax pack (one gold), ?? rack pack (three golds), ?? jumbo pack (4 golds), ?? jumbo rack pack (five golds)

I hope this modest amount of info is satisfactory. If you're good, I might make you a 1980s Donruss and Fleer pack checklist. BTW, those prices shown are for those packs with a pre-marked price; don't expect to get them for that much now!

Jdurg

Thanks for the information. I appreciate the offer for the Fleer and Donruss lists, but I have to admit I'm a pure Topps fan. Those are the cards I collected growing up so those are what I'm sticking with. I've been looking around BBCE's website and I'm simply in awe of what he has to offer there. I've already gone ahead and purchased wax packs of the 1980-1985 Topps sets as well as a pack of 1985 Traded cards. (I never knew until just now that they distributed the traded sets in packs before 1994!). I actually can't wait for the packs to arrive and need to figure out a nice way to display them. I think I'll try and figure out a way to display the packs within the binders I have. Perhaps make a custom pack-holding page.


BTW, I see in your signature that you are looking for 82 and 92-95 Topps Traded Sets. I know of a few websites that have them for sale and have been my source for those sets when I was looking for them. Let me know if you'd like me to pass along those URLs.

Jdurg

Is it just me, or is the stability of the server that BBCExchange is hosted on incredibly poor? I've been trying for the past few hours to make a purchase, but every time I'm on the site for more than about three minutes the server dies and I can't do anything. It also won't save any of my information in my cart so I have to start over each and every time. I'm getting nervous about making a purchase only to have the server die and wind up charging me multiple times.

Estil

<< <i>Thanks for the information. I appreciate the offer for the Fleer and Donruss lists, but I have to admit I'm a pure Topps fan. Those are the cards I collected growing up so those are what I'm sticking with. I've been looking around BBCE's website and I'm simply in awe of what he has to offer there. I've already gone ahead and purchased wax packs of the 1980-1985 Topps sets as well as a pack of 1985 Traded cards. (I never knew until just now that they distributed the traded sets in packs before 1994!). I actually can't wait for the packs to arrive and need to figure out a nice way to display them. I think I'll try and figure out a way to display the packs within the binders I have. Perhaps make a custom pack-holding page.


BTW, I see in your signature that you are looking for 82 and 92-95 Topps Traded Sets. I know of a few websites that have them for sale and have been my source for those sets when I was looking for them. Let me know if you'd like me to pass along those URLs. >>



Please do. I'm ALWAYS looking for online dealers that specialize in selling complete sets. As well as that one I knew about a few years ago that sold all those packs and even offered "junk wax" as single packs if you needed them.

Jdurg

I figured since everybody could make use of these sites I'd post them here in this thread.

Baseball Card Exchange. Steve Hart's fantastic website with a little bit of everything at great prices. The only downside is that right now the server is in pretty bad shape and just flat out dies every few minutes for a good long while. Could have something to do with the nasty weather down in Georgia as a tracert shows the signal dying down in Georgia.

Strictly Mint Card Company. A pretty good site with a wide array of sets at reasonable prices. Just found them the other day when looking for some sets.

Charm City Cards. One of my new favorite sites. These guys have the hard to find Inaugural Topps Sets for the 1993 and 1998 MLB Expansion. They also have a bunch of Tiffany and Limited Edition sets at INCREDIBLE prices.

Complete Topps Sets. I found this site a long time ago when looking for complete Topps sets. This appears to be a one-person home business of sorts but the prices are good and the quality of cards is good too. Fast shipping to boot.

Hoppenworth Cards. These guys have the largest selection of sets out there that I have ever seen. They've got standard sets, insert sets, parallel sets, hard to complete sets, easy sets, etc. Their prices do seem quite elevated, but that could be because of the really high quality of the product they offer.

Jdurg

Just a quick bump to the top so that anyone who needed the links could still see them. I guess I'm also using this as a way to whine about how BBCExchange is simply not working and not worth the hours I've wasted trying to buy a few simple things. Until that server is fixed, I'm not shopping there again.

Estil

<< <i>Just a quick bump to the top so that anyone who needed the links could still see them. I guess I'm also using this as a way to whine about how BBCExchange is simply not working and not worth the hours I've wasted trying to buy a few simple things. Until that server is fixed, I'm not shopping there again. >>



I'm going to order some Fleer/Score update/traded sets in a few days from there; he's got almost all the ones I need and nearly everyone else here thinks pretty highly of BBCE, so...