1979 baseball wax trays everywhere but no '78's -why?

summerof68

If anyone spends any time on ebay one will quickly notice an unbelievable disparity between the availability on ebay of 1979 Topps baseball 1979 and 1978 wax trays. 1979 trays come on ebay daily. Yesterday there were 15 '79s in 6 separate auctions. For four years now I've viewed pre-80 listings on ebay and a '78 baseball wax tray might come on once a month--if that. A '77 baseball tray might show up once every 3 to 6 months. Currently The Baseball Card Exchange has a 192 count '79 tray case in their inventory. And low and behold Dave & Adams has a 192 count case in their inventory as well. It seems as though '79 bb wax trays are "as common as glazed donuts" so to speak. Does anyone have any thoughts as to how there can be such an ENORMOUS disparity between the availability of '79 & '78 bb wax trays when they are only one year apart in age?? I like to collect these '79 bb trays because of their overall eye appeal but I have the feeling they are never going to dry up and will only experience negligible gains in value as a result......

TheCARDKid

I dont have a good answer, but I was searching for pack blogs awhile ago, and found this. A good summary of wax trays in general, I didnt know much about them..

Wax Tray Info

It says 78's are 1/10th of 79's.

summerof68

Thank you very much "The Card Kid". The article was interesting and confirmed what was quite obvious in that pre-78 trays rarely appear on ebay or other auction houses. I do think that the ratio of 1 to 10 is much too low. For every one 1978 baseball wax tray I see on ebay there is easily 50 to 100 '79's. The very first Beckett price guide came out in 1979--it was actually a book. The first monthly mag. came out in 1984. I wonder if in 1979 when collectors read the first nationally recognized price guide that alot of case hoarding began--this might explain all the '79 trays out there and very few '78's in baseball....

grote15

I have a run of wax trays from 1975 to 1980. The 1979s are even more plentiful than the 1980s, due in part to a large find of unopened cases some time back.

I doubt, though, they'll ever drop in value below around $30 which is pretty much where they're at now, as the average cost for a 1979 wax pack is about $8 and there will always be a premium for trays because they are factory sealed.

RedHeart54

I've been collecting wax trays for about 8 years and, yes, '79s have always been the easiest. Football from that same year is also quite plentiful. I think the most interesting development over the last five or six years was the "find" of the '79 hockey trays. (I have absolutely no idea where they were located but I about fell over the first time I saw one listed on ebay.) They are actually quite plentiful but still command $250+. (By comparison I have a 1980 hockey tray and I think I have seen only two or three on ebay since I purchased it nearly 6 years ago).

I have seen a few trays that I can only hope to own someday (but I worry that they may be in unrelenting hands by then). There was a 6-pack 1969 Topps baseball tray in a recent auction that fetched around $3500. I believe Baseball Card Exchange once had a '72 tray for $1200. Too cool.

If anyone has any pix of their trays to post here I'd love to see them. (I'll do the same if anyone is interested.)

summerof68

Thanks RedHeart for the info. Steve Hart still has that '72 tray for sale that you refered to. A couple years ago I also saw a '69 bb six pack wax tray sell at Mastro Auctions for $5800 which included the buyer's premium. That particular tray was in great condition. Two years ago I saw a super clean '72 bb tray sell on ebay for $1500.

jmoran19

I have 1978 thru 1980 baseball racks plus this one:

jmoran19

<< <i>Thanks RedHeart for the info. Steve Hart still has that '72 tray for sale that you refered to. A couple years ago I also saw a '69 bb six pack wax tray sell at Mastro Auctions for $5800 which included the buyer's premium. That particular tray was in great condition. Two years ago I saw a super clean '72 bb tray sell on ebay for $1500. >>



Around 5 years ago SCGaynor sold off a bunch of packs from an ex Topps executive, including a 72 baseball wax tray. If I remember right it went for around $400-500.

summerof68

Great looking '73/74 tray. A real rareity indeed. The 10 cents on the wrapper really brings out the nastalgia of the tray. Unlike wax wrappers which have no pricing, the 10, 15 & 20 cent pricing on wax trays immediately hints to the age of the item and draws immediate conversation from people you show them to. Thanks for the picture!!!