Which is the better 20 year investment: 1979 bb wax tray or 1978 bb rak pak?

summerof68

I had a question for thought for all you pak lovers and late 70's singles collectors. I'm 45 years old and I love unopened baseball material. Anything pre-1980 appeals to me. I want to routinely pick up some mint, case-fresh late 70's paks and hold on to them, health allowing, for 20 years and then let them go when I'm 65 or so to help supplement my retirement. As a kid I loved baseball rak paks and wax trays because of their great eye appeal when in mint condition. My budget restricts me to generally collecting the years '78 & '79. I especially like 1979 bb wax trays & 1978 bb rak paks because of their availability and reasonable prices on ebay. Currently mint '79 bb wax trays bring around $30 on ebay and mint '78 bb raks with no stars showing bring around $40. As food for thought I wanted to hear any thoughts as to which of these two items might appreciate the most during the next 20 years? There's only a $10 difference in their current ebay values but could the impact of people opening this particular tray & rak for grading purposes impact the future value of one more than the other? Is one more desireable to open versus the other? I will collect both items but I might place an emphasis on one of the items over the other if it has a better 20 year upside. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

Carew29

due to tuff centering issues with the 79's, i would go 78'.

ROCKDJRW

20 years in your 401k or even CDs from the bank would probably be a wiser "investment" but that being said I would also go with the 78's.

summerof68

I know there are much better investment opportunities out there than late 70's baseball cards. I simply want to routinely put away some of these '79 trays & 78 raks to fullfill my love for card collecting; to bring back the fond memories of my childhood; and 20 years from now if I can make a fair profit from this endeavor then so much the better....

grote15

1979 trays and 1978 racks are fairly pentiful so I don't really see either appreciating too much in the long term. The value of both has remained relatively stable the past 7 years or so. If you're planning on cracking them open for gradeable cards, the 78s are a better option, IMO.

summerof68

I'd like to thank my first three replies and their input. Thus far the '78 raks are getting the nod. And I agree with Grote 15 in that I have been an ebay member for 4 years now and I've seen no increase in value in the '79 trays and a small increase in the '78 raks.

joemaggio

No wax or gum stained cards in a rack pack, plus you can get a feel for the overall centering from the visible cards. Downside is that many of us know the card sequencing, and unless you're buying from a reputable dealer, who knows the rack is unsearched (from an unopened case), you're not gonna find a good card in the rack pack.

So, my call is the '78 rack if you're certain it's unsearched.

grote15

One note about centering on top cards in rack and cellos from this era (70s): I've found after opening many racks and cellos that in many cases the centering of the top card is not indicative of what you'll find behind it. Though unopened collectors definitely put a premium on the visual appeal of a well-centered top card in a pack, those who buy to bust are not necessarily doomed if the top card is OC.

summerof68

Joemaggio & grote15's comments on centering and sequencing are well taken. These are just the kind of comments I was looking for. Sequencing is a big turn off for me. I can't imagine how many of the raks on ebay are simply recycled raks that have been bought and sold countless times. And with each transaction they have probably been physically searched and periodically sequenced. That definitely heightens the appeal of wax trays. With regards to Grote15's comment on centering I agree. I once purchased a gai 9 '75 bb cello pak with a perfectly centered Dave Nelson on top with 4 smooth edges.. I opened the pak and at least 5 of the cards had horrible centering and 3 were badly diamond cut. A third of the cards had very rough edges. The high quality top card was in no way indicative of the quality of the remaining cards.

Buccaneer

I don't understand most of the comments in this thread. First, 1978 or 1979 cards would never be an "investment", slabbed or unopened. One of the main interest in unopened is the potential of getting high grade cards. All you have to do is to take a look at what the prices of high grade 1978/1979 cards have been doing (i.e., going down). Sometime in the future, people may or may not care about graded cards. This time period was the start of the first hobby/business boom and thus, cases/boxes/packs/cards were horded away. I'm not sure how far one has to go back for unopened to become investment potential but the prices of all 1970s unopens have been going down. Finally, I would suspect that keeping your money in a savings accout or even a checking account would get more ROI. You are talking about something of very little value, comparatively, so it really won't make any difference. If you were talking about minimum $10k, then the debate of a CD account or cards would be valid.

grote15

Steve,

The OP has already acknowledged that investing in a CD, etc, will provide a better ROI than buying unopened packs from 1978 or 1979. That comparison is not what he's looking for. By his own admission, his funds are limited or I'd suspect he's be collecting unopened packs from the '60s instead. The reality is that despite the fact that packs are being opened every day, the value of unopened product has remained relatively stable or even declined in most cases, with some exceptions, even while the value of individual graded cards from those same years has risen significantly (i.e. 1972, 1975 mini, etc.).

summerof68

Thanks again to Grote15 who is obviously an educated person who comprehends fully what he reads. Yes, if I had the funds I would love to collect gai slabbed baseball rak paks from 1972 and earlier but they are well outside of my means. However I do respect Buccaneer's input stating that the late 70's was a period in the hobby when it began to take off and case hoarding took off as an offspring of this. Consequently his point that unopened material and graded singles from this era will not rise much value and not be a good investment is certainly well taken. I will give this alot of consideration. 1975 bb topps raks have always appealed to me because of the bold, colorful cards and these are the oldest raks that I can afford. Perhaps it would be wiser to collect a lesser amount of these '75 raks as opposed to a larger amount of '79 trays & '78 raks. Maybe moving further away from the late '70s would be a positive thing with respect to unopened material....something I will seriously consider. But I continue to thank everyone for their experienced input. This is exactly why I posted this thread thus enabling myself to make a more educated decision.....Any further input on my original thread and any thoughts concerning '75 bb raks are greatly welcome.

estang

78 rack --- more HOF'ers & no gum/wax stains

1954

Summer-
You can't go wrong buying quality unopened. The older the better investment. A friend of mine buys unopened cases from 1976-1981 in football and basketball every auction with Mastro. The price has continually gone up from when he started back 5 years ago. I believe he told me around 15% each year. He has noticed the increased value in the unopened boxes from early 70's has gone up much, much more.

Unopened packs may be different as far as an investment because those can/are being searched/resealed. The unopened boxes are much more safe than a single pack- the unopened case is the real protection.

Shane