rack or cello for 1976-1983 Topps baseball?

thehallmark

Pretending for a moment that your price per card was equal, which is the better purchase and why?

Which pack type yields better grades on average? Which boxes have better distribution of stars/rookies?

Most thoughtful and thorough answer gets free stuff sent to them.

fattymacs

Cellos are usually wrapped tight enough to damage the corners on a few cards minimum, plus the gum gets 2 in the middle.
Racks probably have the best conditioned cards and you can see the centering, but some claim to know whats in them by whats showing.
Wax you get a wax stain and a gum stain, plus the oft chance at a reseal job.

All in all a crapshoot, I prefer racks, then wax, then cello.

calaban7

<< <i>

All in all a crapshoot, I prefer racks, then wax, then cello. >>



Ditto.

VitoCo1972

Avoid Racks - too easily searchable. I like cellos because you get a sense of the centering. Wax is more of a crap shoot than anything.

lsutigers1973

I would only buy racks or cellos in a factory sealed box or directly from a sealed case. Plus, it has to be a trusted seller.

grote15

Wax is definitely the best source for high grade, unsearched cards. Racks also yield high grade cards but since the cards are sequenced, you can get a better idea who is is the rack (or not). Cellos from the 70s at least arew rapped too tightly to yield mint cards.

lsutigers1973

<< <i>Wax is definitely the best source for high grade, unsearched cards. >>



I politely beg to differ. Would you like to see the results of the wax I busted today? Sequencing often only matters on certain years and manufacturers. Fleer is the main culprit from the 80's and early 90's, especially the basketball.

grote15

Wax is definitely the best source for high grade, unsearched cards. >>



I politely beg to differ. Would you like to see the results of the wax I busted today? Sequencing often only matters on certain years and manufacturers.

That is not really accurate. Your wax may have been a bust for any number of reasons, but wax packs (if truly unsearched and authentic) offer the best option for the greatest pulls, as ALL Topps issues (throughout the 70s at least) were produced in sequence, so if you know the sequence you have a better idea of which cards reside inside the rack. (In addition to that, racks are easier to search through the panel.) I've opened hundreds of 70s rack and wax packs over the last couple of years, and wax has always been the better source, though rack will also yield high grade cards, and because the sequence is often broken within the pack, you do have a shot at pulling a star card or rookie, but not as great as pulling it from wax. Cellos are a distant third, due to corner dings from the tight wrapping, followed by vending, which I'd never trust to begin with.

Pete14Rose

I'm no "pro" in spotting resealed material...and that is a big problem I am sure. As far as personal preference? If I could guarantee the box hasn't been tampered with I would open late 70's-early 80's wax all day. Gum stains and all. But that's just me. If I wanted "cleaner" cards with no gum, then of course rack is the way to go. I've never opened a cello pack in my life. They never appealed to me.




Jay

lsutigers1973

<< <i>but wax packs (if truly unsearched and authentic) offer the best option for the greatest pulls, >>



I agree. My statement was a venting session and a small shot at someone in particular. Wax is always the way to go unless you can manage to get a rack box that has the manufacturers sealing on the box.

Buccaneer

What about vending from an unopened case?

lsutigers1973

Vending suck because the corners are usually damaged because they are packed so tightly into the box, similar to the tight cello pack wrapping.

Buccaneer

<< <i>Vending suck because the corners are usually damaged because they are packed so tightly into the box, similar to the tight cello pack wrapping. >>



What if was not looking for cards to send in to grade but would want nice NM-MT cards? Would the tightness and corners prevent me from getting many of them?

lsutigers1973

The last vending box I opened was a 1984 Topps baseball I got on here from Ronburgundy. About 25 cards on each end had severely damaged corners. The rest were in the NRMT/MT+ range. I did get a Mattingly rookie and a Nolan Ryan that have a shot at a 10 because the centering was perfect and somehow the corners were still good. If you are looking to just make NRMT/MT sets, they are a viable option. Usually can make a full set from 2 vending boxes and maybe get lucky with some extra rookies or HOF'ers that are gradeable.

itzagoner

agree with Buccaneer on the vending, but it is a crap shoot if you get stuck with a box full of miscuts or banged up corners....i've had good luck with '76 & '77 boxes with plenty of submittable and raw examples........and a bunch of cards that are curled up like a snail.

Buccaneer

One of the reasons I asked was that it appears that vending is half the price compared to wax/cellos/racks for about the same amount of cards.

grote15

Vending boxes are too easily searched, so unless you're buying a sealed case, you're taking a big chance. Also, as LSU said, because the cards are packed so tight in a vending box, they are often plagued by dinged corners, too. These reasons are primarily why vending is the least expensive option, at least when purchasing a single vending box. If you're lucky enough to find a sealed case of 70s vending boxes, I'd expect that discount would disappear due to the premium of finding such a case.