1979 Topps Hockey Wax Trays

PFB

I wanted to see if anyone had any information on 1979-80 Topps Hockey Trays. I have asked a couple of people who have had them, and they said that there was a dealer in NC that was selling fake trays. I purchased one, from a person in NC. My next step is to send it to Steve Hart to see if it's real or fake. Just seeing if anyone has had any experience or names with fake ones.

Thanks!

1all

NC is a red flag. There are definitely known counterfitters of tray packs down there. I purchased a 77 FB Tray pack on eBay from eBay ID "antiques*pplus" that I returned after the back looked very suspicious. I also remember hearing that there was a question as to whether Topps even made Hockey tray packs in 79. I could be wrong about that though.

Doug

Dboneesq

I have read quite a few articles on this subject and never has the author stated for sure that Topps made these racks. Most have said they do not believe Topps issued these racks. North Carolina? Oh boy, there have been a LOT of items made there!!!!!!!

mknez

I thought Steve Hart said somewhere that they were not made by Topps?

jimrad

There are a lot of questions regarding the 1979 hockey wax trays.
I asked Steve Hart and he told me that he was unsure of their validity.
I believe they were put together by a 3rd party, not topps, but that doesn't mean
that they are not unopened packs. I opened a few trays that I had acquired over
the years because I was under the impression they may not be genuine. Well to my
surprise I did get a Gretzky in one of the packs, however I have never seen a card
from a tray that would grade higher than an 8 and most lower.

PFB

Thanks for all of the responses - I feel like these trays are the "bigfoot" of the cards world. So many different options, and many great inputs from people who know a lot more than I do. It's one of those topics where I wish we could get a definite yes or no!

Any additional information would be welcomed.

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend.

Peter

PFB

I asked Steve as well, here's his response - "I think most long time collectors now agree that Topps did not make these. I have made it a rule to not handle them anymore. Nobody has ever seen a case of these. And these were not really available in the early 80's, but now are all over.

For me, that's all I needed to hear. We all agree the Steve is the expert.

Thanks for everyone who added to the chain.

Have a great weekend -

onlyanumber

one of jimrad's 79 wax tray rip

Link to one of jimrad's wax tray rip. I'll say it again as I said in that thread. I remember getting the wax trays for good report cards from my grandmother. She got them from five and dime stores in Queens NY. They were '79 packs...

There is another link in the thread to a pretty good wax tray resource...

grote15

I think the jury is still out on whether Topps actually produced these in 1979-80, but one thing is for certain: the vast majority of the trays you see up for sale now were fabricated in NC.