So I ripped open two 1977 topps vendor boxes today

cjaccardi · October 14, 2013 6:31AM

I dont know if I did good or bad, hope there is a gem mint or two in there

was wondering what you guys think

Also if anyone needs a certain common 1977 card for their set or anything I have a 1000 newly opened,

Man a lot of the cards straight out of the box are off center, ping on a corner, major pringting issues and smearing , terrible quality back then in the printing process, but I guess thats what makes those gem mints so hard to find and valuable

Let me know what you think of the cards I got. I only scanned some need to buy some holders tomorrows.

by the way the two boxes cost me 220 dollars.

here is the full album so you can blow up the pictures http://s1252.photobucket.com/user/JimTique/library/1977 Topps?sort=3&page=1

and some of my cards scans individual

CNote · October 14, 2013 6:49AM

Brutal

Porkins · October 14, 2013 6:52AM

Wow! Sign me up for half a dozen at that price!

Anyway... cool break, thanks for sharing!

JustinsShoebox · October 14, 2013 6:54AM

They look pretty rough.

Vending is so tough. Takes a lot of guts to bust vending from these years! I don't think I could do it...and I never leave anything unopened, LOL. But hey, at 220.00, is a great deal and low risk!

Justin

firedawg45 · October 14, 2013 7:00AM

ouch on centering/diamond cut. ouch ouch..

esquiresports · October 14, 2013 7:07AM

The Ryan and second Murphy look pretty good to me. I opened a vending box myself last year to piece together a set. I wasn't sure if it was searched. If you're interested in selling me your commons, please PM me. I just collect raw sets.

Raulsmaster · October 14, 2013 8:22AM

<< Brutal >>

My thoughts exactly

Foo3112 · October 14, 2013 8:31AM

I think instead of looking at the star cards, maybe you should turn to some minty commons and send in the low pops.

cjaccardi · October 14, 2013 8:56AM

yeah the second Murphy might be mint some cards are pretty good. But some are bad. But for 220 it was not bad at all and some fun.

ldferg · October 14, 2013 9:01AM

<< yeah the second Murphy might be mint some cards are pretty good. But some are bad. But for 220 it was not bad at all and some fun. >>

Agreed. I'd like to rip some at that price. Some of the scanned cards aren't too bad.

cjaccardi · October 14, 2013 9:04AM

yeah I dont know who would buy vending boxes at the prices they ask for these reasons. I bought mine cheap and I did well for the price.

MrDodger · October 14, 2013 9:05AM

1977 topps set is one of the hardest for centering.

cjaccardi · October 14, 2013 9:25AM

you can say that again ! wow.

I would not recommend paying for a vendor box from this year from the two I opened, unless its on the cheap like mine were.

cjaccardi · October 14, 2013 9:27AM

how was your experience with vendor box ? was it tough ?

esquiresports · October 14, 2013 10:53AM

I thought the cards in my vending box looked pretty nice, but I will have to take a closer look. I just put them into number order and placed them into sleeves and into an album. When I say nice, I mean generally PSA 8 quality, centering issues aside. I would expect very few 9s from vending based on my experience from long long ago. PSA 7-8 range is more like it. The vending boxes just aren't a great way to store cards.

jimmyg · October 14, 2013 12:44PM

Does anyone know who the target customers for these vending boxes in the 70s were? I wouldn't think there would be enough dealers to support Topps putting this product out.

cjaccardi · October 16, 2013 12:41PM

Hi Jimmy !
In the 1970s through 1980s there were actually vending machines for baseball cards and that is what these boxes were used for, to fill them up. They were every where and in big box stores. So yeah there was a readily available suppy depot for these vending boxes. Now you understand why its called a vendors box. They were not for card shops but for actual vending machines.

You can read a little bit about vending machines here and see a photo.

Baseball Card Vending Machines

cjaccardi · October 16, 2013 12:43PM

Im going to rip some 1978 79 80 81 next

Dboneesq · October 16, 2013 1:25PM

These VENDING boxes also existed in the 60's, as there were Vending Machines for baseball cards around then as well.

jimmyg · October 16, 2013 1:44PM

Ah, thank you for the response... I've wondered about that for quite some time.

grote15 · October 16, 2013 1:53PM

<< These VENDING boxes also existed in the 60's, as there were Vending Machines for baseball cards around then as well. >>

Doug remembers this well, as he'd buy a few cards from the machine after classes were finished in law school... LOL!

Nikklos · October 16, 2013 9:37PM

Those Murphys look pretty darn strong!

Dboneesq · October 16, 2013 10:04PM

<< 

<< These VENDING boxes also existed in the 60's, as there were Vending Machines for baseball cards around then as well. >>

Doug remembers this well, as he'd buy a few cards from the machine after classes were finished in law school... LOL! >>

So true ... and I always remembered looking up to Tim when I was a little kid and thanking him for giving me a few nickles to put into the machine for the cards.

MintMoondog · October 17, 2013 9:01PM

Thanks for sharing those pics but they brought back some brutal memories. I busted around 30 BBCE vending the past several years and was lucky to find 20 gradable cards per box with about 70% of the cards going right to the trash because centering was beyond 95/5. You might want to look for nice low pops because they do command a nice premium - I would BIN any nice cards though because you never know who is watching 77s (very uneven).

EDIT: I like that Fidrych, I agree the Murphys are nice, but that Seaver and Munson, sheeesh those two cards are so tough!

soundgard · October 18, 2013 3:58AM

Ive been collecting baseball cards since 1980, and i have never seen a vending machine in my life. Where were these things located?

larryallen73 · October 18, 2013 4:28AM

As stated above that is brutal. How can so many OC cards be in one vending box!? That sucks.

That one Murph looks pretty good though. It could easily be a 9.

-John

bigdcards · October 18, 2013 4:29AM

<< Ive been collecting baseball cards since 1980, and i have never seen a vending machine in my life. Where were these things located? >>

I think you need a flux capacitor to get to those places.

UnwoundSage · October 18, 2013 5:15AM

<< Ive been collecting baseball cards since 1980, and i have never seen a vending machine in my life. Where were these things located? >>

A long gone but not forgotten card shop I used to frequent, had one in the late 80s but it was mixed with all 4 major team sports.

I also remember a baseball arcade game in the mid to late 80s that would spit out a few cards at the end of each game.

cjaccardi · October 18, 2013 8:41AM

Kmart. Sears. Woolworth. Etc etc. are places I remember them at.

downtown · October 18, 2013 12:54PM

I remember my grandma taking us out shopping. They had a vending machine at Woolworth, and I got a 1970 randy hundley. Too young to remember how many cards or price, but I was always lookng for cubs.

Dboneesq · October 18, 2013 1:06PM

<< Ive been collecting baseball cards since 1980, and i have never seen a vending machine in my life. Where were these things located? >>

In the late 60s there was one outside the "candy store" I used to go to. Put in a nickle and get 5 cards. They used to sell wax packs inside the store as well, so most of the times I would buy the wax.

cardcountry · October 18, 2013 1:28PM

My dad actually has an old card vending machine. There are 3 slots, and you push a quarter into one of the slots and I think 3 of 4 cards come out. It's really cool.

Jeff

cjaccardi · October 18, 2013 1:45PM

Card vending machines maybe the next big thing for collectors

Steelernation · October 19, 2013 3:47AM

1983ish at the mall or card shows

brian26 · October 19, 2013 4:17AM

<< Thanks for sharing those pics but they brought back some brutal memories. I busted around 30 BBCE vending the past several years and was lucky to find 20 gradable cards per box with about 70% of the cards going right to the trash because centering was beyond 95/5. >>

Good Grief, some of us still collect raw sets. IF you ever have 90/10 or 85/15 cards, shoot me a PM before you toss stuff out. I need to work on my '77 set and could have used those!

brian26 · October 19, 2013 4:19AM

<< Ive been collecting baseball cards since 1980, and i have never seen a vending machine in my life. Where were these things located? >>

Same here...dont recall ever seeing them.

1all · October 19, 2013 4:45AM

The card shop I went to as a kid in the early 80s had a vending machine. It was a quarter and you normally got a 50's common. I remember one occasion when a new employee filled it up with HOFers. As a 12yo kid, I didn't know enough to keep my mouth shut. It looked like this...

-Doug

mattinglymint23 · October 19, 2013 9:14AM

I've thrown literally just 1 card away my whe life and it was only recently - gum stained, warped, torn and stained out of a pack. I tossed it and six hours later fished it out of trash. I just couldn't do it.

grote15 · October 19, 2013 9:17AM

<< I've thrown literally just 1 card away my whe life and it was only recently - gum stained, warped, torn and stained out of a pack. I tossed it and six hours later fished it out of trash. I just couldn't do it. >>

LOL..

Miniduff leases a dumpster just for the cards he tosses..

MintMoondog · October 19, 2013 4:54PM

<< I've thrown literally just 1 card away my whe life and it was only recently - gum stained, warped, torn and stained out of a pack. I tossed it and six hours later fished it out of trash. I just couldn't do it. >>

LOL - I have dumped a van load of 1975s through 1979 (mostly 1976s and 1977s)...at least a case worth of minis. I loved the one OP who opened a box of 1981s and dumped most of them in his swimming pool. That was classic funny.

So I ripped open two 1977 topps vendor boxes today

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