I opened the 4th box from the vending lot. This continues to be a strong lot. Centering has been very strong. Not many cards with atrocious centering. I pulled the following 26 cards for the grading pile.
If I could hit a PSA 10 on the Mike Marshall, that would be huge as that is just a pop 4 or so. The Pastore and Schatzeder are also pretty tough.
Two more of these vending boxes to go and hoping the good centering continues.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
I was just turned on to this thread by a guy in a fb group who had seen it and then saw my post looking for 83t psa 10 cards that I need to complete my set.
I need 57 more psa 10s to complete a “perfect 10” 83 topps set. Quite a feat but NOTHING near as awesome as what you’ve done here. Most (90%?) of mine weren’t submitted by me, but pieced together through purchases off eBay and from a couple partial sets I bought up and merged. That said, I have been in the 83t psa 10 game for a few years now.
I cannot believe what you’ve been undertaking here - what an amazing feat! I read your entire thread today and massive kuddos to you for the undertaking and adoration of what I consider to be the single best all-around topps set of any year.
The prices of 83t unopened have absolutely exploded over the past couple months - so as you alluded to at the end of 2019, this will probably cause some cost-prohibitive effect on your project.
While I have about 60 cards w psa right now, I don’t see a lot of opening/submitting in my near future bc of the cost of the unopened product.
If you do have low pop psa 10 dupes id love to see a list. At this point, I’m willing to overpay for any of the last 57 cards I need.
If you’d ever like to reach out and share notes and fun 83t facts, feel free to email me (rjustincarter@hotmail.com) or hit me up thru the 83t registry (set 4, “Carter’s 83Ts” or something similar).
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve been sidelined by health issues the past couple months, so the thread hit a sudden roadblock back in February. Recovery has been slow, but I’m almost back to 100%. I’ll post and put a bow on my 2019 rips soon. I’ve also got some cards at PSA now that logged back in January, so hope to have some poppage soon.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
I’m glad you found the page Justin, welcome to the forums, I told you how enjoyable this read was, it’s an awesome feat. I’ve been following it from the beginning lol.
I've got poppage. I piggybacked with a board member and this logged in way back on 1/17 and finally popped Friday 8/14.
179 1 45621357 MINT 9 1983 Topps 362 Bill Almon (from cello 2014, 1st graded)
180 1 45621358 MINT 9 1983 Topps 666 Sparky Anderson (from rack 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
181 1 45621359 MINT 9 1983 Topps 704 Stolen Base Leaders R.Henderson/T.Raines (from rack 2017, 5th graded, 3 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8)
182 1 45621360 MINT 9 1983 Topps 96 Dick Howser (from eBay mega-lot 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
183 1 45621361 MINT 9 1983 Topps 573 Andy Hassler (from vending 2016, 1st graded)
184 1 45621362 MINT 9 1983 Topps 605 Gary Roenicke (from vending 2018, 4th graded, 2 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8.5)
185 1 45621363 MINT 9 1983 Topps 251 Alan Wiggins (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
186 1 45621364 MINT 9 1983 Topps 686 Randy Lerch (from rack 2018, 1st graded)
187 1 45621365 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 711 Mariners Batting & Pitching Leaders (from rack 2014, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
188 1 N8: MISCUT 1983 Topps 615 Garry Maddox (from Mich. wax 2015, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 9, 1 PSA 5)
189 1 45621367 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 42 Dale Murray (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
190 1 45621368 MINT 9 1983 Topps 106 Gene Nelson (from cello 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
191 1 45621369 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 131 Ed Ott (from rack 2015, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
192 1 45621370 MINT 9 1983 Topps 186 Whitey Herzog (from rack 2017, 1st graded)
193 1 45621371 NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1983 Topps 790 Bob Grich (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
194 1 45621372 MINT 9 1983 Topps 732 Dave Henderson (from cello 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
195 1 45621373 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 249 Checklist 133-264 (from rack 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
196 1 45621374 NEAR MINT 7 1983 Topps 503 Moose Haas (from eBay partial set 2016, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
197 1 45621375 MINT 9 1983 Topps 550 Carl Yastrzemski (from vending 2016, 5th graded, 3 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8)
198 1 45621376 MINT 9 1983 Topps 400 Dave Concepcion (board member trade 2019, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
199 1 45621377 MINT 9 1983 Topps 207 Rick Camp (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
200 1 45621378 MINT 9 1983 Topps 538 Danny Heep (from cello 2015, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
201 1 45621379 MINT 9 1983 Topps 537 Rod Scurry (from Mich. wax 2013, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
202 1 45621380 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 612 Steve Swisher (from eBay mega-lot 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
203 1 45621381 MINT 9 1983 Topps 11 Billy Gardner (from cello 2013, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
204 1 45621382 MINT 9 1983 Topps 194 Cesar Geronimo (from eBay partial set 2016, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
205 1 45621383 MINT 9 1983 Topps 79 Mick Kelleher (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
206 1 45621384 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 166 John Pacella (from vending 2016, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 10, 1 PSA 9)
207 1 45621385 MINT 9 1983 Topps 775 Burt Hooton (from eBay partial set 2016, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 9, 1 PSA 8)
208 1 45621386 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 180 Rickey Henderson (from vending 2018, 4th graded, 1 PSA 10, 2 PSA 9's)
209 1 45621387 MINT 9 1983 Topps 786 Ralph Houk (from vending 2016, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
210 1 45621388 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 600 George Brett (from rack 2018, 4th graded, 2 PSA 10's, 1 PSA 9)
211 1 45621389 MINT 9 1983 Topps 485 Omar Moreno (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
212 1 45621390 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 319 Lenn Sakata (from eBay partial set, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
213 1 45621391 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 271 Ed Romero (from cello 2013, 1st graded)
214 1 45621392 MINT 9 1983 Topps 586 Frank Viola (from cello 2013, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
215 1 45621393 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 545 Floyd Bannister (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
216 1 45621394 MINT 9 1983 Topps 729 Jerry Morales (from vending 2016, 1st graded)
217 1 45621395 MINT 9 1983 Topps 663 Tom O'Malley (from eBay lot 2016, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
218 1 45621396 MINT 9 1983 Topps 602 Rich Gedman (from cello 2014, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
Sigh. Count me among those upset, confused and exasperated with how cards from this era are being graded at the moment. First of all, I'm well aware that grading is totally subjective and there will be swings up and down with how cards are graded. I'm far from being a large volume submitter, but my last three 1983 subs averaged out to a 57% hit rate of PSA 10's. Frankly, I think that was way too high and I think I even commented on the thread that it was an extremely easy grading era for 1983 PSA 10's. However, I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. In this sub I hit 10% PSA 10's. 4 out of 40. Historically, since 2009, I've subbed around 920 83 Topps and my PSA 10 average was at 30% before this sub. If I'm totally honest with myself, 50% was too generous, but 10% is way too strict. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a 30% hit rate.
I've currently got a quarterly special with 35 more 1983's that just logged in 8/3. Hopefully the tide will have turned and the grading will have eased when these finally pop.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
Ugh, tough results after that long wait. Loved seeing the update on your epic set build effort tho. Hope that you get back to 30% or better on this next sub.
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
On the bright side, 30 out of 39 graded Mint 9 or better.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Holy crap. That's gotta take the wind out of your sails a bit. Nice Brett 10, though. I'm assuming you needed that one in a 10? Good luck on the next 35!
Thanks for the uplifting words guys. Grote, that is a good point. I never even bothered to look at it that way.
It was a lot easier to put a bad sub behind you when there were $5.00 specials. It’s definitely becoming more of a challenge to continue with the prices of unopened skyrocketing. However, I do have about 400 cards in the queue to grade and I’ve not cracked any cards out yet.
The Brett must be super easy as I’ve submitted 4 now and 3 have come back PSA 10. Even this grader deemed it a 10 amongst this garbage of a sub that offended his eyes.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
lol @ "amongst this garbage of a sub that offended his eyes."
this is legit the best thread on the internet and the coolest project i've ever heard of!
@NJ80sBBC said:
What is the best bulk rate now and how many do you need to sub?
I think it’s up to $9.00 with a minimum of a 100 cards?
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
196 1 45621374 NEAR MINT 7 1983 Topps 503 Moose Haas
That grade right there is just a shoe to the groin. 34 brave souls have submitted an 83T Moose Haas, 25 got 10s. 3 have received 7s, the lowest. That stinks.
While I completely understand the economics behind raising prices for grading in the face of insatiable demand, this environment really has to hurt the traditional set builder.
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
I’m waiting on one package to come in and I’ll be ready to start this year’s ripping. Obviously with prices what they are nowadays, not nearly as exciting as it used to be. But I do have some unopened that I have high hopes for.
Also, there’s still an order out there from a 2nd quarter special that’s still in the research phase so maybe that will pop soon.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
@mrpeanut39 said:
I’m waiting on one package to come in and I’ll be ready to start this year’s ripping. Obviously with prices what they are nowadays, not nearly as exciting as it used to be. But I do have some unopened that I have high hopes for.
Also, there’s still an order out there from a 2nd quarter special that’s still in the research phase so maybe that will pop soon.
Good luck on your submissions. This is one of my favorite threads but as you said 1983 has gone up significantly since you started this endeavor.
Still waiting on my last package to arrive. No tracking info since 12/23. It's only a bulk lot and I'm ready to get started. Here's what I've got lined up for this year.
That's four unopened vending boxes (only one is FASC, so it will be interesting to see what the other three boxes hold, but I'm fairly confident in their provenance), 16 unopened grocery racks, a partial set in the two 400 ct boxes and a commons lot contained in the 2 wax boxes. Once again, the wax boxes are NOT unopened. I'll start with the partial set, move on to the lots, hit the grocery racks and finish with the vending.
Also, my 2nd quarter special sub hit the grading stage Monday, so maybe in a couple of months I'll have results from that.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
This was listed as a partial set, 633 different NM/MT. I picked this up last month for about $23. Tax & shipping included.
Kudos to the seller for penny sleeving each and every card. Above and beyond.
Sharp corners and clean edges throughout. No beaters. Centering was pretty bad in general. Being 150 odd cards short of a complete set, I thought there may have been no HOFers included, but there were many on the Dawson, Rice, L. Smith level. I was surprised that I pulled 17 cards for potential 10's.
I've found the Fingers to be a pretty tough card as HOFers go, so I was pleased to pull a nice one. The Wockenfuss, Hough and Milt May are also semi-tough pulls.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
Hi, you got all those from ebay ? The '83 racks ? How much did you pay for them. Also, you can print a ruler at Avery.com. You can just search for "printable Ruler" at Google. How do you determine the cards to be possible PSA 10 ? what measurments for the borders ?
Let me know what to look for so I can share with you. All yours if you need them.
Very nice gesture. With your awesome stash, any thoughts of just getting more packs to fill up a frankenstein box? I don't know how the unopened guys do it. A conundrum indeed.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
@AsianTraveler said:
Hi, you got all those from ebay ? The '83 racks ? How much did you pay for them. Also, you can print a ruler at Avery.com. You can just search for "printable Ruler" at Google. How do you determine the cards to be possible PSA 10 ? what measurments for the borders ?
Everything is from eBay except for two of the vending boxes. If you follow along with the thread, I give pricing info whenever I post about any rip.
Technically a card can receive a PSA 10 with centering on the front of 55/45 and 75/25 on the back. I try my best for 50/50 or at least 52/48 centering on the front, though a card may occasionally sneak into my grading pile with 55/45 centering. I have to admit, I'm not as diligent with the back centering. If it's not miscut or like 95/5 on the back, I'll still submit. I've looked at so many 83's at this point that I just eyeball it. No need for a ruler. Basically, if there's any question about centering, I don't consider it gradable.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
This was an interesting one. The eBay listing was odd, describing it as a lot of 1983 circle Topps? to be shipped in two OPC boxes. Thankfully the seller provided plenty of pictures so it was easy to see that the cards were in fact regular old 1983 Topps and the boxes were indeed Topps and not OPC. Purchased off of eBay in June for about $85 with shipping and tax. A lot of about 1300.
I figured that this was just 2 wax box rips with the cards simply put back in the boxes with the best cards pulled. I didn't actually count the cards, but that math doesn't work going by packs per box and cards per pack. Oh well. The seller did provide a checklist with each and every card in the lot included, so I knew exactly what I was getting. I did see wax stains throughout, so I'm filing these under pulled from wax on my spreadsheet. I ended up pulling 11 cards.
I took some liberties centering wise on the Flynn (pop 10) and Ferguson (pop 9) as these are the first cards of these guys that I've pulled that have been even close to PSA 10 centering since I started this thread. Interesting fact: the Doug Flynn was either the last or second to last in the entire set to land a PSA 10. Amazing that it's now a pop 10!
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
I’ve never graded any OPC but I think the l/r centering would make a PSA 10 unlikely/impossible. Also, that looks like something other than the OPC rough cut on the left edge. Others may chime in with their opinions.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
I probably should know better at this point about grocery racks, but I was anxious to get some unopened in any form with the way prices are skyrocketing.
This was a 16 pack lot of grocery racks won at auction on eBay for about $190 with tax & shipping factored in. My experience with grocery racks is limited. A board member sent me about 5 or 6 of them a number of years ago as thanks for me helping fill some holes in his 83 raw set. I remember when I opened those packs the quality was poor, but I did set aside 2 cards for grading and they both pulled PSA 10's. So I figured it was possible.
The quality on this lot was worse than I could've dreamed. Probably 10 of the packs were total duds with horribly centered and tilted cards throughout. A couple of other packs the gum had leeched through three cards below the gum card. I've yet to see that with any other 83s I've opened. Just the cards touching the gum were effected. Surprisingly I pulled 4 cards to be graded.
Those three and this guy.
My exuberance upon unearthing this card at the time was probably effected by how atrocious the other cards were. Looking at it more critically, the centering is slightly off both ways (though well within PSA 10 parameters) and more importantly the bottom right corner is not as sharp as it could be. Still a very nice card and I will be grading it.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
I've been watching this thread at some capacity for years and have loved the journey. How many 10's are you at now? I've been building a signed 79 set for about five years now with about 200 left to go just trusting TTM and eBay buys of guys I'd never heard of are real at a few bucks each. But building a full on 10 set has always been so admirable. A true commitment and I envy the focus!!!
you are brave to rip grocery packs. I have many loose ones out of the rack holder that I picked up years ago and the corners all look impacted. I’m stunned that Sandburg came from one.
Conundrum - Loving my unopened baseball card collection....but really like ripping too
Thanks guys. Yeah I can’t see myself venturing into the grocery racks again. It’s amazing that the Sandberg was one of the few nice cards in all of those packs. I’m hopeful that I will hit a 9 but with the tough grading nowadays, who knows.
I think my set has about 300 PSA 10’s and 304 PSA 9’s. Things have really slowed down for me as far as grading goes as it’s really hard to justify the cost of grading the commons especially if it’s much harder to pull 10’s. I do have a 2nd quarter special in the grading stage right now, so hopefully I can add some more 10’s to my set in a month or two.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
This vending box was purchased back in March 2019 off of eBay for $149.99. Due to some personal stuff, I wasn't able to bust it last Winter so I was happy to hold on to it til this year. Not BBCE certified but I felt pretty good about it.
I pulled one OC Boggs.
I also pulled the following six commons.
A really boring rip. I guess I've done worse before, but there was just no juice at all here. Three more vending boxes to go including one that's a BBCE FASC.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
Brett, thought you would be interested in learning the guy who owns the #1 all PSA 10 set is listing it for sale for $52,500 in the 99% PSA card group page on Facebook (and on ebay, I believe).
Selling #1 Registry 1983 Topps Baseball Complete Set ALL PSA 10s - Gwynn Boggs, etc.
Just listed this one eBay if you're interested msg me here or through the PSA Registry (PSA Registry is probably better since it goes straight to my email). $52,500
This listing is for the #1 All-Time 1983 Topps Baseball Set PSA Registry. The set has ALL 792 cards graded PSA 10. The set is impossible to improve on as every card is graded Gem Mint by PSA. Also included in this lot is the #2 Currently-Ranked 1983 Topps Traded Baseball Set PSA Registry. This set has 116 of the 132 cards all graded in PSA 10 - including the Darryl Strawberry Rookie. Note: the TRADED set does still need 16 cards to be completed - all commons.
In the Registry, the 1983 Topps set is called “Carter’s 83Ts - 100% PSA 10s Set” and the 1983 Topps Traded set is called “Carter’s 83TTs” and I encourage you to check both sets out.
Combining the two sets you have 908 PSA 10 graded card (792 from 83T, 116 from 83TT) - every card GEM MINT as graded by PSA.
1983 Topps is regarded by many as one of the finest all-around baseball sets ever made - both in card design and in its offering of HOFer rookies and non-rookie cards.
Compiling these sets was a massive undertaking. The new owner of these sets, if he or she decides to keep it, will forever have the #1 ranked 1983 Topps set as it cannot be passed. The current #2 registry 1983 Topps set needs one card to be perfect, but it’s a tough card to get so it might be some time before he gets it, if ever. This set is only the second complete full-sized Topps baseball set EVER completed in all PSA 10s (the other being a 1978 Topps set) - no other full-sized Topps Baseball sets (of any decade 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.) has ever been completed in all PSA 10 according to the PSA Registry.
The three biggest cards in the 83T regular set are, of course, the Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg rookies. There are also tons of other highly sought after stars (Ripken second year, Henderson 4th year, two Nolan Ryans, Dale Murphy, George Brett, Mike Schmidt, etc.). And for set collectors, even more valuable than the big rookies and hofers are the many low pop PSA 10 cards. The Traded set, of course, has the Darryl Strawberry rookie.
These sets would make someone a bundle if you wanted to break them into 908 single card lots and resell them, if that’s your thing. But it's also equally attractive to many true collectors to own the finest 1983 Topps set in the world, one that can legitimately never be surpassed.
Shipping these over 900 cards will be done by insured, registered mail to the US only. Under proper circumstances, a local pickup might be able to be arranged.
If you need to see more pictures or have any other questions/concerns, please msg me.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Some of the wording in that 1983 listing matches some of the wording the seller of the graded 1981 partial set on the BST is using, so maybe it's the same guy.
@nam812 said:
Some of the wording in that 1983 listing matches some of the wording the seller of the graded 1981 partial set on the BST is using, so maybe it's the same guy.
It is. He is listing that set also for $42,500.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
I’m pretty sure he posted on the registry forum when he completed the set last year. Definitely an impressive accomplishment.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
Great to see you are still active with the set. You were one of the first people I thought of when the prices of 83 unopened skyrocketed and was curious how that was effecting your journey. Your thread is one of my favorites of all time. Glad to see that you are finding different ways of getting creative with finding cards for submitting.
Thanks Jeremy. When I look back over this thread to all the stuff I ripped, it can make you cry. But this has always been fun for me and a challenge, so I strive not to think about it in investment terms. Creativity will be key moving forward. I can't see myself ripping any other boxes besides vending and that will have to be non-certified that I feel good about.
"I think the guy must be practicing voodoo or something. Check out his eyes. Rico's crazier than a peach orchard sow." -- Whitey Herzog, Spring Training 1973
You know, you can you start your youtube changel and record live of you opening the packs. You can get lots of subscribers and get tipped during the live stream. I just watched a video of this guy unboxing 2 1980 Topps Wax Boxes and a vending box and pulled out 3 Rickey Henderson Rookies !
Comments
I opened the 4th box from the vending lot. This continues to be a strong lot. Centering has been very strong. Not many cards with atrocious centering. I pulled the following 26 cards for the grading pile.
If I could hit a PSA 10 on the Mike Marshall, that would be huge as that is just a pop 4 or so. The Pastore and Schatzeder are also pretty tough.
Two more of these vending boxes to go and hoping the good centering continues.
Outstanding results. So great that you are finding creative ways to keep your quest, and one of my favorite threads of all time, going strong.
John
Hello sir!
I was just turned on to this thread by a guy in a fb group who had seen it and then saw my post looking for 83t psa 10 cards that I need to complete my set.
I need 57 more psa 10s to complete a “perfect 10” 83 topps set. Quite a feat but NOTHING near as awesome as what you’ve done here. Most (90%?) of mine weren’t submitted by me, but pieced together through purchases off eBay and from a couple partial sets I bought up and merged. That said, I have been in the 83t psa 10 game for a few years now.
I cannot believe what you’ve been undertaking here - what an amazing feat! I read your entire thread today and massive kuddos to you for the undertaking and adoration of what I consider to be the single best all-around topps set of any year.
The prices of 83t unopened have absolutely exploded over the past couple months - so as you alluded to at the end of 2019, this will probably cause some cost-prohibitive effect on your project.
While I have about 60 cards w psa right now, I don’t see a lot of opening/submitting in my near future bc of the cost of the unopened product.
If you do have low pop psa 10 dupes id love to see a list. At this point, I’m willing to overpay for any of the last 57 cards I need.
If you’d ever like to reach out and share notes and fun 83t facts, feel free to email me (rjustincarter@hotmail.com) or hit me up thru the 83t registry (set 4, “Carter’s 83Ts” or something similar).
Be well and keep adventuring!
One of my favorite threads ever. Good luck to you both.
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve been sidelined by health issues the past couple months, so the thread hit a sudden roadblock back in February. Recovery has been slow, but I’m almost back to 100%. I’ll post and put a bow on my 2019 rips soon. I’ve also got some cards at PSA now that logged back in January, so hope to have some poppage soon.
Wow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
Sorry about your health issues. Glad to hear you are close to 100%. Enjoy watching your progress on the set.
I’m glad you found the page Justin, welcome to the forums, I told you how enjoyable this read was, it’s an awesome feat. I’ve been following it from the beginning lol.
Vintage Rookies
I've got poppage. I piggybacked with a board member and this logged in way back on 1/17 and finally popped Friday 8/14.
179 1 45621357 MINT 9 1983 Topps 362 Bill Almon (from cello 2014, 1st graded)
180 1 45621358 MINT 9 1983 Topps 666 Sparky Anderson (from rack 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
181 1 45621359 MINT 9 1983 Topps 704 Stolen Base Leaders R.Henderson/T.Raines (from rack 2017, 5th graded, 3 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8)
182 1 45621360 MINT 9 1983 Topps 96 Dick Howser (from eBay mega-lot 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
183 1 45621361 MINT 9 1983 Topps 573 Andy Hassler (from vending 2016, 1st graded)
184 1 45621362 MINT 9 1983 Topps 605 Gary Roenicke (from vending 2018, 4th graded, 2 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8.5)
185 1 45621363 MINT 9 1983 Topps 251 Alan Wiggins (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
186 1 45621364 MINT 9 1983 Topps 686 Randy Lerch (from rack 2018, 1st graded)
187 1 45621365 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 711 Mariners Batting & Pitching Leaders (from rack 2014, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
188 1 N8: MISCUT 1983 Topps 615 Garry Maddox (from Mich. wax 2015, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 9, 1 PSA 5)
189 1 45621367 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 42 Dale Murray (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
190 1 45621368 MINT 9 1983 Topps 106 Gene Nelson (from cello 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
191 1 45621369 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 131 Ed Ott (from rack 2015, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
192 1 45621370 MINT 9 1983 Topps 186 Whitey Herzog (from rack 2017, 1st graded)
193 1 45621371 NEAR MINT-MINT+ 8.5 1983 Topps 790 Bob Grich (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
194 1 45621372 MINT 9 1983 Topps 732 Dave Henderson (from cello 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
195 1 45621373 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 249 Checklist 133-264 (from rack 2015, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
196 1 45621374 NEAR MINT 7 1983 Topps 503 Moose Haas (from eBay partial set 2016, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
197 1 45621375 MINT 9 1983 Topps 550 Carl Yastrzemski (from vending 2016, 5th graded, 3 PSA 9's, 1 PSA 8)
198 1 45621376 MINT 9 1983 Topps 400 Dave Concepcion (board member trade 2019, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
199 1 45621377 MINT 9 1983 Topps 207 Rick Camp (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
200 1 45621378 MINT 9 1983 Topps 538 Danny Heep (from cello 2015, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
201 1 45621379 MINT 9 1983 Topps 537 Rod Scurry (from Mich. wax 2013, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
202 1 45621380 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 612 Steve Swisher (from eBay mega-lot 2017, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
203 1 45621381 MINT 9 1983 Topps 11 Billy Gardner (from cello 2013, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
204 1 45621382 MINT 9 1983 Topps 194 Cesar Geronimo (from eBay partial set 2016, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
205 1 45621383 MINT 9 1983 Topps 79 Mick Kelleher (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
206 1 45621384 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 166 John Pacella (from vending 2016, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 10, 1 PSA 9)
207 1 45621385 MINT 9 1983 Topps 775 Burt Hooton (from eBay partial set 2016, 3rd graded, 1 PSA 9, 1 PSA 8)
208 1 45621386 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 180 Rickey Henderson (from vending 2018, 4th graded, 1 PSA 10, 2 PSA 9's)
209 1 45621387 MINT 9 1983 Topps 786 Ralph Houk (from vending 2016, 3rd graded, 2 PSA 9's)
210 1 45621388 GEM MINT 10 1983 Topps 600 George Brett (from rack 2018, 4th graded, 2 PSA 10's, 1 PSA 9)
211 1 45621389 MINT 9 1983 Topps 485 Omar Moreno (from eBay partial set 2016, 1st graded)
212 1 45621390 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 319 Lenn Sakata (from eBay partial set, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
213 1 45621391 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 271 Ed Romero (from cello 2013, 1st graded)
214 1 45621392 MINT 9 1983 Topps 586 Frank Viola (from cello 2013, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
215 1 45621393 NEAR MINT-MINT 8 1983 Topps 545 Floyd Bannister (from vending 2018, 2nd graded, PSA 8)
216 1 45621394 MINT 9 1983 Topps 729 Jerry Morales (from vending 2016, 1st graded)
217 1 45621395 MINT 9 1983 Topps 663 Tom O'Malley (from eBay lot 2016, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
218 1 45621396 MINT 9 1983 Topps 602 Rich Gedman (from cello 2014, 2nd graded, PSA 9)
Sigh. Count me among those upset, confused and exasperated with how cards from this era are being graded at the moment. First of all, I'm well aware that grading is totally subjective and there will be swings up and down with how cards are graded. I'm far from being a large volume submitter, but my last three 1983 subs averaged out to a 57% hit rate of PSA 10's. Frankly, I think that was way too high and I think I even commented on the thread that it was an extremely easy grading era for 1983 PSA 10's. However, I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. In this sub I hit 10% PSA 10's. 4 out of 40. Historically, since 2009, I've subbed around 920 83 Topps and my PSA 10 average was at 30% before this sub. If I'm totally honest with myself, 50% was too generous, but 10% is way too strict. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a 30% hit rate.
I've currently got a quarterly special with 35 more 1983's that just logged in 8/3. Hopefully the tide will have turned and the grading will have eased when these finally pop.
Ugh, tough results after that long wait. Loved seeing the update on your epic set build effort tho. Hope that you get back to 30% or better on this next sub.
Ugh. Sorry to hear! Me thinks ima gonna get hammered on my ‘71’s I sent in that I think(?) are high grade 😬😬
On the bright side, 30 out of 39 graded Mint 9 or better.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Holy crap. That's gotta take the wind out of your sails a bit. Nice Brett 10, though. I'm assuming you needed that one in a 10? Good luck on the next 35!
Andy
Sorry for the disappointing submittal. Hope you keep the project going as it has been fun to follow and you are building a beautiful set.
Thanks for the uplifting words guys. Grote, that is a good point. I never even bothered to look at it that way.
It was a lot easier to put a bad sub behind you when there were $5.00 specials. It’s definitely becoming more of a challenge to continue with the prices of unopened skyrocketing. However, I do have about 400 cards in the queue to grade and I’ve not cracked any cards out yet.
The Brett must be super easy as I’ve submitted 4 now and 3 have come back PSA 10. Even this grader deemed it a 10 amongst this garbage of a sub that offended his eyes.
lol @ "amongst this garbage of a sub that offended his eyes."
this is legit the best thread on the internet and the coolest project i've ever heard of!
What is the best bulk rate now and how many do you need to sub?
I think it’s up to $9.00 with a minimum of a 100 cards?
Mr. P, how's the project going? any recent movement?
$10.00 per card 1971 and earlier 20 card minimum $199.00 max value is the cheapest.
196 1 45621374 NEAR MINT 7 1983 Topps 503 Moose Haas
That grade right there is just a shoe to the groin. 34 brave souls have submitted an 83T Moose Haas, 25 got 10s. 3 have received 7s, the lowest. That stinks.
While I completely understand the economics behind raising prices for grading in the face of insatiable demand, this environment really has to hurt the traditional set builder.
.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
I’m waiting on one package to come in and I’ll be ready to start this year’s ripping. Obviously with prices what they are nowadays, not nearly as exciting as it used to be. But I do have some unopened that I have high hopes for.
Also, there’s still an order out there from a 2nd quarter special that’s still in the research phase so maybe that will pop soon.
Good luck on your submissions. This is one of my favorite threads but as you said 1983 has gone up significantly since you started this endeavor.
Still waiting on my last package to arrive. No tracking info since 12/23. It's only a bulk lot and I'm ready to get started. Here's what I've got lined up for this year.
That's four unopened vending boxes (only one is FASC, so it will be interesting to see what the other three boxes hold, but I'm fairly confident in their provenance), 16 unopened grocery racks, a partial set in the two 400 ct boxes and a commons lot contained in the 2 wax boxes. Once again, the wax boxes are NOT unopened. I'll start with the partial set, move on to the lots, hit the grocery racks and finish with the vending.
Also, my 2nd quarter special sub hit the grading stage Monday, so maybe in a couple of months I'll have results from that.
This was listed as a partial set, 633 different NM/MT. I picked this up last month for about $23. Tax & shipping included.
Kudos to the seller for penny sleeving each and every card. Above and beyond.
Sharp corners and clean edges throughout. No beaters. Centering was pretty bad in general. Being 150 odd cards short of a complete set, I thought there may have been no HOFers included, but there were many on the Dawson, Rice, L. Smith level. I was surprised that I pulled 17 cards for potential 10's.
I've found the Fingers to be a pretty tough card as HOFers go, so I was pleased to pull a nice one. The Wockenfuss, Hough and Milt May are also semi-tough pulls.
So awesome MP!
I have some 83T loose packs I may rip.
Let me know what to look for so I can share with you. All yours if you need them.
Hi, you got all those from ebay ? The '83 racks ? How much did you pay for them. Also, you can print a ruler at Avery.com. You can just search for "printable Ruler" at Google. How do you determine the cards to be possible PSA 10 ? what measurments for the borders ?
Very nice gesture. With your awesome stash, any thoughts of just getting more packs to fill up a frankenstein box? I don't know how the unopened guys do it. A conundrum indeed.
Everything is from eBay except for two of the vending boxes. If you follow along with the thread, I give pricing info whenever I post about any rip.
Technically a card can receive a PSA 10 with centering on the front of 55/45 and 75/25 on the back. I try my best for 50/50 or at least 52/48 centering on the front, though a card may occasionally sneak into my grading pile with 55/45 centering. I have to admit, I'm not as diligent with the back centering. If it's not miscut or like 95/5 on the back, I'll still submit. I've looked at so many 83's at this point that I just eyeball it. No need for a ruler. Basically, if there's any question about centering, I don't consider it gradable.
Love this thread and looking forward to the rest! Also sending you a PM.
This was an interesting one. The eBay listing was odd, describing it as a lot of 1983 circle Topps? to be shipped in two OPC boxes. Thankfully the seller provided plenty of pictures so it was easy to see that the cards were in fact regular old 1983 Topps and the boxes were indeed Topps and not OPC. Purchased off of eBay in June for about $85 with shipping and tax. A lot of about 1300.
I figured that this was just 2 wax box rips with the cards simply put back in the boxes with the best cards pulled. I didn't actually count the cards, but that math doesn't work going by packs per box and cards per pack. Oh well. The seller did provide a checklist with each and every card in the lot included, so I knew exactly what I was getting. I did see wax stains throughout, so I'm filing these under pulled from wax on my spreadsheet. I ended up pulling 11 cards.
I took some liberties centering wise on the Flynn (pop 10) and Ferguson (pop 9) as these are the first cards of these guys that I've pulled that have been even close to PSA 10 centering since I started this thread. Interesting fact: the Doug Flynn was either the last or second to last in the entire set to land a PSA 10. Amazing that it's now a pop 10!
Need professional advice, lol. Will this grade as a 10 ?
I’ve never graded any OPC but I think the l/r centering would make a PSA 10 unlikely/impossible. Also, that looks like something other than the OPC rough cut on the left edge. Others may chime in with their opinions.
I probably should know better at this point about grocery racks, but I was anxious to get some unopened in any form with the way prices are skyrocketing.
This was a 16 pack lot of grocery racks won at auction on eBay for about $190 with tax & shipping factored in. My experience with grocery racks is limited. A board member sent me about 5 or 6 of them a number of years ago as thanks for me helping fill some holes in his 83 raw set. I remember when I opened those packs the quality was poor, but I did set aside 2 cards for grading and they both pulled PSA 10's. So I figured it was possible.
The quality on this lot was worse than I could've dreamed. Probably 10 of the packs were total duds with horribly centered and tilted cards throughout. A couple of other packs the gum had leeched through three cards below the gum card. I've yet to see that with any other 83s I've opened. Just the cards touching the gum were effected. Surprisingly I pulled 4 cards to be graded.
Those three and this guy.
My exuberance upon unearthing this card at the time was probably effected by how atrocious the other cards were. Looking at it more critically, the centering is slightly off both ways (though well within PSA 10 parameters) and more importantly the bottom right corner is not as sharp as it could be. Still a very nice card and I will be grading it.
Sandberg looks like a rock solid MINT 9. Thanks for sharing...this is an all-star thread!!
I've been watching this thread at some capacity for years and have loved the journey. How many 10's are you at now? I've been building a signed 79 set for about five years now with about 200 left to go just trusting TTM and eBay buys of guys I'd never heard of are real at a few bucks each. But building a full on 10 set has always been so admirable. A true commitment and I envy the focus!!!
AWESOME!
you are brave to rip grocery packs. I have many loose ones out of the rack holder that I picked up years ago and the corners all look impacted. I’m stunned that Sandburg came from one.
Thanks guys. Yeah I can’t see myself venturing into the grocery racks again. It’s amazing that the Sandberg was one of the few nice cards in all of those packs. I’m hopeful that I will hit a 9 but with the tough grading nowadays, who knows.
I think my set has about 300 PSA 10’s and 304 PSA 9’s. Things have really slowed down for me as far as grading goes as it’s really hard to justify the cost of grading the commons especially if it’s much harder to pull 10’s. I do have a 2nd quarter special in the grading stage right now, so hopefully I can add some more 10’s to my set in a month or two.
This vending box was purchased back in March 2019 off of eBay for $149.99. Due to some personal stuff, I wasn't able to bust it last Winter so I was happy to hold on to it til this year. Not BBCE certified but I felt pretty good about it.
I pulled one OC Boggs.
I also pulled the following six commons.
A really boring rip. I guess I've done worse before, but there was just no juice at all here. Three more vending boxes to go including one that's a BBCE FASC.
Nice Ripken 10. Thanks for the sharing the rip. I know the joy and the pain.
Brett, thought you would be interested in learning the guy who owns the #1 all PSA 10 set is listing it for sale for $52,500 in the 99% PSA card group page on Facebook (and on ebay, I believe).
Selling #1 Registry 1983 Topps Baseball Complete Set ALL PSA 10s - Gwynn Boggs, etc.
Just listed this one eBay if you're interested msg me here or through the PSA Registry (PSA Registry is probably better since it goes straight to my email).
$52,500
This listing is for the #1 All-Time 1983 Topps Baseball Set PSA Registry. The set has ALL 792 cards graded PSA 10. The set is impossible to improve on as every card is graded Gem Mint by PSA. Also included in this lot is the #2 Currently-Ranked 1983 Topps Traded Baseball Set PSA Registry. This set has 116 of the 132 cards all graded in PSA 10 - including the Darryl Strawberry Rookie. Note: the TRADED set does still need 16 cards to be completed - all commons.
In the Registry, the 1983 Topps set is called “Carter’s 83Ts - 100% PSA 10s Set” and the 1983 Topps Traded set is called “Carter’s 83TTs” and I encourage you to check both sets out.
Combining the two sets you have 908 PSA 10 graded card (792 from 83T, 116 from 83TT) - every card GEM MINT as graded by PSA.
1983 Topps is regarded by many as one of the finest all-around baseball sets ever made - both in card design and in its offering of HOFer rookies and non-rookie cards.
Compiling these sets was a massive undertaking. The new owner of these sets, if he or she decides to keep it, will forever have the #1 ranked 1983 Topps set as it cannot be passed. The current #2 registry 1983 Topps set needs one card to be perfect, but it’s a tough card to get so it might be some time before he gets it, if ever. This set is only the second complete full-sized Topps baseball set EVER completed in all PSA 10s (the other being a 1978 Topps set) - no other full-sized Topps Baseball sets (of any decade 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.) has ever been completed in all PSA 10 according to the PSA Registry.
The three biggest cards in the 83T regular set are, of course, the Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg rookies. There are also tons of other highly sought after stars (Ripken second year, Henderson 4th year, two Nolan Ryans, Dale Murphy, George Brett, Mike Schmidt, etc.). And for set collectors, even more valuable than the big rookies and hofers are the many low pop PSA 10 cards. The Traded set, of course, has the Darryl Strawberry rookie.
These sets would make someone a bundle if you wanted to break them into 908 single card lots and resell them, if that’s your thing. But it's also equally attractive to many true collectors to own the finest 1983 Topps set in the world, one that can legitimately never be surpassed.
Shipping these over 900 cards will be done by insured, registered mail to the US only. Under proper circumstances, a local pickup might be able to be arranged.
If you need to see more pictures or have any other questions/concerns, please msg me.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Some of the wording in that 1983 listing matches some of the wording the seller of the graded 1981 partial set on the BST is using, so maybe it's the same guy.
It is. He is listing that set also for $42,500.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Hatch Graham's 1978 set is the other all PSA 10 set. What a whirlwind that was .....
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
I’m pretty sure he posted on the registry forum when he completed the set last year. Definitely an impressive accomplishment.
Brett,
Great to see you are still active with the set. You were one of the first people I thought of when the prices of 83 unopened skyrocketed and was curious how that was effecting your journey. Your thread is one of my favorites of all time. Glad to see that you are finding different ways of getting creative with finding cards for submitting.
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy. When I look back over this thread to all the stuff I ripped, it can make you cry. But this has always been fun for me and a challenge, so I strive not to think about it in investment terms. Creativity will be key moving forward. I can't see myself ripping any other boxes besides vending and that will have to be non-certified that I feel good about.
You know, you can you start your youtube changel and record live of you opening the packs. You can get lots of subscribers and get tipped during the live stream. I just watched a video of this guy unboxing 2 1980 Topps Wax Boxes and a vending box and pulled out 3 Rickey Henderson Rookies !