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1980-1981 Topps Basketball Gum Issues?

I visited my local shop today and I was talking to the owner about the price and scarcity of unopened product lately and he brought a few things from the back to show me. He had a 1980-81 unopened Topps basketball wax box. I looked at it pretty closely and I have my doubts about it. It looked really good to me. The seals looked perfect, the wrappers looked great, and the corners had no tears or wrinkles anywhere. The problem I noticed immediately was that not every pack had gum in them. To me this was an immediate red flag but hers the thing. Only a few were missing gum and they were spread out sporadically in the box. Also the ones that did have gum were perfect, I mean the wrapper had formed itself to the gum perfectly. Some of the gum wasn't centered and the wrapper was still formed perfectly around it. In addition to the box, he had about six extra packs some with gum some without. Again these packs looked perfect. In addition he had a 1980 Topps football box, looked perfect and a 1979-80 Topps basketball box which also looked perfect. I asked him where he got them and he said they came in the door together about five or six years ago. What do you think? Is the 1980-81 box legit or no way? Does anyone know if Topps ha problems with the gum that year or is it common for packs to get skipped or is it junk? Interested in opinions. Everything about these boxes looks great, the fact that they came in together and are from the same era and that the other two boxes are perfect all make me think their legit, but that missing gum makes me wonder.

Comments

  • DtyDty Posts: 310 ✭✭
    Hello

    Interesting situation you have.

    I currently have a number of these boxes sealed by BBCE, and have a bunch of loose packs, all of which came from the trusted source of BBCE over the past years.

    I have never come across any packs without gum. I am not saying you couldn't come across some, but I would be VERY leery of this box. Further, if he is saying the other boxes came in together, I would be leery of the other boxes, too.

    I am certainly not trying to rain on your find here. I just wanted to let you know my thoughts.

    I guess one thing you could do is see if the shop owner is willing to stand behind the boxes. See if you agree to buy them, if you ship them to Baseball Card Exchange- which I highly recommend you do. If they come back authenticated and sealed, you are golden. However, if Steve Hart (owner of BBCE) finds the packs to be no good, make sure the shop owner will refund your money. (Might want to make sure you pay via credit card too, so you could put in a fraud claim with your credit card if they came back bad and the shop owner was unwilling to stand behind the product.)

    Just some thoughts

    Good luck

    dty
    Link to my eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/halftimecardsandcollectibles/



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  • lahmejoonlahmejoon Posts: 1,666 ✭✭✭
    There was a discussion awhile back regarding cellos that appeared to be legitimate where the gum had been removed via a slit in the pack. That being said, though, I would be cautious with wax with no gum.
  • baz518baz518 Posts: 1,231 ✭✭✭✭
    I'd be leary of that box too, just doesn't seem right. I've got a box but its sealed by Steve... but all my loose packs have gum in them. I like dty's idea... sending to Steve to verify.
  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,480 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have seen legit wax with no gum--I once acquired a 77 baseball wax box and about 1/3 of the packs had no gum. I was also skeptical at first, but corner folds and roller lines were correct and I opened all 10-12 packs with no gum and pulled many star cards and more than a few commons that wound ip grading PSA 10, so it is possible.


    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.
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