1974 Topps Baseball Cello Box

Jlondon71 · July 4, 2014 6:12PM

Has anyone ever seen one? Or been in possession of one? I've never even seen one for sale.

Raulsmaster · July 4, 2014 6:40PM

That's because it was never issued in such form

zep33 · July 4, 2014 6:59PM

Big Baby Goo could happily whip one up for you

PaulMaul · July 4, 2014 10:55PM

<< That's because it was never issued in such form >>

??

I think the OP just means a box of 1974 cello packs.

ClockworkAngel · July 4, 2014 11:46PM

<< That's because it was never issued in such form >>

Really? That's odd. Why did Topps discontinue cello packs for 1974 only? They were issued in most years prior and every year after.

Did they make more wax or racks to compensate?

jmoran19 · July 5, 2014 12:32AM

Yes they made 1974 cello boxes

jmoran19 · July 5, 2014 12:33AM

Damn apple, bunch here

74 production line

grote15 · July 5, 2014 1:53AM

They definitely made them but they are exceedingly rare. I have an empty box I will try and dig out here--it is slightly taller than a 75 cello box due to the 22-card pack count vs 18 for the 75s.

74 cellos in general are pretty tough to find.

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 4:35AM

When it comes to full rack or cello boxes from 1970-1974, what have we seen turn up? There was a partial '71 cello box offered at auction years ago. I guess Fritsch must have had '70 and '73 cello boxes...or is their stock just loose packs? I don't really remember ever seeing any of this stuff for sale. Wax boxes from 1972-1974, definitely, but not racks or cellos.

gemint · July 5, 2014 4:49AM

<< When it comes to full rack or cello boxes from 1970-1974, what have we seen turn up? There was a partial '71 cello box offered at auction years ago. I guess Fritsch must have had '70 and '73 cello boxes...or is their stock just loose packs? I don't really remember ever seeing any of this stuff for sale. Wax boxes from 1972-1974, definitely, but not racks or cellos. >>

I bought a partial '71 cello box years ago but there were only 5 packs remaining plus a lot of the empty original cello pack boxes plus a beat up outer box.

MisterBungle · July 5, 2014 5:08AM

"74 cellos in general are pretty tough to find."
-----
Yep, Tim warned me that this would be true when
I was complaining about how hard it was to find
a '76 cello. He was dead on about the '74s.

PSA has a population of 21 cellos in all grades.

~

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 6:08AM

I think the PSA population is a little misleading in that tons of material was GAI graded before PSA starting grading packs, and I don't think that many people were motivated to cross everything.

I don't remember where I got mine, but it's in nice shape and looks very legit to me, non-expert that I am:

grote15 · July 5, 2014 6:28AM

GAI graded 74 cellos are also very tough to find. Especially when you consider how plentiful 75 cellos are. Even 73 cellos ate a lot easier to find than 74s.

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 6:34AM

<< GAI graded 74 cellos are also very tough to find. Especially when you consider how plentiful 75 cellos are. Even 73 cellos ate a lot easier to find than 74s. >>

Would you say '73s are more plentiful only because of Fritsch, or would they be anyway? I always thought '75 unopened material was the most plentiful of any pre-77 year over all types of packs.

70ToppsFanatic · July 5, 2014 6:35AM

1974 wax and racks are also not that easy to find, and the full "factory set" that was sold
at Sears in 1974 is also pretty scarce.

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 6:35AM

I don't doubt that '74 racks and cellos are pretty tough though. I know I never saw them in '74, and I was buying obsessively that year, so they may have had limited distribution.

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 6:37AM

Is '74 wax really that tough? I sure seem to remember seeing many available over the years, not to mention Felicia boxes, which I believe current prevailing wisdom says were not fake, right?

grote15 · July 5, 2014 6:38AM

<< 

<< GAI graded 74 cellos are also very tough to find. Especially when you consider how plentiful 75 cellos are. Even 73 cellos ate a lot easier to find than 74s. >>

Would you say '73s are more plentiful only because of Fritsch, or would they be anyway? I always thought '75 unopened material was the most plentiful of any pre-77 year over all types of packs. >>

Fritsch hasn't had any 73 cellos in the past several years but they did at one point, so that may be a factor, too.

74 wax boxes come up for sale very seldom, too, even again compared to 73s. A full-size 75 wax box hasn't been sold in a very long time, either.

grote15 · July 5, 2014 7:37AM

Here's a scan of top and bottom of an empty 1974 cello box I have (along with a few of my favorite 1974 PSA graded cello packs). Notice that the product code on the bottom of the box ends in -4 to signify the date of design. The boxes for 1974 cello packs had to be redesigned due to the decrease in card count per pack from 27 in 1973 to 22 in 1974. Topps continued to use wrappers ending in -4 product code through the first part of 1975, before switching over to the wrappers with product code ending in -5 which they continued to use through 1977, since card count remained at 18 cards per pack throughout those years (before changing to 21 cards in 1978 to coincide with a price increase to 30c and another new wrapper design).

grote15 · July 5, 2014 7:50AM

Here is an empty 1973 Topps baseball cello box. While the 74 box is slightly taller than the 1975 box, the 73 is markedly taller, as the box has to accommodate an additional 216 cards. The product code on the bottom of a 73 cello box ends in -3, while the packs bear a wrapper with a product code ending in -2, as they were designed by Topps at the tail end of 1972, and there have been at least a few 1972 Topps baseball cello packs that are wrapped in those wrappers instead of the clear wrapper with the outer blue box. ALL 1973 cello packs, however, should bear a wrapper with a product code ending in -2. Topps actually continued to use those same wrappers for the first part of 1974, before switching to the more commonly found wrapper ending in the product code ending in -4 (which is why you will occasionally see a 1974 cello pack in a 1973 variation wrapper). Topps was known for using leftover wrappers throughout this era, which is also why you will occasionally see 1976 Topps baseball wax packs wrapped in 1974 style wrappers, too.

I don't know if it is apparent from this picture, but I've lined up cello boxes from 1973 through 1975 (left to right) to try and illustrate the height of each box from year to year.

gemint · July 5, 2014 8:13AM

'74 wax boxes don't come up very often these days but they weren't hard to find a decade ago. I owned two myself and would see them in most major auctions like Mastro. Not sure if they were bought and ripped or stashed away. I broke the two I owned. Rip value on '74s isn't great. You can put the set together in PSA 9 grade for under $20k.

PaulMaul · July 5, 2014 8:35AM

I never heard that '72 baseball cellos existed with the imprinted cello wrapper. Does anyone have an image of one?

grote15 · July 5, 2014 8:44AM

<< I never heard that '72 baseball cellos existed with the imprinted cello wrapper. Does anyone have an image of one? >>

There was a thread about one several years back--I believe the owner sent it to Steve for authentication at the time. From what I understand, the few that exist were only high series (5th series) packs and were done as a test at the very end of the 72 season. That is why the 73 cellos have the product code ending in -2. I believe a small group of them was auctioned off by Mastro years ago.

georgebailey2 · July 5, 2014 8:58AM

Grote,

Thank you so much for taking the time to not only share your knowledge but to photograph the boxes and graded packs. These types of threads are amazing - along with your pack rips. Thank you again.

Regards,
Paul

Also, a thank you to jmoran19 for the link.

mrpeanut39 · July 5, 2014 9:32AM

<< Grote,

Thank you so much for taking the time to not only share your knowledge but to photograph the boxes and graded packs. These types of threads are amazing - along with your pack rips. Thank you again.

Regards,
Paul

Also, a thank you to jmoran19 for the link. >>

Ditto on this.

MisterBungle · July 5, 2014 11:35AM

<< Grote,

Thank you so much for taking the time to not only share your knowledge but to photograph the boxes and graded packs. These types of threads are amazing - along with your pack rips. Thank you again.

Regards,
Paul

Also, a thank you to jmoran19 for the link. >>

-----
Too right!! Tim has always been there to help me on my unopened journey.

Love this thread and everyone's input.

~

70ToppsFanatic · July 5, 2014 1:57PM

<< '74 wax boxes don't come up very often these days but they weren't hard to find a decade ago. I owned two myself and would see them in most major auctions like Mastro. Not sure if they were bought and ripped or stashed away. I broke the two I owned. Rip value on '74s isn't great. You can put the set together in PSA 9 grade for under $20k. >>

A 1974 Topps BB wax box sold within the last month for over $9k! Ah, if we had only anticipated how scarce they would become a few years back. This was the first sale of such a box in a few years. And 1975 regular issue wax is getting similarly tough to find. I cant recall seeing a sale of one for several years (in 2012 BBCE sold one). With 1976 boxes now selling over $6k and 1974 selling at over $9k I'd guess that the next 1975 wax box (not mini) we see sell is going to be well over the $3k or so it was last seen selling for.

PMKAY · July 5, 2014 2:07PM

At this price, these must be extremely rare?

1974 Topps Baseball Rack Pack

Jlondon71 · July 6, 2014 11:10AM

Some really great information. Thanks everybody. I guess all the mid-70's cello packs came in those cool, green boxes.

PaulMaul · July 6, 2014 11:46AM

<< At this price, these must be extremely rare?

1974 Topps Baseball Rack Pack >>

They are not extremely rare. I have seen at least 25 on eBay in the last five years. No rack from 1970-1974 is common, 1975 and up much more so. I would say 1970-72 turn up a lot less than '73 and '74, but I think it's a stretch to call any of these extremely rare.

grote15 · July 6, 2014 12:02PM

You see quite a few 71 racks with player header cards for sale, but the 71 rack with the Topps yellow header card is very tough to find. 72 racks are very tough, too.

70ToppsFanatic · July 6, 2014 1:19PM

<< 

<< At this price, these must be extremely rare?

1974 Topps Baseball Rack Pack >>

They are not extremely rare. I have seen at least 25 on eBay in the last five years. No rack from 1970-1974 is common, 1975 and up much more so. I would say 1970-72 turn up a lot less than '73 and '74, but I think it's a stretch to call any of these extremely rare. >>

There are typically around half a dozen or so public sales of legitimate pre-1975 (i.e. 1970-1974) racks ftom each year per year. That's getting pretty scarce IMO.

1972 and 1970 tend to be toughest years to find. 1971 racks with player header cards are the more common ones for that year. And as for 1973 and 1974 (the non- promo issues racks) may not get a lot if respect, but they are not easy to find anymore.

1974 Topps Baseball Cello Box

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