JGF's Unopened Rip Thread: 1981-1991 Topps Football Boxes (FINAL ROUNDS 35-36)

jordangretzkyfan

It seems with unopened prices through the roof here in 2014, that the ripping has rightfully slowed down. And since I have loved following others rips, I thought I would offer a thread of my own. With the NFL kicking off this weekend, I decided to be the crazy guy who rips some football wax. I absolutely love the amazing NFL rookies that appeared during the decade of the 1980's. In my opinion, there is no better decade for HOF NFL rookies. So, I figured I would relive my youth by ripping a run of 1980's football boxes. Many of you here know I am an unopened collector at heart, but every now and again I get the itch to rip. This will be a slow rip which will play out over the next few weeks, so for those with any patience, please check back. Here is hopefully a handful of what rookies lie inside:

1981 Topps - Montana, Monk, Winslow
1982 Topps - LT, Lott, Munoz
1983 Topps - Singletary, Allen, McMahon
1984 Topps - Marino, Elway, Dickerson, Long, Green
1985 Topps - Moon
1986 Topps - Rice, Young, White, Smith
1987 Topps - Kelly, Cunningham
1988 Topps - Bo
1989 Score - Barry, Aikman, Deion, Thurman, Derrick, Woodson, Carter, Brown

Bonus Boxes for the modern foil and auto lovers out there, and because I love the class of 2007...

1991 Topps Stadium Club - Farve
2007 Contenders - AP, Megatron, Lynch

So here is how I plan to slowly enjoy ripping them. I will do 'rounds' of wax in which I open a pack from each year. This will be 36 rounds across all boxes except 1988 and 2007 since they only have 24 packs/box. I will likely rip a few rounds each weekend while watching the football games. I will be sure to upload lots of photos for those interested in seeing the results.

So here is what we have to rip...













Thanks to those who choose to patiently follow along...Are you ready for some football !?!?!?!?

galaxy27

Um, this is going to be awesome sauce. I shall be tuning in early and often.

Best of luck, Chris!

jmaciu

Best of luck!!! This will be fun to watch.

jgrigali

awesome!

ChiefsFan1st

Although I never condone such activity, can I have dibs on 2 or 3 of the empty boxes

Hope you pull some quality cards

Dboneesq

This is going to be a fun thread to follow. Best of luck. Hope you get a few "10s" of the good Rookies!

baz518

Thanks a mill for the thread! I will be watching-- and loving-- every minute of it. My collection thanks you too, living vicariously will allow it to remain unopened a while longer.

Such a beautiful sight. Best of luck!

flatfoot816

wow--those opened boxes look great. Love seeing all the packs squarely in their boxes.

NOW STOP!!! WALK AWAY!!! DO IT__NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Porkins

Very nice!

Will be following along. Good luck!

vintagefun

Chris - You Rule!!!

I'll get a lot of enjoyment out of this thread.

I've been debating what to rip on Sunday. But I'm looking at 2013 Archives and maybe an 01 Heritage FB.

Good luck on those big boy boxes.

This is gonna be good!

Jim

canjond

On a side note, I think it's interesting/funny/cool how in your first photo, the "x-out" line on the 83-85 boxes follow each other perfectly. What a coincidence!

LarkinCollector

<< <i>On a side note, I think it's interesting/funny/cool how in your first photo, the "x-out" line on the 83-85 boxes follow each other perfectly. What a coincidence! >>


+1, first thing that my eyes were drawn to.

ChiefsFan1st

<< <i>

<< <i>On a side note, I think it's interesting/funny/cool how in your first photo, the "x-out" line on the 83-85 boxes follow each other perfectly. What a coincidence! >>


+1, first thing that my eyes were drawn to. >>


+2
I noticed that as well, kinda cool actually.

ldferg

This is going to be good!!!

Good luck on minty centered cards.

SumoMenkoMan

Another follower here! Awesome! Can't wait to see what you get.

grote15

This is going to be much better than me having to rip my oldest pack! LOL!

Good luck with the rips~sounds like a great idea and I hope you pull some razor sharp cards!

bigdcards

Thanks for displaying the packs!

belz

What a blast!!! Show your goodies.

jordangretzkyfan

Thanks to all for the positive comments and excitement for the rip. Much like the NFL could not wait until Sunday to kick things off, neither could I. Round 1 is now officially in the books. Let me just start by saying how much I love the smell of wax, ink, cardboard and stale gum...takes me back 30 years to the first packs I opened.

Round 1 contained lots of HOF power, but very little rookie power. Only one RC on my list made an appearance, and it was argueably the least exciting one. I started of with a pack of 1981 and then went up through 2007. When I saw a 49ers QB in the first pack, I felt the addrenaline rush only to see it was the other 49ers QB (Steve Deberg). No worries though, still 35 more rounds to go. Mr. Montana made lots of appearances in Round 1 though. Kind of like a "Where's Waldo"...can you find them all?

SumoMenkoMan

Very nice! My football collecting days started in 1986 so those bring back so many great memories!

Dboneesq

Looks like most of the cards are clean and centered fairly well. Hope the rest of them are like that as well, especially when you pull that '81 Montana!

belz

Wow...many of those cards look to be real nice..hope the rest are that crisp and centered!!!

ldferg

You're right, several appearances by Montana. Nice hit on the Bo rookie.

I need a handful of 83 sticker inserts (Clark, Collinsworth, Cromwell in a 9 or 10 and Fouts in a 10). Maybe you can hit a good run of those.

gregmo32

Nice Todd Marinovich RC. Warning to all psychotic sports dads....

DanBessette

Yeah yeah, a Bo rookie, but the important thing is you got 2 Tippett cards!

JWBlue

How about a selfiie of eating one of the sticks of gum?

ssollars

That's a great start...

I'm looking forward to rest

elsnorto

<< <i>wow--those opened boxes look great. Love seeing all the packs squarely in their boxes. >>



They sure do. I keep toying with the idea of ripping the BBCE wrapping off of my wax & cello box runs, opening them up as they were meant to be displayed, and putting them in a display case.

Very few of my boxes are FASC, but some would cost quite a bit to get re-authenticated & wrapped again if I were to ever decide to sell them.

Anyhow... this is a most impressive rip plan, Chris, and I hope you hit every single one of those big rookies you seek!

Snorto~

belz

<< <i>

<< <i>wow--those opened boxes look great. Love seeing all the packs squarely in their boxes. >>



They sure do. I keep toying with the idea of ripping the BBCE wrapping off of my wax & cello box runs, opening them up as they were meant to be displayed, and putting them in a display case.

Very few of my boxes are FASC, but some would cost quite a bit to get re-authenticated & wrapped again if I were to ever decide to sell them.

Anyhow... this is a most impressive rip plan, Chris, and I hope you hit every single one of those big rookies you seek!

Snorto~ >>



El Snorto,

I've thought about this very thin and after seeing this thread, wow it looks better than I thought.

At some point there may be a better answer to slabbing and grading packs. When this happens, keeping your boxes sealed in BBCE wrap might not have the same luster. Certainly if it's all about investment keep them sealed. Excited to see round 2 results!!!

RookieWax

Way to hit the Bo Jackson rookie right away.

mknez

I like it! Great project for the football season, hope you hit some monsters

JWall037

That 1984 Montana is looking pretty wicked in that scan!

jordangretzkyfan

Alright, so Round 2 was essentially a sack on third and long. Not the end of the world, but not much to write home about. The best RC was a 1989 Score Thurman Thomas, which is a very under-rated card of a great RB who kept Barry Sanders on the bench at OSU for a season. There were also two key HOF rookie stickers in this round: 1982 Munoz and 1985 Moon. Here are what the contents looked like...

belz

Nice job on the TT. Nothing more I love to look at then a perfectly centered razor sharp 4 corner card!!!

Dboneesq

Keep the faith! That Gem Mint Montana is still hiding in the box.

elsnorto

<< <i>Alright, so Round 2 was essentially a sack on third and long. Not the end of the world, but not much to write home about. The best RC was a 1989 Score Thurman Thomas, which is a very under-rated card of a great RB who kept Barry Sanders on the bench at OSU for a season. There were also two key HOF rookie stickers in this round: 1982 Munoz and 1985 Moon. >>



And, best of all, no Andre Tippett cards this round!



Hi, Dan!

Snorto~

DanBessette

<< <i>

<< <i>Alright, so Round 2 was essentially a sack on third and long. Not the end of the world, but not much to write home about. The best RC was a 1989 Score Thurman Thomas, which is a very under-rated card of a great RB who kept Barry Sanders on the bench at OSU for a season. There were also two key HOF rookie stickers in this round: 1982 Munoz and 1985 Moon. >>



And, best of all, no Andre Tippett cards this round!



Hi, Dan!

Snorto~ >>



Haha no, but there was another John Hannah sighting. Gotta love that! Also liked the Munoz sticker and the Thurman Thomas RC!

Another observation: 1985 and 87 football are 2 of my very favorite sets of all time, any sport.

jordangretzkyfan

So before we talk Round 3, can I just say what an awesome time I am having ripping these packs. You cannot put a price on the nostalgia that comes with flipping through these packs...ok, well actually you can put a price on it and it was a bit expensive, but totally worth it.

Round 3 came out nicely. There was a nice RC sighting in the 1981 pack (I will let you find it) and lots of 2nd year cards of the stars that were found.

I agree with Dan's comments on loving the look of the 1985 Topps set, but man those boarders are impossible!! I know I am in the minority, but I also love the look of the 1986 Topps set. Also, for those keeping track I have managed to hit the 1987 Topps hot-box of Reggie White. He has been in all 3 packs I have opened. Last, I am now 2 for 2 on pulling autos out of the 2007 Contenders box.

Enough rambling, here are the results...

shu4040

Awesome thread. Looking. forward to the rest! Too bad art was so oc

vintagefun

Nice round.

Monk RC and 2nd year Montana, LT, and Dickerson.

Fun stuff.

belz

Nice 82 montana...worth a psa visit

DanBessette

<< <i>Nice round.

Monk RC and 2nd year Montana, LT, and Dickerson.

Fun stuff. >>



+1. Love the Montana phone card. This thread is almost too awesome for me to handle.

ssollars

Man. the centering in these boxes is outstanding!

jordangretzkyfan

Round 4 took place while watching my beloved Lion's actually win their opener Sadly, that is where most of my excitement ended. Only one HOF rookie made an appearance in this round (Bruce Smith). Here are the pics for those interested...

belz

I can't get over how great the centering on these cards are. When you hit anything big it could be high grade potential..I've got a feeling 1984 will hit up in nicely in round 5..you're due!!!

flatfoot816

you will hit a Montana!!!!!

LarkinCollector

Awesome thread! At the rate your going, you'll need to restock by mid-season

What will become of the 'ungradables'? If you're parting with any after your done, I'm still working on a few of those 80s sets raw and love pack-fresh additions.

arex

This thread is epic!
Awesome idea and thank you for sharing!

ClockworkAngel

There is only one card in the 1984 set that does not have a pop 10 yet. The one and only Doug English. Keep your eye out for that as it should bring some real good money if and when it pops

baz518

Some very sharp cards, just a great thread all around.

jordangretzkyfan

Thanks to all who continue to follow the rip and for all the great comments. LarkinCollector is right, I might have to reload in time for basketball season so Dustin has a thread to follow

Round 5 was a bit stale, but there was another Bo RC sighting and this time it was MINT+! The quick recap through Round 5 is:

1981 = Monk RC
1982 = Montana 2nd
1983 = LT 2nd
1984 = Montana 4th
1985 = Moon Sticker RC
1986 = Bruce Smith
1987 = 3 freakin' Reggie White 2nd
1988 = Bo RC x 2
1989 = Thurman Thomas RC
1991 = Nada
2007 = Dwayne Jarrett AUTO + Tim Shaw AUTO

Hoping to pick up the RC pace here in the next few rounds. Here are the Round 5 pics for those who care...