I'm really looking forward to seeing what he has at the Natty. I've been checking his page a few times a week for the last couple of months but haven't purchased anything. I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking to pick up but just trying to get a feel of prices to know what to save up for. I have a feeling I'm gonna walk out of there with 5-6 boxes depending on my budget.
Sorry everyone, but I was the one that snagged the last 1984 Donruss box. Think I'm going to keep that one sealed for awhile. I did also pick up four packs of 1975 OPC that I'm going to rip though.
<< <i>Sorry everyone, but I was the one that snagged the last 1984 Donruss box. Think I'm going to keep that one sealed for awhile. I did also pick up four packs of 1975 OPC that I'm going to rip though. >>
No need to apologize here. Congrats on the pickups!!!
Be sure to post your rip results on those '75 OPC's. Good luck!!!
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting: Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
1970-79 is now down to only 2 pages of nothingness The pages are disappearing as fast as the naysayers who used to spout about vast hoards of 1970s material in the hands of hoarders...there is some, but we can only speculate the price that it would take to unpack these.
<< <i>1970-79 is now down to only 2 pages of nothingness The pages are disappearing as fast as the naysayers who used to spout about vast hoards of 1970s material in the hands of hoarders...there is some, but we can only speculate the price that it would take to unpack these. >>
It has already gone up 30-50% in the past 12-18 months. And that now looks like the tip of the iceberg.
Just like the stock market, it may be time to for some folks to start cashing out. I believe many people buying during this buying binge are investors anyway as if you look at the thread, some are buying up whatever they can find with a bit of panic to keep others from getting prioduct. I like unopened and do appreciate the premium in the future but it is outragious when sports dugout is grabbing all these sales on their site such as a 1981 topps baseball rack case 3 box for over 1100.00! The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. Buy some real nice PSA graded cards or High grade sets with your unopened money where you have a guaranteed hit. Why spend 2100.00 on a 1980-81 basketball box just to say you have one when you can own a ex-mt Willie Mays rookie. Remember there are millions of cards made from all three comapnies from 1981-1990. Besides a few freak cards, they are worthless in the card value market. On the unopened side of things for the true unopened collector, there are still a few good deals on BBCE site. The 1974 fb rack for 175.00 and 1974 topps baseball rack pack for 350.00 are good value because they have not gone up for years. There are some reasonable psa graded wax packs from the 60s on the site too.
<< <i>The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. Buy some real nice PSA graded cards or High grade sets with your unopened money where you have a guaranteed hit >>
Not a true statement. Investors of unopened products will just hold......like myself. Unopened product have a huge upside for a long time. People enjoy buying unopened material and that will NEVER change.
Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
What do you think an unopened rack case should go for in your opinion? And why? No one has a true idea of what this should go for. $1100 might be too high today but tomorrow or three months from now is it?
Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
A good example might be that a wax box of 1982 Topps sealed from BBCE was selling for $140 just this time last year. They had those for more than a couple of months just sitting there. Now they cant even keep a whole case with a $190 price tag on each box for more than 24hrs. I agree that people will always want unopened material as there is certainly a market for it. If you hold onto pretty much anything from 1986 and earlier, I feel that there is money to be made in the future as long as it is the right product.
the only logical reason why you are asking for people to stop buying this stuff at this price is so you can purchase these products at a lower price. While I agree that we as investors should diversify, why should I invest in a 1951 Bowman Mays rookie (1147 graded by PSA) when that card has remained at the same value since 2007 vs. an unopened box/case that has gone up 50% in one year? There are 9 Mays rookies out on Ebay right now but there are ZERO unopened cases (baseball, football, basketball, hockey) from 1952-1979 Topps. I have a Mays rookie in my PC but if I wanted another copy I have plenty of time to get this card. I think we are comparing apples to bananas on this.
Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
Someone walk me through the economics of this. Let's take 1979 as an example.
I understand for a registry set collector like BBG, that spending big dough to make those upgrades may be acceptable. That putting out $1000 for unopened material that yields relatively few improvements to his set may be OK with him, because it's what he has to do to make those increasingly tough improvements.
However, judging by BBG's store, the average PSA 9 from the late '70's is barely worth the grading fee (low pops excluded of course). So I wonder what is really driving the prices of such unopened material. Buying it to rip and obtain something profitable seems like a big stretch. Unless you're pulling 9's and 10's on major stars, it sounds like a losing proposition for one simply trying to make money.
When you move to the early '80's (which I now see people anticipating rising unopened prices for) this situation seems even more amplified. Only thing to really bring any rip return will be PSA 9 or 10 major stars. Every PSA 8 or common 9 that pops represents a loss.
Am I missing something? It just doesn't seem like ripping late '70's unopened material is financially sound.
Prices for unopened product are bound to level off at some point but will continue to remain strong as more product gets ripped and product availability gets tougher.
I recall a decade ago finding 70s unopened boxes and even cases for sale was not particularly difficult. Those days are over.
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>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
Thanks, Shane
Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
<< <i>Someone walk me through the economics of this. Let's take 1979 as an example.
I understand for a registry set collector like BBG, that spending big dough to make those upgrades may be acceptable. That putting out $1000 for unopened material that yields relatively few improvements to his set may be OK with him, because it's what he has to do to make those increasingly tough improvements.
However, judging by BBG's store, the average PSA 9 from the late '70's is barely worth the grading fee (low pops excluded of course). So I wonder what is really driving the prices of such unopened material. Buying it to rip and obtain something profitable seems like a big stretch. Unless you're pulling 9's and 10's on major stars, it sounds like a losing proposition for one simply trying to make money.
When you move to the early '80's (which I now see people anticipating rising unopened prices for) this situation seems even more amplified. Only thing to really bring any rip return will be PSA 9 or 10 major stars. Every PSA 8 or common 9 that pops represents a loss.
Am I missing something? It just doesn't seem like ripping late '70's unopened material is financially sound. >>
A lot of nines are even not very profitable from the 80's. that's not why people are buying unopened 80's product.
I think you are missing the impact the level of OCD some collectors have and what they will collect.
Watch a few hoarding related reality shows. It should give insight why some are compelled to collect in the manner that they do.
Ripping anything isn't financially sound. 70's, 80's,90's,00's,todays stuff......today's modern collectors buy boxes at $100 for a chance at a big hit. 80's and 90's collectors do the same thing except replace the JSY/AU with a low pop PSA 10.
<< <i>What do you think an unopened rack case should go for in your opinion? And why? No one has a true idea of what this should go for. $1100 might be too high today but tomorrow or three months from now is it? >>
The prices that unopened have sold for recently is above and beyond what is explainable. I remember back in 1987-1988 when prices of topps baseball was out of control like it is now. I feel that with some of the outragious prices for late 1980s stuff that are happening now, it is becoming 1988 again.The market fell into a hole for a long time. I consider you a true investor while I think there are some who are just wanting to ride the wave. If there is more room for the prices that have been attained, why isnt anyone just buying out Larry Fritsch's catalog unopened of 70s stuff? Those prices are high today but tomorrow or three months from now they may be good prices or is that not a good example too. Maybe Steve should just buy from him since no one is selling. He's empty right now.
<< <i>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
Thanks, Shane >>
Those cases are out there...there are folks like you who collect that stuff and can afford it and are agressive as you. I applaud you that you can afford it and enjoy it without opening it. To folks who own those cases, money is not a motivator.
<< <i> I believe many people buying during this buying binge are investors anyway as if you look at the thread, some are buying up whatever they can find with a bit of panic to keep others from getting prioduct ... The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. >>
Sounds like you're saying the strategy "investors" use is to buy high and sell low
Because I'm an uber-nerd with the day off today I decided to analytically look at the PSA Set registry for Topps basic sets from 1975-1992. I broke each year down by the number of registered sets, # of sets above a certain completion percentage (by .10 intervals), the percentage of registered sets above both 10% and 50% completion, and GPA breakdown.
I was curious to see if there were any correlations between how popular a set is on the registry and how that set's unopened is performing. To be honest, I'm not sure there's much that I found that was overly enlightening. More than anything else, it kind of reinforces what the general consensus seems to be. I'm interested to check in with this information in the future and see what has changed. But since I just spent an hour or so doing this, I thought I'd share a few things.
Looking at all the numbers (and take this for what it's worth) I'd say the different levels of popularity (or enthusiasm, for lack of a better word) breakdown like this:
1975-1978 1979 & 1980 1981-1983
While there are apparent differences in the above groupings, at this point there's a marked down shift. When creating my GPA breakdown I actually switched from measuring the top 33% of all sets to just the top 5 (five total sets).
1984-1986 1987-1990 1991 & 1992
I doubt any of this comes as a surprise to any of you. I was, however, interested to see that there are clear differences between all of the above groupings. While, obviously, it's a general downward trend from 1975 to 1992, there do appear to be pockets inside that overall trend that separate themselves. Of course, with much of this one could argue that the sample size is entirely too small and I'd have no defense for that. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about it.
A few facts taken completely out of context:
There are actually more registered sets for 1991 or 1992 than there are for either 88, 89, or 90. However, none of those two years have a single set with at least 10% completion.
There are more sets with >10% completion in 1975 (127) than there are in all of the sets from 1981-1992 (86).
1978 is quite popular. It has the second most reg sets, the second most number of sets >10% and >50% completion, as well as the second most number of sets with 100% completion. In fact, removing 1975 from the equation, 1978 has 10 sets that are 100% complete. All other years combined have 17 sets at 100% completion.
1981 seems to have a small but passionate following. They have the smallest percentage of registered sets with >10% completion among all sets from 1979-1986 (and 1987 is only a fraction of a percentage point behind them). However, among those years, 1981 has the highest percentage of sets with >50% completion.
1986 seems to have more enthusiasm than either 1984 or 1985, which surprised me. It has more reg sets than either 84 or 85 and has more sets with >50% completion than the other two combined.
My main curiosity will be to examine these numbers in another 5 years or so to see how things change. Perhaps as generations get older, reach for more nostalgia, and have more disposable income, there will actually start to be more interest in 1980s sets on the registry. I'm sure that will be the case, however, I don't expect unopened prices to follow the market shifts dollar-wise that the groupings from the 1970s have lately. There are clearly different levels of interest among different pockets of sets so it's not going to be a case of "these prices did this so in X amount of years the respective sets will do the same."
Either way, that's about two hours of my life I won't get back and I have no one to blame but myself.
<< <i> I believe many people buying during this buying binge are investors anyway as if you look at the thread, some are buying up whatever they can find with a bit of panic to keep others from getting prioduct ... The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. >>
Sounds like you're saying the strategy "investors" use is to buy high and sell low >>
What I am saying is to stop accepting these high prices that are going on and the unopened field will level off. There is much late 80s-90s product out there than folks think I believe some collectore have payed too much to recover a fair profit back in the future if they are using it to invest. There are a few great boxes in the 90s but those have been identified and are priced accordingly. Maybe in the future boxes like 93 topps finast baseball and 91 Desert Shield will be better investiments that 1986 -1992 topps baseball.
Spazzy I agree that someone is holding on to an unopened case(s) of certain years. However a statement that was made was "you can find them out there and that it was not that hard to find. " You can not go and find an unopened case of 1977 Topps in any auction or dealers collection today. A case like this would be snatched up in two seconds either by the investor, BBC or professional rippers. I believe the value of these unopened boxes are being driven up because of collectors who like to open packs from their childhood, collectors who like collecting mint boxes or packs, the collector who likes to gamble and/or the Set Registry players. The market for unopened material has risen in value so much that it can not satisfy the demand. When you can't find it on Ebay and the inventory of the most respectible unopened dealers in the world does not have it, all I can say is that this well is dry. I would love to discuss how much of this unopened cases you guys think exists today from 1970-1978(FB,BB or BKB)? I would have to say very few.
Looking for high grade rookie cards and unopened boxes/cases
<< <i>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
<< <i>Perhaps I would have to pay more than that but the fact remains you can't find it either and that is my point. >>
+1
Even the major auction houses don't have any 70s cases for sale, let alone on ebay, where you can hardly find a single box from a reliable source.
If you talk to Steve Hart, the single most challenging thing he faces in the hobby is finding product.
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 interesting topics bing exchanged. I have 0 leads in terms of finding rare unopened stuff from the 70's outside of eBay and BBCE. Early 80's stuff, there is a store 30 minutes from me that has some boxes, but his prices are slightly high. But I trust the seller has authentic stuff. I dont know if they are "case fresh" or if they are stuffed boxes with mixed packs from assorted boxes. But I am confident the packs, at least, are not tampered. I have purchased packs from 1980 and they seem to yield stars. I pulled an Eddie Murray in one pack, Yaz in another, etc. No Henderson or Ryan. But I only buy 2 packs at a time. Judging from the few times I am going there, it seems there is little local demand for this stuff as the packs are not gone by now. So my guess is that there is a lot more interest in newer stuff. Understandably. People dont mind paying $100 for a 2013 Jumbo box hoping to pull a 1/1 Harper Auto Refractor Blue Parallel Game Used Bat Jersey and Patch Artists Proof Variant Error card only to sell on eBay for $40,000.
All the other cards are virtually meaningless.
But thats the game, isn't it? It is more or less the same game as buying a pack of cards from 1975 in hopes of simply pulling a Gem Mint PSA 10 Robin Yount or George Brett.
Whether or not boycotting the current prices of 80's unopened wax in favor of buying PSA 10 cards of the one you are looking for would probably increase demand for unopened material. Theoretically, if everyone stopped buying unopened material and starting snatching up PSA 10's, it would increase the prices of these cards. That would then make people reconsider their investment and take their chances with unopened material. So I think the idea of boycotting the prices would have an adverse effect. I would think buying up raw cards would temper the prices of both unopened and PSA prices. It would probably increase prices of raw cards, but probably not more than book value. It might even make buying a Beckett valuable once again (instead of only seeing Trout and Harper auto cards go up in price, and every card from 1951-2011 remain stagnant for decades).
I would, however, agree, that there are cases out there, but clearly they are unavailable for purchase at this time. Does not mean they never will be, but clearly right now no one is selling them. I am sure there are plenty of early 80's cases floating around and even more late 80's, but they are slowly being put away (once again) for perhaps another 5-10 years until people see an upswing again. In the meantime, however, the cards that are out there are being ripped and graded and sold. Ever pack opened adds to the rarity of that year.
I have a nice run of unopened stuff myself that some might say I am either hoarding or collecting. Its up for debate. Do I sell in its "Schrodinger's Cat" state? Or do I open to reveal that the cat is indeed dead? (or alive - sorry for the physics reference). My intention is at some point, some of them will be opened and some will remain closed as it is not financially sound to open them (such as 1989 Jumbo packs - which are more rare in the pack state than the cards themselves).
The idea of the registry sets punctuating the hunt for unopened material is not something I consider often because I dont have a registry. Perhaps one day I will. But my goal is not fueled by that. I could understand that being the case and further, the remainder of unopened material of the 70's might not yield any more 10's. I would imagine anything unopened from the 60's and further, the 50's, would be extremely difficult find 10's in what remains unopened.
Maybe in 2050, someone will crawl through some old soul's attic and discover hiding in the corner a sealed case of 1990 Topps and has suddenly struck it rich because it is now a $100,000 item as no more seem to exist.
There are people who bought late 70s, early 80s cases and boxes for great prices back in the 1995-2005 period. And they're hanging on to them if they have the space to store them. Why should they sell them now for 2x what they paid, when at the rate of increase we're seeing lately, they can sell them for 5x in another five years? Why should Steve Hart sell his for that matter? He's got storage space.
So I think there's a lot of unopened out there but by the time you see it on the market you're not going to want to pay those prices.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the PSA 10 collector he didn't exist.
<< <i>On the unopened side of things for the true unopened collector, there are still a few good deals on BBCE site. The 1974 fb rack for 175.00 and 1974 topps baseball rack pack for 350.00 are good value because they have not gone up for years. There are some reasonable psa graded wax packs from the 60s on the site too. >>
Last 1974 Topps BB rack BBCE had was listed at $400. The one on the site now has 2 of the same cards showing, so perhaps that's why it is being discounted. For someone who plans on ripping it, it seems like an attractive deal. For an unopened collector who will keep it intact, it's not quite as intriguing.
There are also 3 1974 Topps racks in the REA auction (1 has a promo header card) that were still at an attractive level last I checked them. However, we'll need to see where they finally end on Saturday before making any definitive statements. Given the Winfield RC, 2nd year Schmidt, Aaron/Aaron Specials and Ryan I think that 1974 has been significantly overlooked for a while.
Now that 1970s unopened material has become more scarce, my guess is that its likely we'll be seeing these racks starting to catch up with the increases we have seen for other 1970s years.
<< <i>Maybe BBCE will buy like crazy at the national ? Or are prices too inflated at shows like that. >>
They usually do buy stuff at the National. I saw a bunch of new stuff each day from items they purchased the day before. But believe me, they are mostly, selling, selling, selling.
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting: Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
I think the first indicator that the amount of any given product remaining out there is getting thin is when a year or more has past without a single unopened case being offered on eBay or a major online site/auction house. Of course there are going to be several guys out there who each might be holding several boxes, but that is not a whole lot of product. That is where we are at with 1970's wax.
Certain 1980s and even 1990s boxes are slowly reaching that point now as well. Doing a little research on eBay with the "search by newly listed" will give you the date when buy it now products were first listed in a seller's store. I found certain boxes I bought about a year ago had been out there for years in an ebay store and after I bought them very few new ones have surfaced on ebay or anywhere else. So my point is, people often assume a product is junk because they have appeared readily available for a long period of time. They also incorrectly assume there will automatically be more out there to replace it if someone buys what they currently see.
I also don't buy the speculation that many guys are hoarding large amounts of unopened. Guys who could have afforded to hoard many cases 25 to 30 years ago would now be too old to be holding onto it much longer. And new premium products that came out in the 1990s at $30+ per box were too expensive to buy in very large amounts. This is why you see so few unopened cases of things like 1991 stadium football, 1992 bowman baseball, 1992 basketball series 2 of anything, and so on.
I'm sure Steve also has a nice selection of vintage unopened in reserve for the National, too.
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.
Great discussion. For me personally, I try to keep the entire unopened scenario as simple as humanly possible -- especially when a headache I inherited from work has been exacerbated by the 1Q of Knicks/Pacers. The rudimentary laws of supply and demand have not been defied here. But don't take my word for it. I challenge anyone to dig up an old thread (roughly 5 years out would suffice) and find a BBCE box from the 70s-early/mid 80s that has not experienced even the slightest amount of appreciation. Hell, go one year back. Now, whether or not they've all kept up with the big mouth of inflation is another discussion unto itself, but I can't imagine the disparity being too substantial. As long as it's sniffing, I'm content. Future dollars and cents are not ultimately driving my own personal thirst; the rare/coolness combo is.
Supply is fixed. Or at least the last time I checked it was. Who knows, maybe one day we'll all wake up and someone will be making it rain with legit cases of '76 Topps. But that's one wager I'd definitely pony up dinero for. As for the other side of the equation, it's a multi-headed monster. From unopened aficionados to unwavering set registry peeps to insatiable types who simply want to annihilate the most vintage pack available, there are lots of grubby paws trying to get a piece of the proverbial pie. So when it comes to the most coveted boxes/packs that fall within a realistic realm of surfacing, there is zero chance of a correction so severe that yesteryear prices are once again realized. And that's a very hard sentence for me to type, seeing as I just joined the party and the lights are already starting to come on. As for future price points? Lots of conjecture there. My $.02 is that the unopened market will probably tap the brakes at some point, but the train is never going to completely stop.
What makes this thread so interesting is there are many points of view on this subject with various members that collect. I am enjoying it and hope everyone will give that .02 in.
<< <i>I challenge anyone to dig up an old thread (roughly 5 years out would suffice) and find a BBCE box from the 70s-early/mid 80s that has not experienced even the slightest amount of appreciation. Hell, go one year back. Now, whether or not they've all kept up with the big mouth of inflation is another discussion unto itself, but I can't imagine the disparity being too substantial. As long as it's sniffing, I'm content. Future dollars and cents are not ultimately driving my own personal thirst; the rare/coolness combo is. >>
Ok, I am taking this challenge.
Here is one thread 2007 someone purchased a 3-box 1986 Topps Rack case for $50. Currently a rack case with 3 boxes are around $100-$120 on eBay.
Another thread someone quotes some prices from October 2007
<< <i>After monitoring Prscott933 all day yesterday with his musings on his thread about what to buy to Rip form BBCE, I of course have gotten the fever and would like to a Rip for the Forum. Posting pictures from my scans will be a challenge, but we'll get to that later. I have been involved in several group rips but never just for me. So I will be calling Steve today to place an order which I have narrowed down, but would like some input. I want to spend about $250.00. I have pretty much settled on 4 packs of the 1972 OPC Baseball wax packs $35.00 each = $140.00. Nicks talk of all the HOF's has me convinced. Secondly I really like the Topps 1985 Football cards. So I am trying to figure out between buying a Wax Box for $135.00 or 8 each of the Rack packs for $16.00 each. >>
1985 FB now is around $200. A recent group rip had 72 OPC baseball for $72 a pack?
November 2007 has 1985 OPC Wax packs at $1.50 each (about $35 a box?) 1975 OPC Wax packs at $35 each Nov. 2007 November 2007 - 1981 Football Rack packs at $30 each 1986 Football Wax box at $220 each 1986 Football Wax packs at $12 each 1984 Football Rack packs at $30 each 1979 Football Rack pack at $28 each 1978 Football Rack pack at $50 each 1984 Donruss Baseball Rack pack @ $20 each 1986 Topps Baseball Rack packs @ $1.00 each
1983 Topps $99 per wax box 1989 Upper Deck Lo number foil box $75 per box 1981 Topps at $10/pack 1989 Score Football box 1 at $6.13 per pack 1988/89 Fleer Basketball at $13.38/pack
July 2009
1977 Topps Baseball Unopened Cloth Stickers- $7.50 per pack 1979 Topps baseball rack pack- $22.50 per rack (Sold Out) 1981 Topps Baseball wax pack- $2.25 per pack (Sold Out) 1984 Donruss wax pack- $5.00 per pack (Sold Out) 1988/89 Fleer basketball pack- $11.87 per pack 1980 Topps football rack pack- $8.43 per rack 1982 Topps wax football pack- $3.12 per pack
OK I will stop there. In general, it is surprising how close the pricing is to what it was up until pretty recent. Slight changes, but the biggest upswing in pricing I have noticed is some of the late 80's stuff, like 1986 wax cases have doubled, while 1983 Michigan at $140 was priced as late as last year. Donruss rack packs are still $20 each. So some prices have not moved in 5 years. Football and Basketball have a more notable increase as a whole. But maybe someone else has a recollection of the time as I was not involved in card in these years.
Does this mean prices are now on the upswing? Or are the cards themselves dwindling in quantities? 70's stuff definitely seemed more available looking at the group rips opening box after box of late 70's stuff. Also lots of OPC I have noticed. And surprisingly lots of love to 1986. Perhaps cause it was cheap.
BBCE had 1986 Topps rack boxes for $22/ea as recently as a week and a half ago.
There's a handful of items there that have gone up but I'm surprised how much of that is either still exactly where it was 6 years ago or close to it. Perhaps the hoopla is just that, hoopla.
Last spring I was purchasing several 6 box 1986 Topps rack cases for around $100 delivered off e-Bay. Also bought some 3 box for $50. I am surprised at the asking prices today, and do notice they aren't moving at these prices either. I have been looking to buy these specific cases for the last 7 years, and they are not as available as the '87-'91 cases. In my experience, any pre '86 is the shortest in supply. '87 has been going up, but it seems like the supply is plentiful.
Thanks for digging that up, mygotta. Some interesting comparisons to be made there.
When I made the statement I did, I had 84-85ish in mind as the cutoff. I cherry-picked some of the baseball boxes you listed, and Steve's current buy figures exceed what many of the following sold for back then:
Baseball 75T mini 78T 81T 83T
And if you really want to see a leap, check out 86T football.
I don't track 1980s product that closely but prices for 1970s unopened have risen significantly in last 5 years.
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 believe that many things in general have gone up since 2007. Gold, silver, groceries, your paycheck, new cars, candy bars, etc. Yes much unopened has gone up but Steve had to replenish each time at higher prices just like consumers have to replenish on things every day, month or year. Steve has to pay for advertising, web sites, Ebay and of course price changes do occur. I believe 50s-70s Vintage especially unopended cases will be above the market. Remember, we unopened are a small group of collectors compared to other sportcard collectors. The late 80s stuff-90s stuff will take a longer time to appreciate as a whole.
Comments
<< <i>1984 Donruss wax boxes - Sold Out. >>
Darn. I wanted to grab another box before they sold out...
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
<< <i>Is it possible Steve is holding back a ton of stuff for the National? >>
absolutely!!! We're little over 2-1/2 months away, They have a great presentation at the Nat.
<< <i>Sorry everyone, but I was the one that snagged the last 1984 Donruss box. Think I'm going to keep that one sealed for awhile. I did also pick up four packs of 1975 OPC that I'm going to rip though. >>
No need to apologize here. Congrats on the pickups!!!
Be sure to post your rip results on those '75 OPC's. Good luck!!!
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
WTB: PSA 1 - PSA 3 Centered, High Eye Appeal 1950's Mantle
The pages are disappearing as fast as the naysayers who used to spout about vast hoards of 1970s material in the hands of hoarders...there is some, but we can only speculate the price that it would take to unpack these.
<< <i>1970-79 is now down to only 2 pages of nothingness
The pages are disappearing as fast as the naysayers who used to spout about vast hoards of 1970s material in the hands of hoarders...there is some, but we can only speculate the price that it would take to unpack these. >>
It has already gone up 30-50% in the past 12-18 months. And that now looks like the tip of the iceberg.
Dave
Remember there are millions of cards made from all three comapnies from 1981-1990. Besides a few freak cards, they are worthless in the card value market.
On the unopened side of things for the true unopened collector, there are still a few good deals on BBCE site. The 1974 fb rack for 175.00 and 1974 topps baseball rack pack for 350.00 are good value because they have not gone up for years. There are some reasonable psa graded wax packs from the 60s on the site too.
<< <i>The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. Buy some real nice PSA graded cards or High grade sets with your unopened money where you have a guaranteed hit >>
Not a true statement. Investors of unopened products will just hold......like myself.
Unopened product have a huge upside for a long time. People enjoy buying unopened material and that will NEVER change.
I understand for a registry set collector like BBG, that spending big dough to make those upgrades may be acceptable. That putting out $1000 for unopened
material that yields relatively few improvements to his set may be OK with him, because it's what he has to do to make those increasingly tough improvements.
However, judging by BBG's store, the average PSA 9 from the late '70's is barely worth the grading fee (low pops excluded of course). So I wonder what is really driving the prices of such unopened material. Buying it to rip and obtain something profitable seems like a big stretch. Unless you're pulling 9's and 10's on major stars, it sounds like a losing proposition for one simply trying to make money.
When you move to the early '80's (which I now see people anticipating rising unopened prices for) this situation seems even more amplified. Only thing to really bring any rip return will be PSA 9 or 10 major stars. Every PSA 8 or common 9 that pops represents a loss.
Am I missing something? It just doesn't seem like ripping late '70's unopened material is financially sound.
You just need to know where to look and how much to pay.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss
I recall a decade ago finding 70s unopened boxes and even cases for sale was not particularly difficult. Those days are over.
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>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
Thanks,
Shane
<< <i>Someone walk me through the economics of this. Let's take 1979 as an example.
I understand for a registry set collector like BBG, that spending big dough to make those upgrades may be acceptable. That putting out $1000 for unopened
material that yields relatively few improvements to his set may be OK with him, because it's what he has to do to make those increasingly tough improvements.
However, judging by BBG's store, the average PSA 9 from the late '70's is barely worth the grading fee (low pops excluded of course). So I wonder what is really driving the prices of such unopened material. Buying it to rip and obtain something profitable seems like a big stretch. Unless you're pulling 9's and 10's on major stars, it sounds like a losing proposition for one simply trying to make money.
When you move to the early '80's (which I now see people anticipating rising unopened prices for) this situation seems even more amplified. Only thing to really bring any rip return will be PSA 9 or 10 major stars. Every PSA 8 or common 9 that pops represents a loss.
Am I missing something? It just doesn't seem like ripping late '70's unopened material is financially sound. >>
A lot of nines are even not very profitable from the 80's. that's not why people are buying unopened 80's product.
I think you are missing the impact the level of OCD some collectors have and what they will collect.
Watch a few hoarding related reality shows. It should give insight why some are compelled to collect in the manner that they do.
<< <i>What do you think an unopened rack case should go for in your opinion? And why? No one has a true idea of what this should go for. $1100 might be too high today but tomorrow or three months from now is it? >>
The prices that unopened have sold for recently is above and beyond what is explainable. I remember back in 1987-1988 when prices of topps baseball was out of control like it is now. I feel that with some of the outragious prices for late 1980s stuff that are happening now, it is becoming 1988 again.The market fell into a hole for a long time. I consider you a true investor while I think there are some who are just wanting to ride the wave.
If there is more room for the prices that have been attained, why isnt anyone just buying out Larry Fritsch's catalog unopened of 70s stuff? Those prices are high today but tomorrow or three months from now they may be good prices or is that not a good example too.
Maybe Steve should just buy from him since no one is selling. He's empty right now.
<< <i>
<< <i>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
Thanks,
Shane >>
Those cases are out there...there are folks like you who collect that stuff and can afford it and are agressive as you. I applaud you that you can afford it and enjoy it without opening it. To folks who own those cases, money is not a motivator.
<< <i> I believe many people buying during this buying binge are investors anyway as if you look at the thread, some are buying up whatever they can find with a bit of panic to keep others from getting prioduct
...
The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. >>
Sounds like you're saying the strategy "investors" use is to buy high and sell low
Because I'm an uber-nerd with the day off today I decided to analytically look at the PSA Set registry for Topps basic sets from 1975-1992. I broke each year down by the number of registered sets, # of sets above a certain completion percentage (by .10 intervals), the percentage of registered sets above both 10% and 50% completion, and GPA breakdown.
I was curious to see if there were any correlations between how popular a set is on the registry and how that set's unopened is performing. To be honest, I'm not sure there's much that I found that was overly enlightening. More than anything else, it kind of reinforces what the general consensus seems to be. I'm interested to check in with this information in the future and see what has changed. But since I just spent an hour or so doing this, I thought I'd share a few things.
Looking at all the numbers (and take this for what it's worth) I'd say the different levels of popularity (or enthusiasm, for lack of a better word) breakdown like this:
1975-1978
1979 & 1980
1981-1983
While there are apparent differences in the above groupings, at this point there's a marked down shift. When creating my GPA breakdown I actually switched from measuring the top 33% of all sets to just the top 5 (five total sets).
1984-1986
1987-1990
1991 & 1992
I doubt any of this comes as a surprise to any of you. I was, however, interested to see that there are clear differences between all of the above groupings. While, obviously, it's a general downward trend from 1975 to 1992, there do appear to be pockets inside that overall trend that separate themselves. Of course, with much of this one could argue that the sample size is entirely too small and I'd have no defense for that. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about it.
A few facts taken completely out of context:
There are actually more registered sets for 1991 or 1992 than there are for either 88, 89, or 90. However, none of those two years have a single set with at least 10% completion.
There are more sets with >10% completion in 1975 (127) than there are in all of the sets from 1981-1992 (86).
1978 is quite popular. It has the second most reg sets, the second most number of sets >10% and >50% completion, as well as the second most number of sets with 100% completion. In fact, removing 1975 from the equation, 1978 has 10 sets that are 100% complete. All other years combined have 17 sets at 100% completion.
1981 seems to have a small but passionate following. They have the smallest percentage of registered sets with >10% completion among all sets from 1979-1986 (and 1987 is only a fraction of a percentage point behind them). However, among those years, 1981 has the highest percentage of sets with >50% completion.
1986 seems to have more enthusiasm than either 1984 or 1985, which surprised me. It has more reg sets than either 84 or 85 and has more sets with >50% completion than the other two combined.
My main curiosity will be to examine these numbers in another 5 years or so to see how things change. Perhaps as generations get older, reach for more nostalgia, and have more disposable income, there will actually start to be more interest in 1980s sets on the registry. I'm sure that will be the case, however, I don't expect unopened prices to follow the market shifts dollar-wise that the groupings from the 1970s have lately. There are clearly different levels of interest among different pockets of sets so it's not going to be a case of "these prices did this so in X amount of years the respective sets will do the same."
Either way, that's about two hours of my life I won't get back and I have no one to blame but myself.
<< <i>
<< <i> I believe many people buying during this buying binge are investors anyway as if you look at the thread, some are buying up whatever they can find with a bit of panic to keep others from getting prioduct
...
The best way for prices to start leveling off and maybe dip is to not buy at these high prices. The investores will panic and have a sell off. >>
Sounds like you're saying the strategy "investors" use is to buy high and sell low >>
What I am saying is to stop accepting these high prices that are going on and the unopened field will level off. There is much late 80s-90s product out there than folks think I believe some collectore have payed too much to recover a fair profit back in the future if they are using it to invest. There are a few great boxes in the 90s but those have been identified and are priced accordingly. Maybe in the future boxes like 93 topps finast baseball and 91 Desert Shield will be better investiments that 1986 -1992 topps baseball.
I agree that someone is holding on to an unopened case(s) of certain years. However a statement that was made was "you can find them out there and that it was not that hard to find. " You can not go and find an unopened case of 1977 Topps in any auction or dealers collection today. A case like this would be snatched up in two seconds either by the investor, BBC or professional rippers. I believe the value of these unopened boxes are being driven up because of collectors who like to open packs from their childhood, collectors who like collecting mint boxes or packs, the collector who likes to gamble and/or the Set Registry players. The market for unopened material has risen in value so much that it can not satisfy the demand.
When you can't find it on Ebay and the inventory of the most respectible unopened dealers in the world does not have it, all I can say is that this well is dry. I would love to discuss how much of this unopened cases you guys think exists today from 1970-1978(FB,BB or BKB)? I would have to say very few.
<< <i>
<< <i>This stuff really isn't that hard to find.. >>
I would pay a finders fee on a 1976 Topps baseball unopened case. Please direct me to that person and I will pay you a $500 finders fee. My buy price is 15% above Steve's listed buy price for this.
Thanks,
Shane >>
You'd have to pay more than that.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss
<< <i>Perhaps I would have to pay more than that but the fact remains you can't find it either and that is my point. >>
+1
Even the major auction houses don't have any 70s cases for sale, let alone on ebay, where you can hardly find a single box from a reliable source.
If you talk to Steve Hart, the single most challenging thing he faces in the hobby is finding product.
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.
All the other cards are virtually meaningless.
But thats the game, isn't it? It is more or less the same game as buying a pack of cards from 1975 in hopes of simply pulling a Gem Mint PSA 10 Robin Yount or George Brett.
Whether or not boycotting the current prices of 80's unopened wax in favor of buying PSA 10 cards of the one you are looking for would probably increase demand for unopened material. Theoretically, if everyone stopped buying unopened material and starting snatching up PSA 10's, it would increase the prices of these cards. That would then make people reconsider their investment and take their chances with unopened material. So I think the idea of boycotting the prices would have an adverse effect. I would think buying up raw cards would temper the prices of both unopened and PSA prices. It would probably increase prices of raw cards, but probably not more than book value. It might even make buying a Beckett valuable once again (instead of only seeing Trout and Harper auto cards go up in price, and every card from 1951-2011 remain stagnant for decades).
I would, however, agree, that there are cases out there, but clearly they are unavailable for purchase at this time. Does not mean they never will be, but clearly right now no one is selling them. I am sure there are plenty of early 80's cases floating around and even more late 80's, but they are slowly being put away (once again) for perhaps another 5-10 years until people see an upswing again. In the meantime, however, the cards that are out there are being ripped and graded and sold. Ever pack opened adds to the rarity of that year.
I have a nice run of unopened stuff myself that some might say I am either hoarding or collecting. Its up for debate. Do I sell in its "Schrodinger's Cat" state? Or do I open to reveal that the cat is indeed dead? (or alive - sorry for the physics reference). My intention is at some point, some of them will be opened and some will remain closed as it is not financially sound to open them (such as 1989 Jumbo packs - which are more rare in the pack state than the cards themselves).
The idea of the registry sets punctuating the hunt for unopened material is not something I consider often because I dont have a registry. Perhaps one day I will. But my goal is not fueled by that. I could understand that being the case and further, the remainder of unopened material of the 70's might not yield any more 10's. I would imagine anything unopened from the 60's and further, the 50's, would be extremely difficult find 10's in what remains unopened.
Maybe in 2050, someone will crawl through some old soul's attic and discover hiding in the corner a sealed case of 1990 Topps and has suddenly struck it rich because it is now a $100,000 item as no more seem to exist.
And they're hanging on to them if they have the space to store them. Why should they sell them now for 2x what they paid,
when at the rate of increase we're seeing lately, they can sell them for 5x in another five years? Why should Steve Hart
sell his for that matter? He's got storage space.
So I think there's a lot of unopened out there but by the time you see it on the market you're not going to want to pay
those prices.
DaveB in St.Louis
<< <i>On the unopened side of things for the true unopened collector, there are still a few good deals on BBCE site. The 1974 fb rack for 175.00 and 1974 topps baseball rack pack for 350.00 are good value because they have not gone up for years. There are some reasonable psa graded wax packs from the 60s on the site too. >>
Last 1974 Topps BB rack BBCE had was listed at $400. The one on the site now has 2 of the same cards showing, so perhaps that's why it is being discounted. For someone who plans on ripping it, it seems like an attractive deal. For an unopened collector who will keep it intact, it's not quite as intriguing.
There are also 3 1974 Topps racks in the REA auction (1 has a promo header card) that were still at an attractive level last I checked them. However, we'll need to see where they finally end on Saturday before making any definitive statements. Given the Winfield RC, 2nd year Schmidt, Aaron/Aaron Specials and Ryan I think that 1974 has been significantly overlooked for a while.
Now that 1970s unopened material has become more scarce, my guess is that its likely we'll be seeing these racks starting to catch up with the increases we have seen for other 1970s years.
Dave
<< <i>Maybe BBCE will buy like crazy at the national ? Or are prices too inflated at shows like that. >>
They usually do buy stuff at the National. I saw a bunch of new stuff each day from items they purchased the day before. But believe me, they are mostly, selling, selling, selling.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Collecting:
Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
<< <i>Maybe BBCE will buy like crazy at the national ? Or are prices too inflated at shows like that. >>
What do you think fair prices for the following 1970s unopened would be by package type (and series where applicable)?
Dave
Certain 1980s and even 1990s boxes are slowly reaching that point now as well. Doing a little research on eBay with the "search by newly listed" will give you the date when buy it now products were first listed in a seller's store. I found certain boxes I bought about a year ago had been out there for years in an ebay store and after I bought them very few new ones have surfaced on ebay or anywhere else. So my point is, people often assume a product is junk because they have appeared readily available for a long period of time. They also incorrectly assume there will automatically be more out there to replace it if someone buys what they currently see.
I also don't buy the speculation that many guys are hoarding large amounts of unopened. Guys who could have afforded to hoard many cases 25 to 30 years ago would now be too old to be holding onto it much longer. And new premium products that came out in the 1990s at $30+ per box were too expensive to buy in very large amounts. This is why you see so few unopened cases of things like 1991 stadium football, 1992 bowman baseball, 1992 basketball series 2 of anything, and so on.
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.
Supply is fixed. Or at least the last time I checked it was. Who knows, maybe one day we'll all wake up and someone will be making it rain with legit cases of '76 Topps. But that's one wager I'd definitely pony up dinero for. As for the other side of the equation, it's a multi-headed monster. From unopened aficionados to unwavering set registry peeps to insatiable types who simply want to annihilate the most vintage pack available, there are lots of grubby paws trying to get a piece of the proverbial pie. So when it comes to the most coveted boxes/packs that fall within a realistic realm of surfacing, there is zero chance of a correction so severe that yesteryear prices are once again realized. And that's a very hard sentence for me to type, seeing as I just joined the party and the lights are already starting to come on. As for future price points? Lots of conjecture there. My $.02 is that the unopened market will probably tap the brakes at some point, but the train is never going to completely stop.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
<< <i>I challenge anyone to dig up an old thread (roughly 5 years out would suffice) and find a BBCE box from the 70s-early/mid 80s that has not experienced even the slightest amount of appreciation. Hell, go one year back. Now, whether or not they've all kept up with the big mouth of inflation is another discussion unto itself, but I can't imagine the disparity being too substantial. As long as it's sniffing, I'm content. Future dollars and cents are not ultimately driving my own personal thirst; the rare/coolness combo is. >>
Ok, I am taking this challenge.
Here is one thread 2007 someone purchased a 3-box 1986 Topps Rack case for $50. Currently a rack case with 3 boxes are around $100-$120 on eBay.
1986 Topps Rack Case for $50
Another thread someone quotes some prices from October 2007
<< <i>After monitoring Prscott933 all day yesterday with his musings on his thread about what to buy to Rip form BBCE, I of course have gotten the fever and would like to a Rip for the Forum. Posting pictures from my scans will be a challenge, but we'll get to that later. I have been involved in several group rips but never just for me. So I will be calling Steve today to place an order which I have narrowed down, but would like some input. I want to spend about $250.00. I have pretty much settled on 4 packs of the 1972 OPC Baseball wax packs $35.00 each = $140.00. Nicks talk of all the HOF's has me convinced. Secondly I really like the Topps 1985 Football cards. So I am trying to figure out between buying a Wax Box for $135.00 or 8 each of the Rack packs for $16.00 each. >>
1985 FB now is around $200. A recent group rip had 72 OPC baseball for $72 a pack?
November 2007 has 1985 OPC Wax packs at $1.50 each (about $35 a box?)
1975 OPC Wax packs at $35 each Nov. 2007
November 2007 - 1981 Football Rack packs at $30 each
1986 Football Wax box at $220 each
1986 Football Wax packs at $12 each
1984 Football Rack packs at $30 each
1979 Football Rack pack at $28 each
1978 Football Rack pack at $50 each
1984 Donruss Baseball Rack pack @ $20 each
1986 Topps Baseball Rack packs @ $1.00 each
October 2007 pricing:
1975 OPC Baseball Unopened Wax Pack 35
1975 Topps Baseball Unopened Cello Pack PSA 8 90
1975 Topps Baseball Unopened Cello Pack 85
1975 Topps Baseball Unopened Mini Wax Pack 45
1975 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Pack 90
1981 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Box 80
1982 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Box 135
1983 Topps Baseball Unopened "Michigan" Wax Box 140
1983 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Box 135
1984 Fleer Baseball Unopened Cello Box 75
1984 Topps Baseball Unopened Rack Box 60
1985 Topps Baseball Unopened Cello Box 135
1985 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Box 135
1986 Donruss Baseball Unopened Rack Pack Case 125
1987 Donruss Baseball Unopened Rack Pack Lot of 10 22.5
1987 Donruss Baseball Unopened Wax Box 32
1987 Topps Baseball Unopened 6-Box Rack Case 100
1989 Bowman Baseball Unopened Rack Case 55
1989 Fleer Baseball Unopened Rack Case 55
1989 Upper Deck Baseball Unopened High Number Foil Box 65
1992 Donruss Studio Baseball Unopened Wax Case 80
May 2008
Baseball
75 Topps Mini Box $1450 - per pack 40.00
76 Topps Box $1800 - per pack 50.00
78 Topps Box $575 - per pack 16.00
Football
81 Topps Box $400 - per pack 11.11
84 Topps Box $450 - per pack 12.50
Basketball
80/81 Topps Box $1250 per pack 35.00 (Magic/Bird Rookie)
June 2008:
1979 Topps baseball $9 per pack:
1984 Topps football $11.25 per pack:
1988/89 Fleer Basketball $13.40 per pack:
July 2008:
1980 Topps baseball Box 1 $7.50/pack
1978 Topps footbal $10/pack
1981 Donruss Golf Box 1 $4.50/pack
1987/88 Fleer Basketball $28.75/pack
August 2008
1983 Topps $99 per wax box
1989 Upper Deck Lo number foil box $75 per box
1981 Topps at $10/pack
1989 Score Football box 1 at $6.13 per pack
1988/89 Fleer Basketball at $13.38/pack
July 2009
1977 Topps Baseball Unopened Cloth Stickers- $7.50 per pack
1979 Topps baseball rack pack- $22.50 per rack (Sold Out)
1981 Topps Baseball wax pack- $2.25 per pack (Sold Out)
1984 Donruss wax pack- $5.00 per pack (Sold Out)
1988/89 Fleer basketball pack- $11.87 per pack
1980 Topps football rack pack- $8.43 per rack
1982 Topps wax football pack- $3.12 per pack
OK I will stop there. In general, it is surprising how close the pricing is to what it was up until pretty recent. Slight changes, but the biggest upswing in pricing I have noticed is some of the late 80's stuff, like 1986 wax cases have doubled, while 1983 Michigan at $140 was priced as late as last year. Donruss rack packs are still $20 each. So some prices have not moved in 5 years. Football and Basketball have a more notable increase as a whole. But maybe someone else has a recollection of the time as I was not involved in card in these years.
Does this mean prices are now on the upswing? Or are the cards themselves dwindling in quantities? 70's stuff definitely seemed more available looking at the group rips opening box after box of late 70's stuff. Also lots of OPC I have noticed. And surprisingly lots of love to 1986. Perhaps cause it was cheap.
There's a handful of items there that have gone up but I'm surprised how much of that is either still exactly where it was 6 years ago or close to it. Perhaps the hoopla is just that, hoopla.
I have been looking to buy these specific cases for the last 7 years, and they are not as available as the '87-'91 cases. In my experience, any pre '86 is the shortest in supply. '87 has been going up, but it seems like the supply is plentiful.
When I made the statement I did, I had 84-85ish in mind as the cutoff. I cherry-picked some of the baseball boxes you listed, and Steve's current buy figures exceed what many of the following sold for back then:
Baseball
75T mini
78T
81T
83T
And if you really want to see a leap, check out 86T football.
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
He knew that 70's stuff wasnt going to last forever and that collectors would move on to 80's and other items.
Im sure he is well positioned for the future.
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.