Cost of Wax Packs 25 Years Ago

mouschi · May 1, 2018 8:08AM

In the late 80s/early 90s, I remember going to card shops and looking at the prices of wax packs. From what I recall (if memory serves) is this:

1986 Donruss $10
1987 Donruss $5
1987 Fleer $7

Does anyone else remember how much packs of the older wax was going for?

waxman · May 1, 2018 8:52AM

Summer of ’95:
I remember buying an 84 Donruss wax pack for $18.
Not packs, but extending to factory sets:
I remember buying an 84 Donruss factory set for $300 and an 85 Donruss factory set for $175.

erikthredd · May 1, 2018 9:04AM

When i started collecting in 1986-87 I remember paying these prices for what was selling at the time:
1986 Fleer Basketball .65 cents/pack
1986 Topps Football .75 cents a pack
1987 Topps Baseball .45 cents/pack
1987 Donruss Baseball was $1.75/pack $5/3 packs
1987 Fleer Baseball - can't remember the price but it was the most expensive of the big 3.

I do remember in 87 that 86 Fleer Baseball packs were $10 at my LCS and my first trip to there i pulled a Canseco/Plunk out of the 3 packs i ripped.

edit: I worked at a local supermarket in 1989 that had huge 89 Upper Deck baseball displays with packs for $3-3.50
Most weeks most of my paycheck never left the store. I know they sold 90 & 91 UD as well over the next two years but can't remember those prices

lahmejoon · May 1, 2018 9:18AM

If only we could go back and buy football and basketball instead of all the money dumped into 1987 Topps baseball.

erikthredd · May 1, 2018 9:31AM

@lahmejoon said:
If only we could go back and buy football and basketball instead of all the money dumped into 1987 Topps baseball.

Forget 87 Topps,how much money did we all dump into 86 & 87 Sportsflics?

Gemyanks10 · May 1, 2018 11:34AM

Back in 1994, there was a card shop in the local mall and can remember buying 1982 Donruss wax for 6.00 a pack. Did remember hitting a Ripken and was my biggest pull at the time. Still have it with my raw binder set that I put together years ago, I don’t think it’s sub worthy, but was cool to nail it when I was 10 years old lol..

Frozencaribou · May 1, 2018 11:54AM

Wasn't the sportflics pack price .99 per 3 cards? It's interesting that hardly anyone talks about sportflics in the context of PSA graded 1980's cards considering they were designed to be high end from the beginning. I wonder what intangible it was that made collectors like them enough to be viable for 7 years and have such a small amount of nostalgia for them now.

I didn't like them because the colours were always so washed out. That said, the 1986 Canseco/Tartabull rookie was along for the ride between the Fleer and the Donruss in a price point sense for awhile.

As for 1993, that was the year that I exited the hobby for a long time, largely because I was out of school and also because the pack price points were so much higher. Nothing was under $1 a pack, if I recall correctly. Some of the sets were becoming vast and in separate series, and football, basketball, and hockey went from 1-2 sets per year to 15-20. Pretty insane that the market held as long as it did.

-Nathanael

erikthredd · May 1, 2018 12:08PM

@Frozencaribou said:
Wasn't the sportflics pack price .99 per 3 cards? It's interesting that hardly anyone talks about sportflics in the context of PSA graded 1980's cards considering they were designed to be high end from the beginning. I wonder what intangible it was that made collectors like them enough to be viable for 7 years and have such a small amount of nostalgia for them now.

I didn't like them because the colours were always so washed out. That said, the 1986 Canseco/Tartabull rookie was along for the ride between the Fleer and the Donruss in a price point sense for awhile.

-Nathanael

I don't remember the pack price from back then but i do remember my friends & I chasing the best rookies from those 86-88 years. Pulling a Bo or Canseco or any of the big rookies back then for us felt like pulling an Ohtani these days.

flatfoot816 · May 1, 2018 1:22PM

true story. I started collecting unopened in the mid 90s. Many packs from Mr. Mint--like this one--that I paid $150 for

esquiresports · May 1, 2018 1:58PM

Flatfoot - wow! Gorgeous.

I (believe I) recall some prices in 1989-90 pretty well:
1989 Upper Deck - $3 / pack
1986 Fleer Basketball - $60 / pack (sad to think of the boxes I once owned - as a teenager no less)
1987 Fleer Basketball - $25-30 / pack (this box was actually harder to find than 1986)
1980-81 Topps Basketball - $25 / pack

Unknown · May 1, 2018 2:28PM

This content has been removed.

brendanb438 · May 1, 2018 5:15PM

I wasn't into basketball at all in the 80s and my grandma got me a handful of 86/87 Fleer Basketball packs. Traded them to a good friend for some baseball packs. I remember I pulled a Canseco rookie card and was thrilled. He pulled a Jordan and was happy as hell. Safe to say he won out on that trade.

seebelow · May 1, 2018 8:13PM

1980 i would get $2 for lunch during the summer. No school. That got me 3 slices of Westgate pizza and 2 comic books. Cards weren't in season yet. Ahhhh good times!!

mouschi · May 3, 2018 7:39PM

Here is a review of an 84 Topps box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUpBp7RISg

Stone193 · May 3, 2018 9:05PM

That's about as nice as it gets Manny - sweet.

davidlisa · May 4, 2018 6:14AM

In 1988, I paid $38 for a fleer baseball box, Gregg Jefferies was the hot card.

totallyradd · May 4, 2018 6:41AM

In 1989 my dad bought me two boxes of Donruss, one of Fleer, and one of Score. He also got a box of 88 Score and Fleer. He had them tucked away for me until a few years ago when he gave them to me. Like many parents of that time who bought for their kids, he thought those boxes would put me through college. LOLZ

jsanz · May 4, 2018 7:07AM

This is what I remember for prices in the year they were issued.

1987 Topps, always the price on the box
1987 Fleer and about $1. I do remember Fleer being a litter harder to find so dealers charged a slight premium
1988 Everything was cheap garbage
1989 Upper Deck was $1.50 for a minute and then it got hot and went to $3 per pack
1990 Leaf was crazy. I think $5-7 per pack
1991 Stadium Club was $3-5 when it was hot, if you could find it. It still shocks me how cheap it is today.

rcmb3220 · May 4, 2018 7:42AM

@mouschi said:
Here is a review of an 87 Topps box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUpBp7RISg

You stopped recording before you opened it!

mouschi · May 4, 2018 7:46AM

@rcmb3220 said:

@mouschi said:
Here is a review of an 87 Topps box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUpBp7RISg

You stopped recording before you opened it!

Oh this isn't being opened! It is just a review of the box itself!

mouschi · May 4, 2018 7:47AM

Plus, I see I said 87 ... whoops!

byronscott4ever · May 4, 2018 8:32PM

Anyone who put there own sticker on Topps packs for .05 per pack more was shady to me. Prices were on the packs or boxes. Football and hockey was same. 86 F Basketball seemed to be .50 a pack like 87. 88-89 Fleer found 3/$1 once then those went up too

Cost of Wax Packs 25 Years Ago

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