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BBCE 1952 Topps Wax Pack "Brick"
Looks odd but also kind of amazing
https://www.bbcexchange.com/1952-Top...ck-8-Wax-Packs Details 1952 Topps Baseball Unopened Brick (8) Wax Packs. A few decades ago there was a find of 1952 Topps Baseball wax packs on the West Coast. There were a few "bricks" of wax packs that were wrapped in groups of 8. This lot consists of (8) 1952 Topps baseball wax packs (most likely 1st series) that are wrapped together in cellophane. The packs themselves appear to be fresh and NM-MT or better! Please e-mail for further details. |
It was on display at the National for $575,000. Price is plunging
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Looks like this is it:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EA6I4DJX4AIt8nA.jpg I did some further research and I found this: https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ExvrQDJkW...gh+numbers.jpg So the high numbers only came in the above blue/red wrappers? |
So if you were a gambler the only path to making your money back would be to a pull a Pafko from every pack and a few PSA 10's. I often look at the equity of opening packs and boxes, and even as prices get crazy, if you break it down often it's around break-even. This one not so much.
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This one is a luxury item not intended to be broken up; would you break up a diamond tennis bracelet into smaller pieces? Definitely no money in breaking it due to the heavy likelihood of way off-centered cards.
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Can never do unopened packs. Even if I had the money I could not resist the temptation to open them lol
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To buy that that lot I would have to install a security system in my home for that piece alone. High or low number multiple packs from 1952 Topps is a huge find could be said a holy grail of sports wax pack finds.
Best Regards Jeremy A. Rich |
Raise the Topps!
Maybe it's time for Robert Ballard to take his fleet of submersibles and search for the 'wreck' of all the boxes of '52 Topps high numbers dumped into the Atlantic. Perhaps cellophaned bricks are patiently waiting beneath the waves. :D
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If the high numbers only came in the red, white, and blue wrappers have any unopened packs surfaced? This is the first time I ever saw that wrapper. If a wrapper still exists there is a chance a pack still exists.
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The story goes that Sy Berger was on the barge to personally see the cases dumped into the ocean. I bet if he wasn't on that barge to over see it those cases would have made it back into circulation and 1952 Topps high numbers would not be so rare.
In other words barge company takes the money, tell you I am dumping your cards in the ocean, never dump your cards in the ocean, try to resell the cards and make even more money. I guess the cards had no street value back then. Oh well, that didn't happen but it's fun to think of "what ifs". |
And i'll bet that Topps ended up having Card Collectors Company sell off most of the remaining high numbers and create some spurious upwelling in the pricing of same in the 60's by concocting a story they were dumped at sea.
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Yea...because they are so readily available and collectors just think they are hard to find.
Guys, it's been 60 years, they've what they are regardless if you believe it or not. Even on Ebay they are holding value. Not to mention maybe one or two dealers have them at shows. |
They want more for that brick than what my house would reasonably sell for, and are basically admitting it doesn't contain a Mantle...
Don't get me wrong, I understand - but still shaking my head.:eek: |
I always thought the story was that they were dumped into the East River...not the ocean?
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Were some destroyed? Possibly. Was the print run shorter than the semi-highs? Yes it seems so but not THAT much-there were no penny packs and I believe they only did two packaging runs at most (wax and vending). Check out these comparative figures from a canvass I did of eBay today: CARD COUNT PLAYER 251 62 252 92 253 80 254 100 255 81 256 107 257 57 258 83 259 87 260 84 261 72 MAYS 262 38 263 57 264 99 265 83 266 78 267 87 268 52 269 69 270 92 271 49 272 31 273 36 274 28 275 60 276 35 277 41 278 53 279 57 280 25 281 36 282 30 283 54 284 55 285 67 286 48 287 25 288 61 289 20 290 41 291 53 292 67 293 61 294 36 295 27 296 27 297 48 298 49 299 60 300 50 301 51 302 51 303 43 304 45 305 42 306 53 307 31 CAMPOS 308 33 309 34 310 37 311 42 MANTLE 312 22 ROBINSON 313 51 THOMSON 314 23 CAMPANELLA 315 26 DUROCHER 316 27 317 22 318 37 319 31 320 30 321 26 322 26 323 37 324 22 325 31 326 47 327 21 328 23 329 20 330 16 331 20 332 7 BARTIROME 333 37 REESE 334 22 335 13 336 38 337 39 338 25 339 14 340 24 341 23 342 23 343 27 344 33 345 24 346 38 347 22 348 26 349 41 350 34 351 38 352 28 353 27 354 17 355 29 356 28 357 19 358 48 359 17 360 28 361 31 362 16 363 41 364 37 365 48 366 45 367 52 368 60 369 13 370 17 371 30 372 30 373 28 374 28 375 26 376 16 377 54 378 23 379 38 380 28 381 32 382 22 383 22 384 21 385 38 386 16 387 41 388 38 389 36 390 38 391 39 392 8 WILHELM 393 33 394 34 395 30 396 19 WILLIAMS 397 31 398 16 399 30 400 20 DICKEY 401 29 402 27 403 19 404 24 405 29 406 19 407 15 MATHEWS There's a couple of anomalies in the semi's and the high's but roughly speaking for every 2 semi-high's there is a high; some highs in my canvass were available in greater numbers than some semi-highs-there were as many as 60 available of one subject (#368). The highs are in demand and infamous, they are indeed "highnumberesque" but they exist in numbers that I can't consider to be scarce. You could assemble seven high number runs on eBay at this moment if you had the cash and about that many near-runs missing only 3 or 4 numbers. That is not scarce. Availability for the semi-highs ranges from 25-107 cards, vs 7-60 for the highs |
Ridiculous. Your control group is skewed.
People don't list poor condition $1 commons as singles on ebay, but a poor high number gets $40. The juice has to be worth the squeeze. You wasted hours of your life on this trying to prove what? People are just over paying for high numbers? Go walk around a show like I do and ask every dealer. They don't come around, and they sell quickly Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk |
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Is putting together a low grade 52 set I disagree. Lots of people list lots of low condition commons as singles. Also, poor condition highs go for much more then 40 |
The sad part about this hobby is that almost everybody believes the bullsh*t that gets fed to them. There are very few of us who challenge commonly held beliefs. Toppcat's post shows that there is nothing special about the high numbers and I thought this all along. There are plenty of em' out there for everyone! :)
Let's look at the 1951 Bowmans - same sh*t. When I started taking interest in this set, I would research online and read things like "high numbers are scarce! Very tough high numbers! High numbers are more difficult to find!" Well, let's do a quick eBay search from Canada, shall we? #1 Whitey Ford (57) #2 Yogi Berra (29) #3 Robin Roberts (30) #305 Willie Mays (39) #306 Jim Piersall (26) #307 Walt Masterson (50) Hmmmm ... :rolleyes: |
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I'm sure when your parents watched you in marching band, they swore up and down you were the only one who was "in step". Any other experiments or pipedreams Dr Stranglove that I can simply poke a hole in? I just wish you'd waited until I sold off all my high numbers before the radical change in thought amongst buyers. Walk into a show, let me know how many you find. Ask dealers how long they last when they are in the case. It must just be a frenzy based on 65 years of rumors. |
As a collector or 52Ts I find myself in Ted's camp. The 52 semi-high commons can frequently be found in lots along with lower numbered cards without any special mention on ebay. Any lots with highs included are sure to advertise as such. Vendors at card shows have trouble finding or keeping any high series cards. Semi-highs are easily found at shows. I think the price differential between the high and semi-high series is an accurate reflection of the relative populations. Just my observation/experience...
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52s
Just look at the pop report
Every card from 100 to 407 with the exception of mantle May's berra feller ..the same pop 500-60] cards of each approx... That's over 50000 hi#s graded Probably 250000 not graded Rare? Hmmm |
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Let's rely on skewed data, not people who collect the set.
Advantage of grading a low grade common Advantage of grading a high number. No affect on cards submitted. High numbers, hardly rare or scarce. Demand outweighs supply. Im having a great day Dave. Not wasting my life debating and researching something I cant control. I worked with the 52 set for a majority of my collecting career, only about 25 years. Aside from Rosen's find, that produced many of the high grade Highs in the pop report, I dont believe I've seen any collection with only or the same amount of high numbers. I have a hard time believing even repacks 10 years later would go unnoticed and not be scooped up by at least a few collectors working on the set. I dont believe for one second, given the stars and amount of Giants, Yankees, and red sox in the high series, were an accident. It was loaded with September world series hopefuls and stars to encourage buying late in the season. These are just opinions, and certainly worth what you paid for them. Just wanted to add my two cents. I've also edited for spelling, not because I typed in some roid rage....David |
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I have always felt the dump them in the ocean story was a Topps intended urban legend. Why go to that trouble ? But having put the 52 set together in semi master format ( sill need several gray backs) the scarcity of the high numbers seems real to me. But I do think it is played by sellers for all it's worth
By the way I owe thanks to both Dave and Ted thanks for sharing info with me on this set over the years |
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Whether the story is specifically true is up to debate, but the regularity with which stuff was dumped into the ocean way back when was a fact of life. I recently saw a prohibition era newsreel where they were dumping seemingly thousands upon thousands of weapons seized from organized crime right into the Atlantic Ocean. My mouth was agape, but it was SOP back then. And I don't know the actual specifics of the 'legend,' but if Topps jettisoned their surplus into the drink, it doesn't mean they ran their own barge out there. I'm sure they could've brought their junk to some sort of collection point where companies from all over brought their rubbish to be disposed of. Who knows.
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Well I have said my piece, offered my opinion and I am tapping out of this back and forth. The brick abides.
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SY Berger
Sy Berger in an SCD interview stated that the print run was wildly popular with vendors because of the success of earlier series. They were released too late. They did not sell and vendors returned them to Topps.
Berger subsequently tried to sell the cards by unconventional means like giving them away at carnivals etc. Tremendous backlog at their warehouse. There was no demand for the cards. They were loaded on a barge and dumped in the ocean. This occurred in 1959 Topps didn't keep inventory of unopened product. No reason for him to make up a story for this. I believe what he says. https://www.sportscollectorsdigest.c...of_the_modern/ |
52t
amazing how in talking about baseball cards... stuff we all love..thats why were on this site…. a guy gets nasty...the other guy comes back...and before you now it...its insult ping pong !
just ridiculous... |
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I don't know much about the unopened pack market, but is there some premium placed on these because they were from that specific find and wrapped together in a "brick"?
If they're really in NM condition I would have thought they'd bring more graded and sold individually. |
From the find, probably. Wrapped in a brick? Unlikely. Currently they're at a very high price looking for a whale. Give it another few months if they haven't sold, and I'd expect the company to relist them individually so more people can add a single one to their collection.
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Dont give yourself that importance. I was addressing the myths regarding the topps highs. I couldnt care less about your opinion. There are simply not enough of them to have been sold through 1960. Unless each person is hoarding them like #332 That is unless you want to speculate that people thought the set ended at 310, which many did because highs WERE NOT AVAILABLE. Some have mentioned they thought it ended at 250 Ok, maybe they werent dumped at sea, it doesnt make your skewed data any more factual. |
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Topps Photo Archives
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Guys, I would hope that this historical photo might resolve the issue once and for all.:)
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What a waste of good gum
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I understand that for decades, there have been grouper pulled out of the East River with strange jaw malformations. |
Keep the good info coming, gang. I took it as friendly banter between two rival experts. I'm soaking it up like a sponge in my new quest to put together a 1952 Topps set. MikeD and his 1976 set has inspired me to do 1952.
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I'll be living vicariously through you! :D |
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