Which Unopened Wax Pack Will Eventually Exceed $100,000

[Steve_NY]

As many of you know, I have been buying rare and scarce wax packs now for over one and one-half years; actually 40+ years but not in this quantity. I have given some thought to which unopened wax pack will eventually break the $100,000 mark. It was debated a few years ago on another board but I thought that we are now getting closer to that mark and an updated debate might be interesting.


My personal thoughts are represented here and they are just my opinion. I consider the following unopened 5 cent wax packs as possibilities to exceed $100,000 depending on condition.


1 -- 1952 Topps High Number (if it can be proven to be a high number pack)

2 -- 1952 Topps (Eventually all such packs will break that mark but it could be another few years+ before that occurs).

3 -- 1953 Topps High Number

4 -- 1948 Bowman Basketball (Certainly rarer than a 1952 Topps baseball wax pack)

5 -- Any incredibly rare wax packs such as 1953 Bowman Color, 1956 or 1958 Topps, 1955 Topps All American Football, 1958 Topps Baseball, 1949 Bowman or any 1930s or 1940s wax packs.


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Have I missed any real current possibilities? I would consider any of the packs on this list (especially the 1952 Topps packs) as having terrific investment potential.


Also for those who care, I sold 8 of my recent pack acquisitions at last year's National and have sold another 21 packs since August. I did sell many other packs that did not come from the same source at last year's National. I have also bought roughly 25 packs since then, all between 1948 and 1959, except for one which was another 1969 basketball.

I plan on working on putting together another REVISED listing of my current availability during the next several weeks. When available, I will post that listing in the B/S/T sections and it will reflect price revisions for all packs that I do not consider scarce or rare. So watch for that listing in the next few months.

Regards and Happy Holidays from chilly New York.

Steve

[pokerplyr80]

I don't know much about the unopened pack market but I would guess something pre-war that could be proven to contain a rare issue, like 14 CJ or a t210 card might bring 6 figures before anything post war.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I would guess something pre-war that could be proven to contain a rare issue, like 14 CJ

Interesting possibility, I was actually trying to find info. on this online last night. Does anyone know if a 1914 or '15 original Cracker Jack box is even known to exist? I couldn't even find proof of an empty one from that era. If so, and you could somehow prove the year by the box - I agree that would go for boatloads of money. Would be a real gamble though - the card inside if it were still with petrified 100+ year old pieces of caramel and popcorn would not be likely to be anywhere near mint condition. Still though - the novelty of something like that...

[ALR-bishop]

Great list Steve. On Topps I assume you are referring to nickle versus penny packs. I have a Toops pack run but have settled so far for penny packs in 56 and 58. I envy Anthony his 56 and 58 packs. On Bowman I have settled for wrappers with my sets, but missing 2, the usual suspects. My favorite wrapper is my 1970 Greatest Moments. My favorite pack is my 51 Topps Red Back full panel set with game board and other 51 set insets

[toppcat]

Not sure they all did but 52 highs had a blue and red scheme vs the green and red scheme for the prior series releases. Not a lot have survived, I suspect a lot of the highs were intended for vending, or at least the first wave. A 52 high # pack is a very likely candidate to be the first I would think.

[rats60]

Agree on the 52 High pack. With the chance for a high grade Mantle and consolation prizes of Mathews or Jackie that could get ~100k, I could see someone paying that much. In particular if it was one of, two deep pockets could create a bidding war.