FS: Unopened 1953T Rack Pack - Break??
 

Okay - kinda sorta.

Just purchased a 1953T CHRISTMAS rack pack from a highly reputable dealer. For those unaware of this product ... they were repackaged / resold aftermarket cards ... that were excess and were sold as Christmas packs ... back in the day. Many of these have turned up major stars - and some have been busts. Typical condition for these cards have historically been in the ExMt to Nm range - as they have sometimes been lightly handled before being repacked. Sometimes, however Mint cards are found. And there’s NO WAY I’d ever bust up a Topps original 53 pack - if I could ever even find one.

Christmas packs always have 12 cards - six of which are visible and six of which are hidden and unknown ... hence the mystery and fun. I was planning to sell 12 slots to the pack and video tape the drawing and break. For integrity sake I will not own any of the slots and will only do a break if all slots are sold. The pack I purchased had 5 commons - each looked to be in the roughly Ex+ to Nm range - PLUS a SP high number #276

It’s all or none ... if I can’t sell the slots I will keep the pack intact and contemplate over its contents.

Sooo 12 slots ... 12 cards - $75 each - and I’ll pay for shipping of your slot to you. Full disclosure - this will give me a small profit ... but really doing this one for the fun and intrigue ... and I genuinely wish that we find a big winner in there and someone from Net54 gets it. One more item ... if I decrease the price per slot to get more interest then EVERYONE gets the discount including those who already bought a slot.

If Leon has specific rules for undergoing something like this I will happily abide by them.

You may either post or Email interest. Again, will not hold the drawing unless all 12 slots are accounted for.

Can you post pics?

I’ll take one spot. Thanks!

I’ll take one as well.

Count me in

I’ll buy a slot. Thanks

I'm in too.

Email sent, I’m in.

As Bon Jovi says. “We’re halfway there!” I’m gonna wait until fully sold out to accept any payments but so far everyone is on the list.

sounds fun, i'm in

Out of curiosity, you mention 6 cards visible and the pack you have has 5 commons visible. What is the other card visible? Or am I reading your post wrong? Either way, still in ... just curious. Thanks.

Edit made to correct my inability to type.

Visible cards are
Front of pack...
Wayne Terwilliger #159
Dizzy Trout #169
Hal Brown #184 RC

Back of pack ...
Forest Main #198
Ken Raffensberger #276. Hi Number
Cliff Fannin #203

I don’t understand how this works, what am I buying?

a random 1953 card in this rack pack. 12 spots, i assume scott randomizes an order and whatever slot you get, you get that card. basically a lottery-ish event, $75 for a chance at either a common card or something better.

Christmas packs were created from 1952 through around 1980 or so. Each year excess inventory was sold off and repackaged by resellers who are not affiliated with Topps. The cards are always genuine but had usually been lightly handled. Sometimes resellers would pull out specific players other times they wouldn’t —- you can’t really tell by the pack what was done. There are always 12 cards to a repackaged Christmas pack - six are visible and six are hidden. You are buying a number 1 through 12. The number will represent your position on the Christmas pack - which may be a card we already know or perhaps a hidden one. At the break I line up your number with the pack position and whatever card that is - I pull package and send out. I hope this clarifies things.

Here’s a link to a sample Christmas pack...it is NOT this pack

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-...UAAOSwSLpgNaFt

Tell you what, make mine two total ($150). Thanks.

I will take two as well ($150 total).

I'll take one. Thanks

Will take one if there are any left. Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Slot
 

I will take the last one if still available.

I'll take one. 53 Mantle please.

https://media.giphy.com/media/l0DAHm...i8b6/giphy.gif

We are now sold out. Oh man I’m gonna enjoy this!

Here’s who is in...and what is owed...and how many picks
Becollie $75. 1
Scmavl $150. 2
Santo10fan $75. 1
dHicks67 $75. 1
Vegas Cards $75. 1
Futbowl $75. 1
Hockey hockey $75. 1
Maj78 $150. 2
Fistner10 $75. 1
Scon0072 $75. 1

My apologies to those who were left out. Please send either $75 or $150 net to henryjlevy@yahoo.com. If PayPal isn’t an option, a money order (or if I know you personal check) works. Then email me - scottglevy@yahoo.com with your shipping address.

I’m thinking that we will setup a zoom meeting and livestream the lottery and pack bust - to all those participating ... and others can view if they want as well. I’m excited and nervous now lol. Hope one of the six hidden cards is a good one.

If a major card is found, I will require the winner to kick in a few extra dollars to pay for registered, insured shipping at the estimated value.

I’ll be out of town this weekend ... so thinking I’ll schedule something for next one ... initial target date/time is Friday March 12 @ 8pm EST

I have always assumed those racks are a scam put together by someone for the sole purpose of Ebay sales. I bought 20 or so 60s/70s packs when I started collecting and they were all commons (100s of cards).

this is the first I have heard that is any legitimacy to them. my understanding is they are put together long after the year of issue

I am not an expert in these items, i hope that it didn’t come across that I was. it sounds like you have more experience than I do. I am simply repeating the description that I have found from other listers of these items - again, I have no personal knowledge either way and have never even opened one of these up. To me this was going to be a fun experience to see what comes out.

After this comment, I did some further research and found this ... which seems to confirm Wid’s assertion that they were aftermarket products assembled in the 60s through the early 70s. What I find particularly fascinating was that Topps saw how successful these rack packs were - and it inspired them to create rack packs of their own. Here’s the link
https://christmasrackpack.wordpress.com/

If anyone would like to give up their slot due to the comments from Wid, please let me know and I will issue a prompt refund.

My .02

I was well aware of what these were before I said I'd take two. There is plenty of info online that they were not made in 1953, but I'm okay with that. I'd be happy with a couple of NM '53 cards, especially if one was of a player who maybe wasn't a megastar in the mid-late 50s (Monte Irvin, Minnie Minoso, etc). Should be fun.

Hey Scott - I’m with Jarrod. Happy and excited to participate knowing full well what the odds are. I appreciate you giving us the opportunity! Payment sent ($150 for two spots). Thanks again, Matt

Payment sent. I'm slowly working on this set. Getting a high quality card to add to the mix, especially one that will have a fun story to go with it, is well worth the money. Thanks for the offer!

Scott, I'll stay also. I'm willing to settle now for the Mays and leave the Mantle to others to fight over? Oh, it doesn't work like that? I'll send payment this afternoon.

Doug - good call on the Mays. I'm holding out for the /50 Jackie autos that were randomly inserted into these "Christmas Packs." Fingers crossed.

I've got the Jackie covered. I'm pulling for a Paige.

https://i.imgur.com/mut6E9Ml.jpg

The 1/1 Yogi Berra in a Santa hat is what I'm hoping for.

53 pack
 

Am I missing something or.. are we paying for at least 6 cards..that we already know who they are ? or is it the cards we cant see ??

You have a 1 in 12 chance of getting any particular card in the pack. So yes, its 50% (6 out of 12) that you will get one of the 6 cards Scott has listed. The other 6 cards are unknown, and you have a 1 in 12 chance of getting any particular one of those.

How many different colors of supermegaultrarefractors did they insert in '53?

The comments are worth the price of admission. I’m paid and I am still in, despite knowing full well the circumstances. Should be fun regardless.

I hope this thread remains active throughout the process, I'm absolutely riveted.

Missed it by that much
 

Looks like I missed by one entry! There goes my shot at a 53 Mantle. :(

too bad they didn't have gum in rack packs. 68 years would be great to give that a shot.

i'm still in also.

With Scotts permission I'll be selling 14 sec video snippets of the zoom call pack opening. All snippets will be stored in the dust cloud and protected by blockhead security protocols. Snippets can only be resold to fellow members of Net54. I will graciously only charge 5% transaction fee per trade, you can withdraw your funds after 30 days, payments to members will be made in our new currency "LeonBucks" unless otherwise noted. If US currency is requested there is an additional 20% exchange rate fee.

Happy bidding!

😂😂😂

Hi Guys, looking forward to seeing what comes out of this rack!

bumping this. i gotta work friday night but will try to jump on the stream/zoom/whatever thingy if possible

Actually will likely need to move this to Saturday anyway - wife scheduled a dinner date. Will post new time/date shortly. It will be this upcoming weekend.

If anyone wants out I will buy a spot or 2

I haven’t had this much anticipation since Geraldo Rivera cracked open Al Capone‘s safe.

I’m literally looking at the pack as I write this!!!

Looks like we are going to aim for Saturday @ 5pm EST via zoom. Link and more details to follow

i'm pretty fired up to get my cloyd boyer card - let's do this, less than 24 hours to go

I didn’t buy a spot just anxious to see what’s in there.�� I’ve heard these are typically filled with EX-MT cards, let us know if this is valid or if they’re closer to NM-MT!

I think one of the folks with two slots should list one slot in the live auction section and see where it goes. Seems to be lots of interest here :D

I think what you hear is right. The six visible cards pretty close to ExMt.

Will send out zoom link tomorrow

I could go for a miscut Hal Jeffcoat. He really carried the Cubs with that hot bat .235 off the bench.

that's actually an entertaining idea! but maybe too late on it. maybe next time

I'd sell you mine but I'm pretty sure I'm destined to pull a really nice Satchell Paige with it.

i'm destined to get one of the 6 already seen cards, but it's all in good fun. actually landed a paige last month for pretty cheap, was very psyched.

I’d take a Sibby Sisti, not for his career .244 BA but because he appeared in the movie The Natural.

Never seen one of these opened so looking forward to stalking the opening of this one later today!!

will it be available for anyone to view ?

I will launch the zoom meeting at 4:30pm EST. I ask that only participating members login during the first 15 minutes. At 4:45pm I will open up the zoom meeting to all other folks who want to watch. I think that my zoom is only good up to 100 participants. I’m gonna take a small risk in hoping that no one “bombs” the zoom. If that happens, I will close the meeting and try to establish a password protected one for participants only.

All of that said... 5 hours to countdown.

i'll be out around 4:45 but good luck to everyone involved. look forward to hearing about my "prize" later tonight. thanks again, scott.

The zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8818197809...NBd04vY1dIUT09

How did it go?

Well the good news is that it was a really nice way to meet a lot of fellow collectors. I enjoyed the connection and chitchat. I also loved the anticipation of ripping open a Christmas pack ... something that I’ve never done before. The net results were less than impressive. 1 significantly difficult high number SP and 11 commons. The condition was also on the lower end of my hopes averaging closer to Ex than the ExMt. No beaters but I don’t think any card would be at the NM level.

I was seriously considering buying a few more Christmas packs ... but after seeing what was inside of this one I probably won’t do that. I had not expected to pull a superstar but certainly hoped for some semistars or lower end HOFers.

Will post the formal results shortly

Lot's of fun, thanks for hosting Scott. And great to see your kids take part!

I got #184 Hal Brown, a card I didn't have, so it turned out great for me.

And I do have a Satchell Paige already. It's just a little rough and I was hoping for an upgrade :)

https://i.imgur.com/h03j4vPl.jpg

It was fun, but predictably like it was back in the day when we pulled those cards out of wax packs . . . mostly disappointing, right? Didn't Charlie Shultz feature Charlie Brown pulling card after card, saying, "Rats! Another card of Joe Shlobotnick!" That Peanuts segment has always been so hilariously close to the truth for me!

Final results
 

Card position in pack / player
1 - Terwilliger - 159 dhicks67
2 - Keegan - 196 becollie — traded to scmavl
3 - Glynn - 171 scmavl(1) — traded to becollie
4 - Main - 198 pokerplyr80(1)
5 - Trout - 169 pokerplyr80(2)
6 - Porter - 211 fistner10
7 - Hooper - 84 hockeyhockey
8 - Raffenberger - 276 santo10fan
9 - Brown - 184 vegascards
10 - Ripulski - 172 futbowl
11 - Hegan - 80 scmavl (2)
12 - Fannin - 203 sean connery

Sorry I missed the zoom.

Apologies if I missed it, but who got which cards?

Updated list with usernames

Thanks again, Scott. It was worth the price just for the anticipation and getting to chat with some great collectors. The Fannin now has a cool story attached to it!

The Keegan (196) is unfortunately a card I already have. Anyone open to trading? Thanks

You can have my Glynn 171 if you want it and I’ll take the Keegan.

Sorry I missed the meeting as well. Got stuck working late and just got off

So who got the Mantle?

Illinois vs Iowa CBB took all my bandwith-mentally!

Raffensberger wasn't a bum and short print to boot. Sounds good!

Great stuff!

Thank you everyone for a fun time. While i wish the cards were better, the experience couldn’t have been beat. The most hobby fun I’ve had in many, many months.

I NEED THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES / SO THAT I CAN MAIL CARDS OUT
dhicks67
becollie
pokerplyr80
fistner10
santo10fan

email: scottglevy@yahoo.com

Thanks!

5 - Trout - 169 pokerplyr80(2)

The folks over on the "modern" forum get totally juiced when someone pulls a Trout!

Not quite as excited about this Trout of course, but worth a shot. You never know on these, and there aren't many chances to break a vintage pack, even if these were repackaged later.

Heading to the post office tomorrow. Still missing two mailing addresses.

dhicks67
becollie

email: scottglevy@yahoo.com