How hard was it to find new Topps series in 1950s, '60s and early '70s?

[parkerj33]

holy cr@p! 52 high number wax boxes sitting outside in a storage unit getting mildew and mold?

[Volod]

In 1963, my father fulfilled a long-time ambition of owning his own store - a small tobacco, book and magazine place on the main drag of our town in central New York. Lots of kids frequented the store for candy, so naturally the wholesale rep was always pushing loads of waxpacks. I worked for the old man a couple of years after getting out of the service, and still recall one summer - think it was 1966 - when my father got into a heated argument with the candy rep over an order. He still had several boxes of Topps waxpacks in his cramped storage room that he knew would not move and the rep wanted him to take the new series, but he refused because he couldn't get return credit for his current stock. Later that day, he had me haul the whole lot out to the dumpster in back and toss it. I kind of waivered over it because it was a s-load of cards and I still remembered treasuring cards as a kid, but my interests had grown up, so I quickly dumped those thousand or so packs without recrimination.

[Exhibitman]

I was just a kid when series ended--9 in 1974--but I never saw any of the high #s in 71-73 at retail, and I only got 71 football 2nd series in 1976 when a local candy seller had half a box of cellos on the counter.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by parkerj33

holy cr@p! 52 high number wax boxes sitting outside in a storage unit getting mildew and mold?

yes.i remember like 15 years ago i saw at least 2 boxes of 52' but didnt collect then but i knew about the mantle..breaks my heart...but if you understand i hope the day never comes when i able to go through whats there.

[campyfan39]

That's nuts man!
Why would she not at least store them properly?
And why on earth would she not give them to you?
Chris

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

yes.i remember like 15 years ago i saw at least 2 boxes of 52' but didnt collect then but i knew about the mantle..breaks my heart...but if you understand i hope the day never comes when i able to go through whats there.

[Collectorsince62]

I started collecting in 1962 but not heavily until 1964. My neighborhood was full of kids my age and living in St. Louis in the mid-60's made it hard not to be a baseball fan. We all bought wax packs and had massive trading sessions. Never flipped, just traded. Cardinals were more coveted than anything, but we all tried to get complete sets. I can still remember the euphoria of seeing the 1964 World Series cards from the '65 set. For many, many years the packs remained five cents each, but the Ben Franklin gave you six packs for a quarter. A full box was $1.03 but that was more than my allowance and returned bottle deposits could afford. We were well aware of each series, and the quest to find which local store had the new series was our version of chase cards. I guess because there were so many kids buying cards we never had any problem with high numbers. In 1967 though, the 6th series could not be found - anywhere. The 7th series was plentiful and we just kept buying them up hoping to find some 6th series cards. I had a ridiculous number of '67 high numbers but not a single 6th series. I ended up buying the 6th series a few years later from Larry Fritsch for five or six bucks.

Great thread - thanks to everyone who contributed.