Holiday Rack Packs?

[Griffins]

Matt, it may not be to silence your questions in favor of a search, but rather to give you even more background and other peoples perspectives than the ones posted in your thread.
In this particular case Al is one of the most generous people you'll meet in many ways, but especially in sharing knowledge. You can't be expected to know that and I know it seems like you were being shot down (I've been there, as I suspect we all have) but considering the source I think it was an effort to give you as much possible information as one could find on your query.

I"ll add that Xmas racks are fairly worthless IMO, and other than a novelty item in a display I would not place any value on them other than for the handful of commons they contain. And suspect the commons you can't see in there are worse than the ones you can.

[ALR-bishop]

Thanks Anthony. I think Matt and I are good

[tulsaboy]

There was a guy at the National that had a whole table full of them. Dozens and dozens of them. I even kinda looked behind his table a bit to see if I could find the raw materials he was using to make them.

I was surprised to see them there, but he was only charging a few dollars for them. So for folks who wanted to spend a couple bucks and "open" packs with old cards in them, no harm no foul. But as they are not original manufacturer's packs, and are not even period pieces, I think they are novelties at best.
kevin

[chalupacollects]

I have a 55 Topps rack pack I bought from Mark Murphy about 20 years ago with Willie Mays on the back... Have always assumed it was one of the legit ones...

[ALR-bishop]

Murphy and Mathews ( see correspondence above) claimed that they came upon on a stash of them back in early 2000s. They said the cards were excess Topps cards that were obtained by a 3d party who packaged them for sale in retail stores at Christmas. I think the packs Murphy started selling originally were from 54 to 63. Later 52s and 53s surfaced.Now you see them into the 70s

Were there some packaged in the 60s or 70s or even 80s, or were all of them later creations ? I have not come across anyone who can conclusively say they bought them in the 60s or 70s or 80s at some retail store. Nor is is clear who was the original packager and how they got the cards ( from secondary market or Topps)

None of the cards seem mint, but some look to be in the 5-7 range

I find the interesting from a hobby history standpoint. Who originally packaged the ones Murphy sold, when did it occur, where were they originally sold ( if anywhere) and what was the source of the inventory used ?

There is no doubt they are still being churned out today. Is it being done by the same person(s), or a new group, or possibly multiple groups ?

I just find the lack of clarity on the origin and ongoing history of these things interesting and am surprised no one has ever come forward with the whole story, if there is one

[mrmopar]

I have never looked any deeper, but several seller accounts (may have been linked or the same owner) are selling them currently. All of the locations seem to be Canada of the ones I see come up. I only took notice because the s/h is higher than "normal". I decided that I would buy one of each year showing Garvey on top as a novelty, knowing full well they were made in the recent past. I am not convinced otherwise, given the seemingly endless supply, that they are not being made fresh as they are being listed either.

They all have stars on top in heavy quantity, which just screams "made intentionally and recently", as the random factor seems to have been removed from the equation.

Anyway, tried to get them for under $10 delivered or as close to it as possible, which is more than the raw cards inside are probably worth in most cases. It seems the asking prices are up a bit lately though, some around $10, others around $20 now for those I see. I stopped buying them after getting most between 1971-1980.

[rlorenz]

I only have this for funsies...they would grade from 6 to a solid 8. This is actually now mounted on my wall with other psa graded 59 packs. but it was a fun thing just to have. I got this a while back :-)

The reality is they are not topps created...they are well known to be packaged in the 80's....great for fun but i have not seen one opened where there is a legit good card hidden. What you see is what you get essentially. I can tell you they are real cards and at least in my case unaltered from what i can tell under a loop and taking measurements.


Mantle.jpg

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Murphy and Mathews ( see correspondence above) claimed that they came upon on a stash of them back in early 2000s. They said the cards were excess Topps cards that were obtained by a 3d party who packaged them for sale in retail stores at Christmas. I think the packs Murphy started selling originally were from 54 to 63. Later 52s and 53s surfaced.Now you see them into the 70s

Were there some packaged in the 60s or 70s or even 80s, or were all of them later creations ? I have not come across anyone who can conclusively say they bought them in the 60s or 70s or 80s at some retail store. Nor is is clear who was the original packager and how they got the cards ( from secondary market or Topps)

None of the cards seem mint, but some look to be in the 5-7 range

I find the interesting from a hobby history standpoint. Who originally packaged the ones Murphy sold, when did it occur, where were they originally sold ( if anywhere) and what was the source of the inventory used ?

There is no doubt they are still being churned out today. Is it being done by the same person(s), or a new group, or possibly multiple groups ?

I just find the lack of clarity on the origin and ongoing history of these things interesting and am surprised no one has ever come forward with the whole story, if there is one

I found it interesting Skip Mathews said the story about Sy throwing excess 1952 Topps high numbers on a barge was true. However, he didn't provide any reasons

Good stuff Al, thanks for sharing