Monday, July 16, 2012

79-80 Topps Mystery Box

This weekend I was at my local card shop and my guys at the shop pulled me into the back to see their recent haul. They bought a complete collection from some guy and there were boxes and boxes of cards from the 60's and 70's as well as some 80's and 90's stuff. Also, there was also some junk wax boxes from the early 90's as well. I avoided the temptation of buying more packs of cards I already own, I couldn't avoid this!

I was shown a pile of boxes, but there were two boxes that got my attention. The first box was a 600 count box, about 80% full of 79/80 OPC commons. The cards looked pretty decent, but I knew that for 20 bucks it was a good deal, but there would be lots of additional cash needed to complete this set. The second box was another 600 count box that was 75% full of 79/80 Topps commons. I flipped through the cards and they looked really good and really unorganized. I asked how much and Mike said 10 bucks. Sold!

For 10 bucks, I got myself a couple of hours of fun sorting through this box and the opportunity to see if I have a decent chunk of an epic set.


Here is an example of the shape and quality of the cards in the box. There were lots of double and triples of some cards which was nice, that way I could pick the better one for my set. Some of the doubles and triples were in a little rough shape (vg-ex).

Here is the back side of the card.

In the end, there was 195 of 264 cards. That is good enough for just a little under 74% of the complete set. There weren't any highly valuable cards in the box, but there were a couple star cards and rookies like John Tonelli.

There was a small bonus in the box too and that was a small handful of 79/80 OPC cards. Two of those cards were Greg Millen Rookies.



Definitely a nice surprise and just a little bit for added value for my 10 bucks. I certainly have been well taken care of by my guys at the LCS and I hope I can continue to nab a few steals here and there. I am now going to try and track down the complete set, so please check my want list and if you can help I would certainly appreciate a trade to move forward on the set.

12 comments:

  1. Nice haul for a great price! I alway kinda liked the 79-80 set. Have a great time finishing it.

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  2. What a deal. You gotta love those kinds of offers.

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  3. Nicely done! A box like that would be a ton of fun.

    Wonder what they wanted for the OPC....

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  4. That's a great deal there Dave, 30 bucks for over a 1000 cards that are over 30 years old is a good day for anybody!

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  5. Thanks guys...the OPC box was 20 bucks and I was in today and it is actually still there. Hard to believe...there is also a random box of 73-75 OPC cards including WHA ones....30 bucks for that box.

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  6. man, if the OPC is in the same state as the Topps, I may have to ask you to snag that for me. I've been looking at a new '79-80 set as a project and that would be a pretty solid start.

    Does your shop have a website?

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  7. They don't.....but if you want, I can look at it and if you are interested I can snap it up for you and mail it to you.

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    1. That would be beyond awesome!

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    2. What are deal breakers for you on this, or do you just want me to use my own judgement!

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    3. What are deal breakers for you on this, or do you just want me to use my own judgement!

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  8. Let's say that if at least 1/3 of them look like the Millen or the Beck in terms of condition, then it's a go. If they're all kind of bashy, then it's probably not worth the effort.

    You know, I've never been able to look at a trade package because most of my stuff predates the Devils. If you were looking pre-Scouts/non-Devils, who would be your team?

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  9. As far as pre Devils stuff goes, I can appreciate just about anyone. I have a love for players born in Fort William/Port Arthur Ontario and I like collecting their cards. I bought the box for you, there was atleast one of each of the following:
    Oilers Logo card
    Whalers Logo
    Barry Melrose Rookie
    and a bunch of the leader cards and some checklists one of which at least is unchecked.

    Certainly worth the 20 bucks!

    email me at forestrydave at hotmail dot com and we can work out details!

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