1979 Topps Baseball RACK BOX – 24 unopened packs of 39 cards each. BBCE sealed and authenticated, FROM A SEALED CASE (FASC)!! Contains 24 rack packs that have never been viewed since leaving the Topps factory in 1979… Could feature many major stars and rookies showing on the packs! Reasonably priced to sell quickly. If you actively collect and follow vintage unopened sports cards, the title pretty much speaks for itself and you probably already know why this is such a unique, rare, and valuable item. I think this item probably sells itself, and further description / sales spiel may not be necessary… I guess I’d rather give too much info than not enough! Brief story of the vintage unopened pack market (as written by me, as I’m typing this listing).. Unopened packs and boxes have steadily increased in value over the past 20 years, including some very sharp gains the past few years. Unopened vintage items have a natural component built in that helps push this… There will always be LESS and LESS unopened packs in existence as time goes on, as some of it gets opened up by collectors. Many older packs that were frequently seen for sale have dried up and are only occasionally listed anymore. Another factor driving the unopened market is the boom in graded cards. Vintage mint graded cards fetch massive premiums… And while a lot of loose cards that have been circulating over the years are well worn, the never-touched cards inside unopened packs offer a great chance at pulling these mint cards for grading. An additional interesting aspect of unopened packs are the rack and cello packs that have premium stars and rookies showing on the front or back of the packs. These have gotten unbelievably hot the past couple years, and these rare packs go for huge premiums as well. As the unopened market has soared, unfortunately the prevalence of tampering and inauthentic packs has become a real issue. The assurance that a pack/box/case is original and un-tampered is HUGE when there are many questionable items out there. This has caused the market to understandably price authenticated packs and boxes at a significant premium. BBCE is the world leader in unopened box authentication, and their sealed boxes go for a solid (and well-deserved) premium. A more recent variation on the BBCE authenticated box is their FASC (From A Sealed Case) designation. This signifies that not only are the packs authentic and un-tampered, but the box was taken directly from a sealed case and then sealed in BBCE wrap. These boxes have been going for a further premium above a standard BBCE box. For wax boxes, it is nice to know that your box was taken in nice shape right from the case and is also entirely original i. Not full of packs combined from various sources. The same is true for rack and cello boxes… But a huge additional exciting implication of these being FASC is that the packs have never been searched, sorted, or even looked at to see which players are shown. Collectors are beginning to realize the immense additional potential a FASC rack or cello box brings, since packs with stars showing are so valuable these days. The story of this rack box.. This decision was not made lightly… I know how few pre-1980’s sealed cases even exist anymore, and I hesitated in making it one less out there since it is such a rare item. That being said, the advent of FASC authentication gives the ability to maintain all the valuable aspects of a sealed case, while breaking the case down into more sellable units (rack boxes). With the buyers out there starting to really realize the value of these boxes, it felt like the right time to gain that flexibility… (I will likely keep the remaining boxes as an investment, but we’ll see). And just as importantly, a great guy who is always genuine, honest, and helpful! Inspect the case, verify it as factory sealed, open it up, take a quick peek into each box to verify contents, and authenticate the boxes for BBCE FASC sealing. They are wrapped in a tamper-proof BBCE wrap and have 2 stickers on the bottom (a numbered one, and a larger one where Steve hand-writes the details). This box is beautiful… Now to the good stuff.. The’79 set is a great one, featuring 44 Hall-of-Famers 52 if you count the All-time leaders cards! , and of course the rookie card of HOF legend Ozzie Smith. The’79 rack packs are especially nice for a couple reasons… Firstly, they feature the more durable tough plastic packaging that older racks used, as opposed to the thin cellophane of 80’s racks. This thick plastic, combined with smaller cell pockets, make the packs pretty unsearchable & tamper-proof, and generally seem to protect the cards better too. Secondly, these rack packs each contain 39 cards. 79 Topps wax packs include just 12 cards, and the cellos have only 18. So each rack pack contains more than 3x the cards of a wax pack, and more than double a cello pack… This rack box contains the equivalent of more than two’79 wax boxes. NO gum/wax stains of course. (Besides the stains, cello packs often yield cards with slight warping due to the gum being jammed in the middle of the stack). Any experienced vintage pack-ripper will tell you that the best condition cards generally come from rack packs. Not only are the packs inside unopened, but THEY HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN LOOKED AT SINCE THEY LEFT THE TOPPS FACTORY IN 1979! This is where the massive potential of a FASC rack box comes in… Each pack shows 3 players on top, and 3 on the bottom. That means that 144 cards total are showing on the enclosed packs. That gives you some nice odds on getting several HOF stars showing. A pack with a mint Ozzie Smith rookie showing would fetch a huge sum. Likewise, a pack with a big star like Nolan Ryan or Pete Rose on top can go for several times what a standard pack brings. The potential of pulling high grade cards and getting them professionally graded has also stirred a lot of interest in older unopened packs. Opening the packs is more of a gamble, of course… But when graded cards can be worth incredible amounts, it’s easy to see the allure. 70’s rack packs have really become scarce these days. Entire rack boxes are seen much more rarely. There hasn’t been a huge history yet of BBCE FASC rack box sales in general (from any year), but the ones that have popped up seem to trend at about 2 to 2.5x what a normal non-authenticated box sells for, and sometimes more. There are likely only a handful of sealed’79 rack cases left out there, so it’s incredibly unique, and I wouldn’t hold your breath for a bunch more of these to be popping up very soon! This is a great item to stash away as a long-term investment. History has shown the exponential increase in value of unopened boxes, particular the rarer ones. The pristine untouched packs, combined with the potential of superstars and rookies showing on these packs, will always keep this box in high demand. You are likely to get some stars showing out of a whole box, and either way you’ve got 24 beautiful packs to either save, sell, or even get authenticated individually. The third option of course is to take it a step further and open up the packs, and hope for some perfect mint cards to get graded by PSA. That is up to you! I believe time will soon show this box to be worth a lot more than even the higher end estimates I’ve guessed at. Also, there is a LOT to be said for pristine packs that have never been handled, versus the sometimes beaten up packs that have been floating around the collecting community the past 40 years. The safest bet is probably leaving this rare box unopened as is, but again, that decision would be up to you. PLEASE MESSAGE ME WITH ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, & INQUIRIES. If you are interested, don’t snooze on it and miss out. The item “1979 Topps Baseball RACK BOX 24 packs of 39 cards BBCE FASC sealed Read” is in sale since Sunday, August 9, 2020. This item is in the category “Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop\Sports Trading Cards\Baseball Cards”. The seller is “ratluvgal” and is located in Grafton, Wisconsin. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Product: Box
- Card Number: #24
- Player: Ozzie Smith
- Season: 1978
- Grade: Ungraded
- Year: 1979
- Sport: Baseball
- Card Manufacturer: Topps
- League: Major League
- Era: Post-WWII (1942-1980)