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The 1998 Topps Tek Thread
- Thread starter RustyGreerFan
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MansGame
Active member
I honestly don't remember box prices, per pack prices were $6-$8 at my hobby shop. I remember them sitting there for months too as I would buy 2-3 at a time every few months.
RStadlerASU22
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I can tell you they sell regardless, over the last year plus I have seen $175 and don't believe it was board members. The fact that the D&A, BBCE etc never have them I don't think it's too readily available. Not saying it doesn't exist, but w like 98 Materials, 98 Donruss etc the Tek shows up a few times a year when most wax is up in multiples daily
Ryan
Ryan
MansGame
Active member
Honestly, I doubt any fully intact cases exist but, again, I'm all ears to other people's thoughts. I'd say less than 50 boxes of this stuff are out there IMO. As Ryan said, only a box or two seems to surface on eBay every year and you can't find it on other sites... there was a site from a shop in PA selling packs but once the threads started ripping on here, those packs vanished in thin air lol
RStadlerASU22
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$40 pricing I'd love
Not to say there were never any sold at that price, but those won't surface unless by accident, and that's even if you took everyone on this board away w interest I'm them. I also say there are more than 50 boxes out there, but def limited as I think it was opened heavily based on the way the base set n player collectors needed certain patterns
Ryan
MansGame
Active member
How many do you say? Throw out a guess...$40 pricing I'd love
I also say there are more than 50 boxes out there, but def limited as I think it was opened heavily based on the way the base set n player collectors needed certain patterns
Ryan
Keep in mind that until the early to mid 2000s you could go through the backdoor on ebay and contact other 1998 Topps Tek bidders and make lots of trades.. thereby decreasing the need for me to bust boxes . I can honestly say I bought fewer than 9-10 boxes of 1998 TEK and completed all 8100 cards thanks in part to the trading networks established via ebay backdoor contacts and buying large lots relatively cheap on ebay in late 1999/2000. Had it not been for 98 TEK set builders helping each other out for none of us (there are 4 I know of for sure) would have ever been able to complete the master set.
Wish I had focused a bit of attention on the diffractors (I have one completed 90 card diffractor set).. Too hard to get them now in quantity. I have about 400 diffractors but I was burned out on 98 TEK when I finished my 8100 card base set in 1994. Theres still two guys I am aware of out there, both with around 200 cards to go. My last 20 to complete my set took a year or longer. I dont think I have gotten 3 or 4 diffractors in past year..Two in a big surprise at a store near Dallas (Lofton and Garciaparra that I needed for set # 2 that has 14 cards to go to complete a second diffractor set) on a trip where my daughter did a commercial for Dairy Queen in Frisco
Wish I had focused a bit of attention on the diffractors (I have one completed 90 card diffractor set).. Too hard to get them now in quantity. I have about 400 diffractors but I was burned out on 98 TEK when I finished my 8100 card base set in 1994. Theres still two guys I am aware of out there, both with around 200 cards to go. My last 20 to complete my set took a year or longer. I dont think I have gotten 3 or 4 diffractors in past year..Two in a big surprise at a store near Dallas (Lofton and Garciaparra that I needed for set # 2 that has 14 cards to go to complete a second diffractor set) on a trip where my daughter did a commercial for Dairy Queen in Frisco
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RStadlerASU22
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Yes, you may not have broken them, but someone needed to to provide you w 8100+++ different cards and each other person that went for a master set. They also needed to be opened by someone to provide 90 different patterns of base and 90 different Dif versions to each player collector. Because of the amount of versions this set had I think it was broke more. Think about it if there was a different set where a set collector usually only would need 1-3 boxes opened to build a master set, or a player collector could usually fill most of their needs within a case being opened. Yeah they may be missing a tough hit, but with the diffractors in this after 1 case they could still be missing 90 tough hits. That's my opinion at least.
Mac, I really don't have a number other than I'd say more than 50, less than 2000. And doing quick math if my max is in the ballpark, at I'll even say 4 diffractors if it all averaged out a box. That's 8000 unopened diffractors, which rounding puts it at 90 per player or 1 per pattern. Again that's just using guesses to what's out there, but that shows you how hard a specific pattern may be to find.
Ryan
Ryan
Well lets see.. if there are on average 3 diffractors in a box and each specific pattern is one of 8100 diffractors (.012%) ..ugh never mind.. too hard to project.
So if one 90 card set of diffractors would take 30 boxes (more or less) for 90 diffractors and then 90 times that (2700 boxes) for all 8100 diffractors plus say 10x that to amount for 10+ copies of each diffractor (a wild unsupported guess) or 27,000+ boxes.
That does not factor in of course any hot boxes. I never came across one in my small sample size of 10 box busting. I suspect there are more than 10 of each specific refractor in that I know there are 5 guys who have all 8100 and I have 2 extras of 63pat 36. Would be at least 7 of that one specific pattern. I think maybe more like 20-25 of each is more in line but that just a guess
So if one 90 card set of diffractors would take 30 boxes (more or less) for 90 diffractors and then 90 times that (2700 boxes) for all 8100 diffractors plus say 10x that to amount for 10+ copies of each diffractor (a wild unsupported guess) or 27,000+ boxes.
That does not factor in of course any hot boxes. I never came across one in my small sample size of 10 box busting. I suspect there are more than 10 of each specific refractor in that I know there are 5 guys who have all 8100 and I have 2 extras of 63pat 36. Would be at least 7 of that one specific pattern. I think maybe more like 20-25 of each is more in line but that just a guess
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RustyGreerFan
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I recall buying two packs when they came out at a card show in Washington state. They must have been about $3 a pack because I doubt I would have spent more than that.
As for how many boxes are out there, I think 50 is extremely low. Remember that seller I bought my six from also sold 8 to Ryan and 6 to someone else, or something like that. That's just one seller. There are probably small stashes like this all over the country - purposeful and accidental. Also recall that some of our fellow FCBers remember buying packs at retail stores, so those that weren't destroyed exist somewhere out there.
1998 Tek was like a perfect storm. It just plain wasn't popular at the time, but it is now. I'm not sure I can even think of another product that has happened with. For many player collectors it's the only place left they can really make progress in their collections. They have just about everything else.
As for how many boxes are out there, I think 50 is extremely low. Remember that seller I bought my six from also sold 8 to Ryan and 6 to someone else, or something like that. That's just one seller. There are probably small stashes like this all over the country - purposeful and accidental. Also recall that some of our fellow FCBers remember buying packs at retail stores, so those that weren't destroyed exist somewhere out there.
1998 Tek was like a perfect storm. It just plain wasn't popular at the time, but it is now. I'm not sure I can even think of another product that has happened with. For many player collectors it's the only place left they can really make progress in their collections. They have just about everything else.
MansGame
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I am just guessing with 50. No one else can give a better answer than no more than 2000 :lol:
I'll change my guess to 100 boxes sealed.
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I'll change my guess to 100 boxes sealed.
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Looking for Albert Belle cards! PM me!
RStadlerASU22
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I wasn't talking about what was made FYI, I meant if there was 2000 sealed boxes left there would only be about 1 of each pattern left unopened. That was just throwing out numbers for Mac
I'd say close to 10 diffractors and 250 base of each pattern exist. Just ballpark guessing
Ryan
MansGame
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Such a mystery. Once you start doing the numbers, this must of be a MASSIVE release.
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pootshwan
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Way more, and I'd venture to say there's more than 2000 sealed boxes. Just my opinion. You may think i'm nuts but I'd say there's a full base set for each player still sealed. That'd be well over 8100 boxes sealed. Taking into account diffractors and hot boxes.
How many base sets were created...? Has that ever been discussed?
RStadlerASU22
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It could be, just the fact they don't come to surface and like I said some of the biggest wax dealers never get ahold of them.
For sh@t sakes using my estimates of 250 base and 10 diffractors of each pattern existing that makes a total of 26,325 boxes made, 3290 cases.
But this whole discussion is a lot of what ifs for discussion sakes
Ryan
MansGame
Active member
My god....... Thousands of boxes sealed? Haha I guess I'm just a mind ranger. Unless someone knows something I don't, why would only a few boxes surface every year and not like cases? This last "find" was the largest in years and even that is like a fraction of a fraction of what some y'all is saying is still out there. Shocked BBCE or whatever doesn't have any.
Anyways, clearly in love this set and find it fascinating.
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Looking for Albert Belle cards! PM me!
Anyways, clearly in love this set and find it fascinating.
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Looking for Albert Belle cards! PM me!
I wasn't talking about what was made FYI, I meant if there was 2000 sealed boxes left there would only be about 1 of each pattern left unopened. That was just throwing out numbers for Mac
I'd say close to 10 diffractors and 250 base of each pattern exist. Just ballpark guessing
Ryan
Its all speculation but I would find it hard to believe there are only 10 diffractors of each specific card #/pattern# since I know that there are 7 of the 10 63pat36 cards (4 other master set builders with 1 each and me with 3 of them) ..My two cents
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RStadlerASU22
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