The 1998 Topps Tek Thread

I think someone is playing games with the 98 TEK boxes. IMO you would be lucky to break even paying a hundred bucks for a box and by now most collectors still building their favorite player 90 card player sets have two thirds or more or already gave up so the odds of finding anything that the set builders would be willing to ante up (meaning pay at least high Beckett (they usually dont from my experience). That leaves the only value being the overhyped Diffractors. Once the diffractor collectors get their specific card/# pattern# then nobody else typically has a need for those player diffractor unless the hoarders are bididng them up to add to their trade bait material to make a deal with the one guy who has a bunch of 98 TEK diffractors dupe but only trades if someone offer him one he doesn't have. Unfortuately for RR some of those guys bidding on ebay Diffractors might be bidding the cards up he wants and possibly even bidding against RR or others who need specific Diffractor of their ONE favorite players just to make a trade with RR. I bid sometimes (rarely) on diffractors but never bid over $4-10 except maybe on a Ripken or Jeter and my bid wont be much higher than that anyway.


So those ebay sales of $300+ for 1998 TEK boxes are highly suspect to me. Would anyone here admit to being one of the buyers and if so did you pull anything of value.. I am not one for sure

I only have two Diffractor of Thomas Patrick. Going to Houston show in February (SHOW is Feb 13-15) so will see what I can come up with. Will cost high Beckett for postage for those who send me Want Lists to my email address (must include your name email address and specific want list) as well as a commitment to buy whatever I find on their lists. Not going to blow money on cards just to help a few diehard collectors out who then tell me they no longer need such and such card. Been there.. done that. Love to help people but finding 1998 TEKs even at bigger shows is not guaranteed but maybe with the 2014 TEK product seemingly doing well some dealers might dig out any 98s they might have to bring to sell them. Who knows?

togaman said:

I think someone is playing games with the 98 TEK boxes. IMO you would be lucky to break even paying a hundred bucks for a box and by now most collectors still building their favorite player 90 card player sets have two thirds or more or already gave up so the odds of finding anything that the set builders would be willing to ante up (meaning pay at least high Beckett (they usually dont from my experience). That leaves the only value being the overhyped Diffractors. Once the diffractor collectors get their specific card/# pattern# then nobody else typically has a need for those player diffractor unless the hoarders are bididng them up to add to their trade bait material to make a deal with the one guy who has a bunch of 98 TEK diffractors dupe but only trades if someone offer him one he doesn't have. Unfortuately for RR some of those guys bidding on ebay Diffractors might be bidding the cards up he wants and possibly even bidding against RR or others who need specific Diffractor of their ONE favorite players just to make a trade with RR. I bid sometimes (rarely) on diffractors but never bid over $4-10 except maybe on a Ripken or Jeter and my bid wont be much higher than that anyway.


So those ebay sales of $300+ for 1998 TEK boxes are highly suspect to me. Would anyone here admit to being one of the buyers and if so did you pull anything of value.. I am not one for sure

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i already told you one of my partners bid 350 in a losing effort on a box in december......nothing fishy about it other than the fact he didn't heed my advice....he said he wanted to get if for 125-150...told him the past two had gone for 288 and 313 so i would be pretty surprised if the one he was watching went below 275....my advie was if he REALLY wanted it , target 250 or up to 300 but no more...he went to 350 and lost - and frankly he was angry about it....haven't talked to him in the past 2 weeks so have no idea if he was involved in the most recent one....

as for the potential ceiling....i don't know....you can speak for yourself as to what you are still looking for or what you think will sell for what price , BUT , that's not a given....i've posed a question to "old" tek fans in multiple places recently , asking if they felt the 2104 version would boost or kill the values of the original product....specifically , would the new material "demystify" tek and cause the highly sought after material from 1998-2000 to become "less special" and therefore less sought after (resulting in price crashes) or would the new product have the opposite effect and introduce a whole new audience to tek , sending them scurrying around looking for the old cards , trying to make up for lost time and driving them up to new levels....virtually everyone i talked to who took the time to answer felt the new product would only serve to help the old version by driving many new collectors toward what is already a somewhat limited product....if that happens , prices may continue to soar....as current evidence , when something sells at auction on ebay , you know it doesn't necessarily sell for what the winning bidder is willing to pay - it sells for at or slightly above what the SECOND highest bidder offers.....if the last box went for 400 as someone stated , that means AT LEAST 2 people felt that was worth it....

delete by togaman I get how we collectors can sometimes get carried away in bidding or buying when a Want suddenly becomes a Need.

BTW.... I AM one of the OLD TEK Fans as I'm one of the 3 or 4 along with RR that I am aware of who completed all 8100 cards (all 90 patterns of all 90 players) back in 2004.

No desire to mass collect the 2014 TEKS. I personally think Topps missed the boat by not numbering the 2014 TEK cards as the numbering is one of the traps that OCD collectors fall victim to in order to keep some kind of order to their collection when that obsessive gene kicks in and takes over I would much prefer sugary hard as a rock addictive gum in packs myself like in the old days.

I have not seen a big uptick in interest in the 1998 through 2000 TEK as a result of the release of 2014. There has been some but Its mainly the guys who had done half their 90 1998 TEK card sets, gave up on them, had them rat-holed away and decided to make a stab at it again. Im not a dealer so I can only comment about the fairly extension TEK collection network Ive been part of for years as we helped each other out with our collections by trading 1998 TEK dupes with each other over the years

My extra 98 Tek Gwynns: Patterns 2, 6, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, 24, 44, 44, 48, 58, 80

togaman said:

I don't remember that . Why is he willing to pay so much? Is he collecting ONLY the diffractors and hoping to recover a portion of any box he might purchase by selling the singles that aren't diffractors. That a good way to lose $ 250 quickly on aa $350 box IMO. I get how we collectors can sometimes get carried away in bidding or buying when a Want suddenly becomes a Need.

BTW.... I AM one of the OLD TEK Fans as I'm one of the 3 or 4 along with RR that I am aware of who completed all 8100 cards (all 90 patterns of all 90 players) back in 2004.

I saw your post on a trade board somewhere and just assumed you were a dealer just trying to pump up interest in buying 2014 TEKs. The 2014 cards are very cool but Im not getting caught up that game this time. I think Ive cherry picked maybe 10 #d to 75 and a couple #d to 25 2014 TEKS for a buck each on ebay. Less than 20 cards total... No desire to mass collect the 2014 TEKS. I personally think Topps missed the boat by not numbering the 2014 TEK cards as the numbering is one of the traps that OCD collectors fall victim to in order to keep some kind of order to their collection when that obsessive gene kicks in and takes over I would much prefer sugary hard as a rock addictive gum in packs myself like in the old days.

I have not seen a big uptick in interest in the 1998 through 2000 TEK as a result of the release of 2014. There has been some but Its mainly the guys who had done half their 90 1998 TEK card sets, gave up on them, had them rat-holed away and decided to make a stab at it again. Im not a dealer so I can only comment about the fairly extension TEK collection network Ive been part of for years as we helped each other out with our collections by trading 1998 TEK dupes with each other over the years

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it was in THIS THREAD (post 2507) that i told you about my buddy being the losing bidder on the one that went for 360 (i thought it was the week of christmas , but it was actually january 4th)....as for why he went that high , you'd have to ask him....as i said , i told him the last two had sold for 288 and 313 but he insisted that this one was going to go for 150 or less...i told him no way....as for his tek experience....he had never heard of the product until he heard me talking about it over the christmas holidays...he did buy a small lot of 1998 base and a second small lot of 1999 base....those 35-40 cards are exactly all the tek he has ever SEEN .....

yes , i am well aware you are one of the "OLD TEK fans"....never said anything to the contrary....what i DID say was that after asking multiple old tek fans what THEIR opinions were about the influence NEW TEK would have on old tek , the overwhelming majority felt it would only help by introducing more people to it now....

as for seeing my post on "a trade board somewhere"...not sure about that...i'm only a member here , the bench , beckett , and sportscard forum.....i have roughly 1 dozen posts on scf and none involving tek....2000 posts on the bench without ever mentioning tek....350 posts on the "new beckett" , again without ever mentioning tek....this thread is IT....other than on this site (in the new tek thread) and items i've seen on ebay (strictly as a result of the thread here) , i've never seen a 2014 tek card....i have zero reason to hype them - quite the opposite in fact becasue i personally try to collect at least one of every card ever made (call me the utlimate master set builder - but with a serious lack of funds)....obviously not possible , but since i have no 2014 tek , there's no way i'd want to drive the prices upward BEFORE i get any....

in fact at the time i first posted in this thread last month , i owned a grand total of 11 tek cards....6 from 1998 and 5 from 1999....when organizing some base last month i found an erstad diffractor and posted a pic of it in this thread....it just so happened that rinkrat needed that one and pm'ed with a trade offer i couldn't refuse....nearly a month later and i'm now im up to a TOTAL of 14 tek cards 5 1998 base and 3 diffractors , 5 1999 base , and 1 2000 base that came in 2 days ago...i own no 2014 ....my friend decided he wanted to go all in on ALL tek , assuming every year had the similar value/collector interest....i actually advised him if he really wanted to do anything with tek , to stick with 1998 plus the 1999 golds....i told him my personal opinion was the 2014 would see a decline in prices as more was opened and offered for sale (obviously , if he wanted the 1/1 or other ultra , low-numbered items he'd have to get those now , but those are not the same as the base or more common parellels he wanted to grab)....

as for no uptick , i'd have to disagree....the 1998 box prices ARE part of the uptick....it may be old tek fans resuming the quest....it may be NEW tek guys who are just now discovering the old version and snatching up what little wax they can find....if it's the latter , they may be people just now BEGINNING thier quest for a full set , player completion , etc or they may be people buying with the expectation that prices are going to climb.....in either case , if there are more and more NEW tek guys just now starting to hoard old tek , the prices will likely surge due to simple economics - more collectors equals greater demand without an increase in supply , resulting in climbing prices....is this a certainty ? no...but it's defintiely a possibiltiy even if you contiune to dismiss the notion....

and fwiw , assuming there are no pattern 49 diffractors , i am currently 8095 base and 8007 diffractors away from my 1998 sets....i'll probably never complete either (since i have about 20,000 irons in the fire at once) , but i also doubt i'll be the last to START work on these sets.....

Must be confusing you with some other guy then. Starting now would be quite a challenge to do a 90 card player set much less all 8100 of them although a 90 card 1998 TEK of a common guy like Derek Bell, Derrek Lee, and Kevin Brown might be doable . But 98 TEK of players like Robin Ventura, Matt Williams, Justice, Sandy Alomar and Buhner are harder than you might think since there are some avid collectors of those and other players who gobble 98 TEK when they get listed on ebay. .. So you have 5 1998 TEK cards plus 3 diffractors. Gotta start somewhere

Your friend should be relieved someone else beat him out for a box of 1998 TEKS when the ebay bids went over $150 and escalated into some kind of bidding war resulting in a $ 300+ sale. Take care

togaman said:

Must be confusing you with some other guy then. Starting now would be quite a challenge to do a 90 card player set much less all 8100 of them although a 90 card 1998 TEK of a common guy like Derek Bell, Derrek Lee, and Kevin Brown might be doable . But 98 TEK of players like Robin Ventura, Matt Williams, Justice, Sandy Alomar and Buhner are harder than you might think since there are some avid collectors of those and other players who gobble 98 TEK when they get listed on ebay. .. So you have 5 1998 TEK cards plus 3 diffractors. Gotta start somewhere

Your friend should be relieved someone else beat him out for a box of 1998 TEKS when the ebay bids went over $150 and escalated into some kind of bidding war resulting in a $ 300+ sale. Take care

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just looked up the one that went for 400....at least that one wasn't my buddy.....actually i'm almost surprised it wasn't....he's a bit hard-headed and when he lost the one for 360 he kept talking about buying several boxes ASAP....

tek

game****fanatic said:

just looked up the one that went for 400....at least that one wasn't my buddy.....actually i'm almost surprised it wasn't....he's a bit hard-headed and when he lost the one for 360 he kept talking about buying several boxes ASAP....

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The same person appears to a have won all 4 of those ebay auctions for 1998 TEK boxes in December and December. Odd that when you compare the name of the winner bidder with the name of the person who left feedback to the seller they were different names. hmmmm. Wonder if there is some shill bidding game being played Very interesting.

Well not really.. I see several bidders' names from the FCB site partially hidden by ebay but recognizeable most who like me on one of the boxes dropped out early or forgot about the auction after making one or two bids.

I guess I should have hit the buy it now for $60. Thought my $53 bid would be enough to win it, and didn't even pay attention, shocked I lost.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1998-TOPPS-TEK-DIFFRACTOR-DIFFRACTORS-CARD-57-PATTERN-43-BARRY-LARKIN-REDS-SP-/141550881324?_trkparms=ao%3D1%26asc%3D28806%26meid%3D55e7579334334c41abf04d8774f6fc0f%26pid%3D100277%26&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=FzokaesaJ%252BlMexmDSTNXF%252Fq0I2I%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Actually got outbid on a base pattern that is now up to $5.50+ S&H too. Weird thing is they are not the same person outbidding me.

game****fanatic said:

in fact at the time i first posted in this thread last month , i owned a grand total of 11 tek cards....6 from 1998 and 5 from 1999....when organizing some base last month i found an erstad diffractor and posted a pic of it in this thread....it just so happened that rinkrat needed that one and pm'ed with a trade offer i couldn't refuse....nearly a month later and i'm now im up to a TOTAL of 14 tek cards 5 1998 base and 3 diffractors , 5 1999 base , and 1 2000 base that came in 2 days ago...i own no 2014 ...

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woo hoo...was digging through boxes today looking for an old hockey promo when i stumbled across a few more tek card i never knew i had....found 4 more 1998 , a 1999 , and 2 from 2000.....on a roll now ....all the way up to 9 1998 , 6 1999 , and 3 2000 base....at this rate , i'll finish 'em all by my 100th birthday......hoping to uncover a few more in some still-hidden boxes around here.....

game****fanatic said:

woo hoo...was digging through boxes today looking for an old hockey promo when i stumbled across a few more tek card i never knew i had....found 4 more 1998 , a 1999 , and 2 from 2000.....on a roll now ....all the way up to 9 1998 , 6 1999 , and 3 2000 base....at this rate , i'll finish 'em all by my 100th birthday......hoping to uncover a few more in some still-hidden boxes around here.....

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I would take the over on 100 years old for the 8100 98 TEKs unless you bought the entire collection from one of the 3 or 4 guys who have all 8100 . If you come across any Fleer Focus 200 Masterpiece Mania #d to 300 (250 card in set each numbered to 300 baseball) while digging let me know plus a 2012 Bowman Platinum Blue Border refractor #d to 199 of Harvey, Machado, or Profar (last 3 needed to complete a 100 card 2012 Bowman Platinum Blue #d to 199 Refractor set)

game****fanatic said:

woo hoo...was digging through boxes today looking for an old hockey promo when i stumbled across a few more tek card i never knew i had....found 4 more 1998 , a 1999 , and 2 from 2000.....on a roll now ....all the way up to 9 1998 , 6 1999 , and 3 2000 base....at this rate , i'll finish 'em all by my 100th birthday......hoping to uncover a few more in some still-hidden boxes around here.....

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Nice find on the 7 Teks. Any chance that any of them are of Jim Thome?

Sometimes there are just people out there with more money than they know what to do with. If I were one of those people I might be buying 98 Tek boxes at whatever price.

That comment about a hot box above does raise an interesting question. What if you knew that your box was from a case that would have a hot box in it? Or what if you knew your box was a hot box? How much would that go for?

RustyGreerFan said:

Sometimes there are just people out there with more money than they know what to do with. If I were one of those people I might be buying 98 Tek boxes at whatever price.

That comment about a hot box above does raise an interesting question. What if you knew that your box was from a case that would have a hot box in it? Or what if you knew your box was a hot box? How much would that go for?

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We shouldn't of run those group break ! Coulda retired from selling our Tek boxes

Had access to 3 cases a year or so ago at under $175 , don't remember exact price , but passed , oops.

But IMO , no Tek box is worth $400

Ryan

u2me57 said:

Nice find on the 7 Teks. Any chance that any of them are of Jim Thome?

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nope....not thomes....nothing major , but when ya need em all , any hits help i guess....

1998 :
brady anderson 16-42
sandy alomar 27-2
tim slamon 72-31
orlando hernadez 73-37

1999 :
eric chavez 29b-10

2000 :
andruw jones 9-6
andruw jones 9-13
carlos beltran 17-3 (from the trade that arrived saturday)

RStadlerASU22 said:

We shouldn't of run those group break ! Coulda retired from selling our Tek boxes

Had access to 3 cases a year or so ago at under $175 , don't remember exact price , but passed , oops.

But IMO , no Tek box is worth $400

Ryan

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I agree, no Tek box is worth $400 unless it is a super hot box with tons and tons of diffractors or something... even then they would have to be the right guy LOL. Not worth it.

My condolences to Matt and Jason and anyone else out Seattle way. I know what it feels like. Used to live two towns south of Gillette Stadium. Foxboro, Mass. Now I'm 100 miles to the west. After those two Super Bowl losses to the NY Giants on truly absurd plays at the tail end of the games -- and looked like another one Sunday night -- fate finally smiled on my Patriots again.

Rich

'98 Tek "hot boxes"! I bought a box on eBay from The Old Ball Park (Alvin, Texas -- home of Nolan Ryan) at the end of the summer of 2013. I forget what his userID was. Got something like 17 diffractors in that "hot box". [MENTION=4682]RustyGreerFan[/MENTION] got a box from them too, and did the famous group break with another 15 or so diffractors in that "hot box". I gambled and picked up the lion's share of that group break too.

Like several others, I corresponded with the proprietor of The Old Ball Park and made an offer for a couple of cases of '98 Teks that it turned out he had. He wasn't interested. Checked back with him a month or so later, and he was interested in selling his whole inventory of '98 Teks. Made an offer, and he accepted. He kept a few boxes for his store, but sold me a dozen, along with three boxes of '99 Teks (that i still have) and about 200 or so loose '98 Tek diffractors and 3000 to 3500 loose '98 Teks. There were none of several players -- I recall Pudge Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez (the two Rangers players in the series) were zeroed out. Lot of good stuff though. But NO HOT BOXES! I think there were two boxes that I got five diffractors. That was it. Rest were three or four diffractors per box. Kept my mouth shut at the time...didn't want to be overwhelmed with inquiries. That inventory represents the bulk of the extra '98 Teks that I have been dispensing to player collectors for the past year or so. At this point, I've broken even, and the diffractors were pure profit for my collection. Was also able to help a friend get close to the 8100-card base set. Still have a bunch of '98 Tek base cards left over. Any Quinton McCracken, Dante Bichette, Raul Mondesi, or Kevin Brown collectors out there? I can help big time!

Rich

200 or so loose diffractors