Bored with your standard wax pack with gum? In 1980, you had plenty of options for building a set. And let’s face it, if you were collecting football cards in 1980, that was your goal. There were no fancy inserts or autographed cards. Just meat and potatoes cardboard. This time, though, there was more than one option for bubble gum–and more than one option if you didn’t want wax stains on your cards.
In cooperation with Vintage Breaks, the latest edition of Vintage Pack Facts takes us back to the dawn of the 80s and the wide variety that is unopened product.
- The 1980 Topps Football set once again consisted of 528 cards including regular cards, league leaders, record breakers, playoff cards and checklists.
- 1980 was a great year all around if you liked variety in your packs. Topps had begun an unprecedented expansion into multiple packaging options with its final uncontested baseball set earlier that year and they continued it with their line of NFL cards.
- Among the offerings were traditional wax packs–now 25 cents with 12 cards and a stick of gum per pack. There were four different wrapper designs. Each wax box held 36 packs and each case held 20 boxes. After they apparently ran out of wrappers, Topps took to using 1979’s blue wrappers, which caused a little confusion at the time, but such a thing wasn’t totally unusual in that era, either.
- There were grocery rack packs containing three wax packs inside a cello overwrap. Sold primarily in food stores, the grocery packs came at a slight discount–usually around 69 cents but shrewd collectors could snap them up on clearance as fall turned to winter for much less. Grocery pack cases held three 24-count boxes.
- Standard rack packs had a whopping 48 cards and as usual, were the best deal–not only selling for less than what four wax packs would cost, but allowing collectors to see six of the cards they’d be getting and with no gum, eliminating wax stains from the process. Each rack pack box held 24 packs.
- More Vintage Pack Facts after the gallery….
- Standard cello packs offered 22 cards for 39 cents with 24 packs per box.
- Topps again produced “Super” cello packs, which offered 28 cards for 59 cents, with three pieces of larger Bazooka gum wrapped separately at the bottom of the pack. There were 24 packs per box and cases of Super cellos held eight boxes. With 672 cards per box, it was quite a haul if you could afford it.
- As always, Topps issued vending cases to dealers and vending machine companies with 24 500-count boxes.
- With a modest class of top rookies (Phil Simms, Ottis Anderson and Clay Mathews are three standouts), unopened 1980 Topps Football products are fairly inexpensive compared to many other issues of the era. You can check pricing on eBay for various listings here.
You can participate in a pack, box, or set break anytime at VintageBreaks.com which offers a variety of options across all years and sports. Check out their breaks of 1980 Topps football here.
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