Sixty years after it was boxed up and left the Topps plant during the Eisenhower administration, a Topps baseball cello pack finally revealed its contents Tuesday night. Still tightly sealed, the 12-card pack would have cost 10 cents in 1960. It was the star attraction in a five-hour pack breaking marathon conducted by Just Rip It.
The company offered it as one of its “Equity Packs” in which a selected number of spots are available for purchase–$275 in this case–with each of the 40 participants sharing in the proceeds once the cards are pulled, graded and sold.
It’s certainly not the oldest pack ever ripped, but this one dated to the powerful 4th series of the ’60 Topps set, which includes just 87 cards but several Hall of Famers including Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Willie McCovey and Mickey Mantle.
Cellos like this are obviously quite scarce and sell for several thousand dollars.
Graded PSA 7, the pack was freed from its holder at the start of the broadcast and you can watch the rest unfold below.
The card isn’t perfectly centered so it’s likely to grade in the 6-7 range. Just Rip It owner/breaker Charlie Parrino tells us the Red Schoendienst could rate at least a 9 and some of the others appear to have a chance to grade well also.
You can read more about 1960 Topps packaging via our “Vintage Pack Facts” series here.
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