One of the more interesting items in MastroNet’s June 2005 Classic Collector Catalog was a 1962 Topps Baseball Bucks One-Cent Wax Pack Display Box Uncut Sheet. The catalog didn’t include a description, only the curious note in the title of “with Mantle design!” that I’m not really tracking.
The 1962 Baseball Bucks set was sold in one-cent packs and packaged in super limited quantities, making it a sort of early test issue. A complete display box, sold by REA in 2018 for $1,200, was described as the first they had ever handled and as the only one they’d seen at public auction in a decade.
The dealer sell sheet carried the same box design; unfortunately, I can’t recall the source of the image in my archives.
A metal proof of that sheet appeared at Memory Lane in 2020, though it went unsold with a starting bid of $200.
Together, these pieces show how Topps marketed this playful, low-cost product that stands out among the company’s early-’60s releases.
Be sure to check out The Unopened Archive for more! And Happy Collecting!
P.S. Here’s a wrapper that Memory Lane Inc. sold as part of a larger wrapper lot for $660 in May 2020. The 1-cent buck looks like the same one that’s on the wax box (not Mantle).
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