1983 Topps Rickey Henderson on back rare Michigan test pack

Description: SUPER RARE 1983 RICKEY HENDERSON CARD!!!!If you are a hard core Rickey Henderson collector and looking for what is likely one of the rarest Rickey Henderson's in existence then look no further. Likely one of the greatest unopened pack in existence when you consider the tamper resistant aspect, the extreme rarity, the greatness of the player, and the fascination of being a test pack. Yes, I know we hear "rare" all day in auction writeups, but here there is legitimate substance to back it up.Because of the extreme rarity for these Rickey Henderson test packs it is almost impossible to find any comparable which of course is a good thing, but the closest comparable would probably be the 1980 Topps cello packs with Rickey Henderson on the top and a recent Heritage sale was for $2220 for a PSA 9 along with a recent ebay sale for $1200 for a GAI 7.5. PSA has graded 37 of those! Furthermore, consider how easy it would be to pop open a 1980 cello pack and put a Rickey Henderson on the top. 339 regular 1983 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 10's in existence and they are now fetching close to $450 or about the same price I'm asking here and only 1 1983 Michigan test pack with Rickey Henderson on the back have been graded by PSA- talk about rare. This probably belongs in a major auction house where you are reaching all collectors in general and not just Rickey Henderson collectors because how else would one find this auction unless they use keywords like Rickey Henderson? In other words, the attributes of this pack likely go way beyond Rickey Henderson collectors because of reasons mentioned above and below. THE HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE of only being distributed IN A SMALL GEOGRAPHIC REGION along with a REVOLUTIONARY TEST PACK THAT ODDLY ENOUGH WOULD TAKE MANY YEARS LATER to resurface is JUST THE BEGINNING OF THIS ONE OF A KIND RICKEY HENDERSON CARD. Yes, it's kind of neat to see these tamper resistant packs pop up in a SMALL geographic area in a ONE YEAR HIT WONDER and not reappear for many years later. What's even more striking is when these tamper resistant wrappers did reappear the player on the back of the packs (for most if not all packs) were no longer visible whereas with the 1983 test packs you could actually see who was on the back of the pack which undoubtedly has created this rare unique gem. In other words, it's almost like Topps vaulted a pack of cards with the capability of seeing whose on the back of the pack. A Rickey Henderson CARD IN ITS ORIGINAL PUREST FORM LIKE NO OTHER There is just something special about an untouched piece of history sitting in its original revolutionary pack and presented 40 years later the way it was presented when it was first born 40 years ago. Furthermore, one can have the utmost confidence that this pack wasn't opened and resealed, so you know this rare Rickey Henderson collectible was born at the factory and not in someone's basement. It is almost like Topps put this Rickey Henderson card in a vault to preserve its pristine pureness and how many other hof cards can make that claim? Furthermore, how could any hof in an ordinary wax or cello pack make the claim that it is vaulted in it's purest form when someone can easily open and reseal the pack? Without question the tamper resistant feature of this pack puts this hof card in a class by itself. Yes, this Rickey Henderson has that great story behind it which is always a major plus regardless of any collectible being auctioned off. A rarity like no other that the hobby had ever seen up until 1983 and wouldn't see for many years later. This rare tamper resistant test pack with Rickey Henderson on the back has sometimes been deemed as a PROTOTYPE PACK since this form of packaging would one day become the industry standard in the way cards were packaged. Yes, pretty neat to see this Rickey Henderson in a prototype pack (if you want to call it that way) or as we we will see later a "Back to the Future" pack. If you thought that Rickey Henderson didn’t have that one special card to own like we see today with 1 of 1 or 1 of 5 cards then think again because here we have this one of a kind Rickey Henderson card that was made possible by the clever minds at Topps over 40 years ago. What we have here is one the greatest players of all time visibly appearing in a rare revolutionary test pack that surfaced for the first time back in 1983 and wouldn’t reappear for many years later. This could very well be the holy grail of what many consider one of the greatest players of all-time. This is indeed a 1983 Topps Rickey Henderson in a RARE TEST PACK that was only distributed in a SMALL geographic area and encased in one of the first ever tamper resistant wax style packs the hobby had ever seen. Not only is this Ryne Sandberg sealed in a pack that up until 1983 the hobby had never seen before, but in essence this Rickey Henderson was sonically sealed in an anti-tampering pack similar to what the US Mint does with proof coins. In other words, it was almost like Topps had sonically sealed a few packs with Rickey Henderson on the back especially for the collecting community or kind of like the US Mint does with proof sets for coin collectors. What other HOF rookie card pre-1990 can make this statement? The pictures say it all and you can see just how identical this pack is to the ordinary 1983 Topps wax packs, but the one being auctioned here is tamper resistant whereas the others aren't. It is truly amazing to look at this test pack and only wonder why it took so many years later for this tamper resistant type wrapping to resurface which only adds to luster on what is being auctioned here. Furthermore, when the industry finally did begin to implement crimped end tamper resistant packaging it was nearly impossible to find any packs where the player on the back was visible which only adds to the rarity and the LUSTER of this Rickey Henderson (all the packs I looked at post 1990 I couldn't tell who was on the back either because of the silver foil or the darkness of the wrapper) . Yes indeed, what we have here, and in a very rare fashion, is a visible legendary hof player showing in a tamper resistant crimped end tamper resistant pack like no other. This is undoubtedly a mega rarity where this isn't 1 of 5 cards that made the 10 grade out of 26,000 submitted to PSA, but instead just 1 of these packs have been graded by PSA i. In addition, just as a 10 grade can separate a card from a 9 grade, what we have here is no different where we have this rare test pack with Rickey Henderson on the back which undoubtedly is a powerful and unique separation from the tens of thousands of his ordinary graded cards. Top it off with its extreme rarity and tamper resistant features and here we basically have the modern version of one of those or 1 of 1 or 1 of 5 cards that we see with the likes of Trout, Brady, etc.. These test packs were undoubtedly years ahead of their time and would later become known by many as "Back to the Future" packs since their revolutionary wrappers wouldn't resurface for many years later. It's kind of like GM doing a 2024 body style Corvette back in 2014 in a limited test run and not bringing that same style back until 2024 which would then become the new style for the next 30 years. Have you ever seen any legendary rookie card in any type of test pack? How often do you seen any type of test pack, period? Let alone one that has arguably one of the greatest players of all-time appearing on the back? Possibly, one of the most unique rookie card of any legendary card that the hobby has ever seen and SUPER RARE!! If 1983 Topps Rickey Henderson psa 10's are selling for around $400 and over 300 exist then what should the Rickey Henderson being auctioned here with only 1 PSA graded pack in existence be worth? Finally, these innovative tamper resistant wrappers didn’t come along until 1983, so therefore it wasn’t possible to have any prior big name player in a tamper resistant wax style pack and it would be many years later before the anti-tampering wrappers would resurface, so prior to 1990 there were very few possibilities to get any big name player in a wax style anti-tampering pack PERIOD which further adds to collectability of this rare Rickey Henderson being auctioned here. Without question having this Rickey Henderson in a rare test pack that years later would become the industry standard is in itself a gem in the rough, just as other collectibles like video games in their original rare types of packaging are a gem in the rough and some now commanding six figures.

Price: 79.95 USD

Location: Novi, Michigan

End Time: 2025-01-26T21:00:44.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD