Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog

I am a KISS fan, ever since I first heard Strutter, back when I was in sixth grade, (around 1978). With that in mind, here is my KISS collectible story: Sometime back in the late ’80’s, I paid a visit to a store called Coins and Collectibles. This is the store where I made one of the best trades in my entire Metal life… the trade was for an unopened box of KISS wax packs, (dated 1978). This cool and very untidy store was full of treasures, ranging from sports cards to coins and just about anything else in-between. The proprietor of Coins and Collectibles was a swell guy named Jeff, he was very friendly and had a remarkable gift to gab… about anything. (I gravitate towards anyone who wants to gab about anything it seems… except for gossip, I can’t stomach gossip). Oh yeah… back to the real story. Used records were always around his store too… so Jeff and I would have many conversations about Classic Rock Bands… Grand Funk Railroad, The Doors, Uriah Heep, Nazareth and yes… KISS. When I first caught a glimpse of this unopened box of KISS wax packs in Jeff’s store, man, I was shaking. These were the KISS cards that I could never get my hands on when I was a kid back in ’78… they were either not in stock at the corner market or my parents were too broke to buy them for me.

I asked Jeff what he was asking for the box… he stated quite easily, seventy five bucks. Seventy five bucks was a chunk of change for me back around 1986. (It still is quite a chunk of change for me now). Jeff being the good guy that he was, offered to “trade” with me instead of a cash only deal. At the time, I was very much the sports card collector, (I still am, only extremely toned down now), so Jeff knew he would score something from me that he could turn around quickly in his store for a profit. The item that I offered to Jeff in trade for this wax box of KISS cards was… an unopened wax box of 1985 Donruss Baseball Cards. Back then, there were hot-shot baseball players that were considered valuable in this box, (if they were in the packs that is)… Dwight Gooden, Roger Clemens, Darryl Strawberry and Don Mattingly, just to name some. Looking at this trade now, Don Mattingly is the only player that probably has any value at all, to his baseball cards, out of that bunch.

Jeff accepted this unopened wax box of baseball cards with glee in his eyes. I accepted the KISS wax box with Metal glee in my eyes. Done deal. Jeff later sold this wax box of baseball cards for profit in his store and I never parted with this box of KISS wax packs to this very day. I made out on this deal too… I have seen this box of KISS wax packs selling for twice as much as the initial $75 asking price over the years. Honestly, value aside, I’m just happy to still have this piece of KISSTORY in my collection. My wife took a picture of what this box of KISS trading cards/wax packs looks like with her iphone… she has easily become the Metal Odyssey staff photographer, (as well as graphic design consultant too). I truly appreciate any and all of the consultation she provides with my blog. Uh, yes, she is into Metal too… thank goodness. Here is the KISS wax box, note that I have kept it in a thick, plastic, see through bag over the years for its own protection.

The card manufacturer is Donruss. At the top right corner of the box, it reads: Aucoin MGT. 1978 BY AGRMT WITH KISS. The only printing on the bottom of the box is: Made and printed in U.S.A.. There is 36 packs in this box, each pack has a real cool, stick of stale hard bubble gum too.

__________________________________________________________________

* For more info on KISS, click on the link below!

http://www.kissonline.com

LONG LIVE KISS.

Stone.

This entry was posted on January 17, 2010 at 2:57 am and is filed under 1970's hard rock, 1970's heavy metal, 1970's Rock, classic rock, classic rock bands, heavy metal bands, heavy metal history, heavy metal music, heavy metal music 1978, metal odyssey, Music, rock & roll, rock and roll, rock and roll memorabilia, rock music with tags 1978 kiss bubble gum cards, 1978 kiss wax box, ace frehley guitarist, classic rock, donruss kiss trading cards, gene simmons bass guitarist, hard rock music, kiss, kiss trading cards, kiss wax packs, kisstory, metal odyssey, paul stanley guitarist, peter criss drummer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.