Quick Oakhurst Cards Commentary: Topps Christmas-themed baseball rack packs are widely considered illegitimate, and with 99.9% certainty were never produced by Topps themselves, ever (if you have evidence otherwise, please do contact us!). Some vintage buyers, for whatever reason, continue to push a so-far unsubstantiated claim that these are “real,” but all evidence indicates that they are nothing more than repacks of commons–similar to what you would find in Wal-Mart or Target today for $9.95 with more modern cards from the junk wax era.
In short, they may look like real vintage Topps-issued packs, they may feel like rack packs, and they may even have the smell of a truly 50+ year old pack–but until concrete evidence exists to say otherwise–the consensus is that these packs are nothing more than Topps commons that have been re-packed and distributed; by who, we may never know…
Full Version:
“Holiday Rack Packs?” No one has been able to, with 100% certainty, define the origin of these mysterious packs. The authenticity of vintage-looking baseball card rack packs, all of which include only Topps baseball cards and feature holiday-themed packaging — specifically those adorned with Santa Claus images and “Season’s Greetings” labels. These packs have circulated on eBay and among collectors, prompting ongoing debates over whether they’re legitimate vintage releases or modern fabrications. 
Collectors and vintage enthusiats largely agree that these holiday rack packs were never officially issued by companies like Topps, Fleer, or Donruss (though, of course, the last two would not be applicable in this case). Instead, they are viewed as aftermarket creations, possibly assembled by individuals or retailers to increase holiday sales. There is no evidence that they were ever part of an official distribution. Hobby veterans have always expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of these “Christmas” packs, highlighting inconsistencies in packaging materials and the absence of verifiable provenance.
More recently, especially with the presence of social media, the consensus among seasoned collectors has grown even stronger: these packs are fraudulent. Despite ongoing attempts to justify them using dubious indicators like staple types, cardboard texture, or edge wear, there remains zero contemporary documentation to support that these were produced alongside original card runs. Many vintage baseball card collectors and speculators trace their modern appearance to hobbyist Mark Murphy, after which they began spreading. Christmas racks now exist containing cards as late as 1986, including traded sets — further suggesting that they’re still being assembled today by private individuals. There are claims of people remembering these holiday packs from childhood–but these testaments remain unsupported by photos, catalogs, or firsthand documents.
The very short of it is quite simple, the most educated vintage card collectors widely agree: these racks are fabricated. Their only value lies in the visible cards on the front and back, which are usually chosen to mislead–and even then the cards are usually of minimal value. Think “Don Drysdale” as the high-end of what you will find showing. No meaningful cards have surfaced from these packs when opened on camera, which only reinforces the belief that they’re carefully curated to appear enticing while offering nothing substantial.
In short, the Christmas rack packs are widely regarded as modern scams crafted to deceive unwary buyers, with no legitimate tie to the original card manufacturers.