I bet it wasn't Topps. I bet the guy received an offer that he considered absurd and unpassable. Obviously he doesn't collect cards. If I had enough extra money to make a gamble, I would have made the guy an offer to purchase EVERY one of them. Put them on eBay one card at a time, and every one of the set collectors would be tripping over each other to get them. My guess is that one would be able to pay for their investment after 20-30 sales. The other 450+ cards would probably be profit.
Tim