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PSA graded Pele rookie cards gallery
SECollector
Posts: 37 ✭
Hello guys,
There is a very interesting thread about Pele rookies in the forum but I decided to post here my PSA graded Pele rookie cards (front and backs) for reference. It would be cool if more graded rookies can be added in this post by other collectors, so please feel free to do it. I intent updating it when I have new scans / new information about existing cards.
I start with his personal rookies and I may add some team rookies too.
1958 Alifabolaget #635 Pele (Sweden)
This rookie card of Pele was issued in Sweden during 1958, where the World Cup was held. It presents a 17 years old Pele, at the time widely unknown. The youngest player of the tournament. in my opinion this is one of the most important football cards ever, and for many collectors this is THE holy grail of collecting. It is made of cardboard material and is much smaller than a standard-sized card.
1958 Edizioni V.A.V. Figurine Calcio Vava / Pele
The Italian rookie card, and from my experience one of the two rarest cards of this group. This had been my personal white whale for years. Its very very hard to find this unused, without back damage since it was almost always glued in the album.
1958-59 Tupinamba LTDA Quigol #109 Pele (Brazil)
One of the earliest and rarest cards of Pele is the one from the Coleção Quigol series issued in Brazil by Tupinamba Ltda. This issue was published (like many other Brazilian issues of that time) on thin paper. These are almost always found glued in albums (otherwise it would be virtually impossible to survive due to their fragile nature)
1958 AVE LTDA Titulares #50 Pele (Brazil)
One of the Top-3 rarest cards in the group, this one comes from a series called Titulares that was issued in 1958 in Brazil (I have heard rumours claiming that it was actually printed in 1957 but I have not yet seen any evidence). The series included one more Pele card numbered #86 (see below). PSA labels this series as Hand-Cuts but I am quite convinced that they are wrong about that. All evidence I have gathered supports that those were factory cut but I have not seen any packages yet and have no evidence to present to PSA.
1958 AVE LTDA Titulares #86 Pele (Brazil)
An extremely rare and fragile item. This was short-printed already back then in 1958 and it was considered as one of the tough cards of the collection. It has been counterfeited heavily: photocopied and glued in albums, making it a BIG gamble to purchase albums of the collection when they surface in Brazil and try to remove it. Easily one of my top-3 personal favourites.
1958 Editora Aquarela LTDA #10 Pele (with Black number) (Brazil)
Another one of the 1958 Pele rookie cards, this one comes also from Brazil exactly like the 1958-59 Quigol. This set consisted of 24 cards that came in a perforated sheet and were then glued by the kids in a pretty little album (eight pages, three cards per page). There was a first printing of sheets with black coloured numbers on the back side, while on the later second printing the numbers were blue. The black numbered version is said to be rarer.
1958 Editora Aquarela LTDA #10 Pele (with Blue number) (Brazil)
The Blue number back variation of the same series as the one above.
1958 Rekord journal Garrincha / Pele (Sweden)
This is a hand-cut from the front cover of a Swedish magazine called "Rekord" which published a long series of hand-cut cards that were supposed to be cut and collected. This can be also found as a "single" card where only the Pele part is cut and graded.
1959 Heinerle Pele (Germany)
This is one of the most popular Pele´s rookie cards mainly because of it´s affordability compared to the rarer Swedish, Brazilian and Italian rookies. It was issued by Heinerle in Germany during late 1958 or early 1959. According to information from a fellow collector - referring to sources from the actual printing company - this German set started production a few weeks before christmas 1958 and took a pause for the christmas holidays, starting again early January 1959. It is very unclear whether the Pele card was printed with the 1958 or the early 1959 batch.
1964 Panini Pele (Blank Back / Valida Back) (Germany)
This is in my eyes by no means a rookie card, but it was the first card depicting Pele that was issued by a "major" card publisher: Panini. For some collectors this fact has its importance, and of course it does make it more important than other Panini cards issued later in the 60s. There was a blank back variation, as well as a much rarer "Valida Back" variation.
For more PSA graded Pele cards, please have a look at my PSA Pele Master Set.
Feel free to comment on which one is YOUR favourite Pele rookie card.
Happy collecting!
There is a very interesting thread about Pele rookies in the forum but I decided to post here my PSA graded Pele rookie cards (front and backs) for reference. It would be cool if more graded rookies can be added in this post by other collectors, so please feel free to do it. I intent updating it when I have new scans / new information about existing cards.
I start with his personal rookies and I may add some team rookies too.
1958 Alifabolaget #635 Pele (Sweden)
This rookie card of Pele was issued in Sweden during 1958, where the World Cup was held. It presents a 17 years old Pele, at the time widely unknown. The youngest player of the tournament. in my opinion this is one of the most important football cards ever, and for many collectors this is THE holy grail of collecting. It is made of cardboard material and is much smaller than a standard-sized card.
1958 Edizioni V.A.V. Figurine Calcio Vava / Pele
The Italian rookie card, and from my experience one of the two rarest cards of this group. This had been my personal white whale for years. Its very very hard to find this unused, without back damage since it was almost always glued in the album.
1958-59 Tupinamba LTDA Quigol #109 Pele (Brazil)
One of the earliest and rarest cards of Pele is the one from the Coleção Quigol series issued in Brazil by Tupinamba Ltda. This issue was published (like many other Brazilian issues of that time) on thin paper. These are almost always found glued in albums (otherwise it would be virtually impossible to survive due to their fragile nature)
1958 AVE LTDA Titulares #50 Pele (Brazil)
One of the Top-3 rarest cards in the group, this one comes from a series called Titulares that was issued in 1958 in Brazil (I have heard rumours claiming that it was actually printed in 1957 but I have not yet seen any evidence). The series included one more Pele card numbered #86 (see below). PSA labels this series as Hand-Cuts but I am quite convinced that they are wrong about that. All evidence I have gathered supports that those were factory cut but I have not seen any packages yet and have no evidence to present to PSA.
1958 AVE LTDA Titulares #86 Pele (Brazil)
An extremely rare and fragile item. This was short-printed already back then in 1958 and it was considered as one of the tough cards of the collection. It has been counterfeited heavily: photocopied and glued in albums, making it a BIG gamble to purchase albums of the collection when they surface in Brazil and try to remove it. Easily one of my top-3 personal favourites.
1958 Editora Aquarela LTDA #10 Pele (with Black number) (Brazil)
Another one of the 1958 Pele rookie cards, this one comes also from Brazil exactly like the 1958-59 Quigol. This set consisted of 24 cards that came in a perforated sheet and were then glued by the kids in a pretty little album (eight pages, three cards per page). There was a first printing of sheets with black coloured numbers on the back side, while on the later second printing the numbers were blue. The black numbered version is said to be rarer.
1958 Editora Aquarela LTDA #10 Pele (with Blue number) (Brazil)
The Blue number back variation of the same series as the one above.
1958 Rekord journal Garrincha / Pele (Sweden)
This is a hand-cut from the front cover of a Swedish magazine called "Rekord" which published a long series of hand-cut cards that were supposed to be cut and collected. This can be also found as a "single" card where only the Pele part is cut and graded.
1959 Heinerle Pele (Germany)
This is one of the most popular Pele´s rookie cards mainly because of it´s affordability compared to the rarer Swedish, Brazilian and Italian rookies. It was issued by Heinerle in Germany during late 1958 or early 1959. According to information from a fellow collector - referring to sources from the actual printing company - this German set started production a few weeks before christmas 1958 and took a pause for the christmas holidays, starting again early January 1959. It is very unclear whether the Pele card was printed with the 1958 or the early 1959 batch.
1964 Panini Pele (Blank Back / Valida Back) (Germany)
This is in my eyes by no means a rookie card, but it was the first card depicting Pele that was issued by a "major" card publisher: Panini. For some collectors this fact has its importance, and of course it does make it more important than other Panini cards issued later in the 60s. There was a blank back variation, as well as a much rarer "Valida Back" variation.
For more PSA graded Pele cards, please have a look at my PSA Pele Master Set.
Feel free to comment on which one is YOUR favourite Pele rookie card.
Happy collecting!
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Comments
PSA doesn't label those as different variations, so its impossible to say what these are. I know however that the PSA 3 has an overprint signature, that one of the two PSA 2s has the star (mine) and that one of the two PSA 1s has the signature (yours). Two left to find out... :-)
Nice work. I'd been lapsing a bit on my Pele set while working on building up some of my other soccer sets.