My stash of 1974 Andre the Giant Rookie Cards from Japan

wrestlingcardking · May 17, 2015 3:48AM

Thought some people may enjoy looking at this pic.

VintagemanEd · May 17, 2015 5:01AM

What do these go for?

SumoMenkoMan · May 17, 2015 8:29AM

Very cool. Looks like the majority of the graded cards so far. What are the grades?

wrestlingcardking · May 17, 2015 9:07AM

<< Very cool. Looks like the majority of the graded cards so far. What are the grades? >>

#25 (slam): 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, and 5 (MK) (redeemed winner card, rare insert)
#29 (profile): 9, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, and 2.

I do have most of the cards graded 5 or higher if you look at the pop reports.

wrestlingcardking · May 17, 2015 10:13AM

<< What do these go for? >>

I bought my PSA 7 profile shot off of Eagles for $600.

SumoMenkoMan · May 17, 2015 10:21AM

Going into this I thought for sure there was less than a dozen in existence. Nice to see I was wrong. I don't believe there are hundreds, but I'd venture to say that there are probably closer to 50 or so out there still.

eagles33 · May 17, 2015 10:29AM

This is an amazing stash. A must have for any wrestling card collector. I consider this his rookie. I know he has 2 earlier cards but this one is my choice since its pack issued and on card stock.

wrestlingcardking · May 18, 2015 2:51AM

<< 

<< Very cool. Looks like the majority of the graded cards so far. What are the grades? >>

#25 (slam): 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, and 5 (MK) (redeemed winner card, rare insert)
#29 (profile): 9, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, and 2.

I do have most of the cards graded 5 or higher if you look at the pop reports. >>

I thought it would be fun to look at my tally for each of the grades after I posted this pic. I am unsure of exactly what I have here but I do know that Andre was unreal to so many people growing up and there will never be another wrestler/guy like him. These are pack issued on cardstock as Eagles said, so I do think there is reason why to like them as a collectible item. I expect to have a graded set of 40 cards to my collection potentially this week and more of these surfaced in the last year or two than ever. Even with a supply coming out, there will never be a lot of them out there. I am going to continue to add these to my collection if I am able to locate them...

Total 34 graded, and I own 17 of them. Of the ones grades PSA 5 or better I now have 15 of the 23 (65%).

Andre the Giant (slam) rookie and the pop reports/my collection
#25
PSA 2- only 1
PSA 3- 1, I have the card in a PSA 5 (MK)
PSA 4- 3
PSA 5- 8, I have five of eight
PSA 6- 2, I have one of two
PSA 7- 2, I have one of two
PSA 8- 1, I own it
PSA 9- 1, I own it

Andre the Giant (profile shot)
#29
PSA 2- 3, I own one
PSA 3- none
PSA 4- 3
PSA 5- 4, I have three of the four
PSA 6- 2, I have one of two
PSA 7- 2, I have one of two.....I had the other but a friend wanted it so I parted with it
PSA 8- none
PSA 9- 1, I own it

These may be worth nothing to other people but I obviously think there is something to them and they are just fun to own.

eagles33 · May 18, 2015 3:05AM

Don't forget the psa 5mk is actually a cxled winner stamped card. I would send it back to psa the next time you send a sub. Put it on a separate submission form and marke as a mechanical error. They will correct the slab at no cost to you other than shipping. Include any variations that are mislabeled too. For some reason I like to see things get slabbed for the first time.

SumoMenkoMan · May 18, 2015 3:26AM

<< Don't forget the psa 5mk is actually a cxled winner stamped card. I would send it back to psa the next time you send a sub. Put it on a separate submission form and marke as a mechanical error. They will correct the slab at no cost to you other than shipping. Include any variations that are mislabeled too. For some reason I like to see things get slabbed for the first time. >>

I should release a second edition to my book with the expanded checklist as it stands so hopefully they will start referencing the updates. I think they might still be using the old cchcklist which was released before there were known color variations.

wrestlingcardking · May 18, 2015 10:08PM

<< 

<< Don't forget the psa 5mk is actually a cxled winner stamped card. I would send it back to psa the next time you send a sub. Put it on a separate submission form and marke as a mechanical error. They will correct the slab at no cost to you other than shipping. Include any variations that are mislabeled too. For some reason I like to see things get slabbed for the first time. >>

I should release a second edition to my book with the expanded checklist as it stands so hopefully they will start referencing the updates. I think they might still be using the old cchcklist which was released before there were known color variations. >>

I am going to try and get to them to correct the winner card as that is the only Andre winner card slabbed that I know about.

On the other hand, Andre the Giant would have been 69 years old today. Happy Birthday Andre!

Dboneesq · May 18, 2015 10:42PM

Rob ... it's always great when someone so passionate about certain cards shares them here. I enjoy seeing some of my fellow collectors favorite cards. Enjoy them!

SumoMenkoMan · May 19, 2015 12:42PM

<< 

<< 

<< Don't forget the psa 5mk is actually a cxled winner stamped card. I would send it back to psa the next time you send a sub. Put it on a separate submission form and marke as a mechanical error. They will correct the slab at no cost to you other than shipping. Include any variations that are mislabeled too. For some reason I like to see things get slabbed for the first time. >>

I should release a second edition to my book with the expanded checklist as it stands so hopefully they will start referencing the updates. I think they might still be using the old cchcklist which was released before there were known color variations. >>

I am going to try and get to them to correct the winner card as that is the only Andre winner card slabbed that I know about.

On the other hand, Andre the Giant would have been 69 years old today. Happy Birthday Andre!

>>

The MK qualifier is a mark of distinction for these cards. Some lucky kid in 1974 was fortunate enough to land one and get his album!

wrestlingcardking · June 26, 2015 2:14AM

A raw Andre slam card went for $306 on ebay last night that had a few corner bumps on it.....it looked like a pretty clean card. It was much nicer than what you typically see. It was nice to see some good action on this card.

SumoMenkoMan · June 26, 2015 8:44PM

That is a really strong price!

wrestlingcardking · December 26, 2015 3:37AM

I am adding another ten PSA slabbed cards of Andre the Giant from this set. I am getting cards of #25 in PSA grades of 4, 5, 5, and 5. Not only that I am receiving cards of #29 in PSA grades of 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, and 6. That will be 26 graded PSA Andres from this 1974 Yamakatsu set of the 45 graded total. These are my only PSA 4s so most are in nice mid grade shape with a few mint copies for the collection. I did sell my PSA 2 for $100 as I didn't have a desire to have that card in that grade in my hoard. People have been submitting these cards since the last time that I posted about these cards which is good to see.

My current tally is here

#25: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, plus a rare redeemed insert card in PSA 5 (MK)

#29: 9, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4.

The search continues......................

Dboneesq · December 26, 2015 6:02AM

WTG Rob ... keep up the enthusiasm. Did you pick all the new ones up from one source?

TJMAC · December 26, 2015 6:58AM

I am seeing these for the first time. Great looking cards. Like many kids, Andre was my favorite wrestler growing up. I was so mad when Hogan beat him at WrestleMania 3.

wrestlingcardking · December 26, 2015 10:58PM

Originally posted by: Dboneesq
WTG Rob ... keep up the enthusiasm. Did you pick all the new ones up from one source?

I did pick them up from a single source. I am hoping that others take interest in these cards eventually, but if not, that will be okay too.

wrestlingcardking · January 1, 2016 1:40AM

Here is my most updated picture..........

Tecmo Boil · December 2, 2017 5:11AM

WCK (or anyone else who knows),
What is the perfect/ideal cut for these 1974 cards? I’ve noticed a red/pink border around some of the cards I’ve seen on eBay. Is a perfect cut one that just barely doesn’t include the border? Or is a certain height/width measurement considered perfect?

In other words, if you had an uncut sheet (which I don’t), what would be the best way to cut?

Thank you!

SumoMenkoMan · December 3, 2017 1:45AM

WCK should be able to give you a good answer. These cards are full bleed so majority of times they have part of the adjacent card on them. An uncut sheet would be really cool to find, but would have had to come from the factory as they didn’t issue them in uncut form for retail.

Dpeck100 · December 3, 2017 5:54AM

Here are pics of my two copies for reference.

Tecmo Boil · December 3, 2017 5:58AM

Thanks DPeck, SMM,

I just picked up a PSA6. Will have to compare to your pics and see what the differences are once I receive it.

wrestlingcardking · December 4, 2017 5:28AM

Sorry I did not see this over the weekend. Congrats on picking up an Andre card. Hopefully you received a card that has nice appeal with the cut around the border.

My stash of 1974 Andre the Giant Rookie Cards from Japan

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