Pele
 

In 2015, Pele was scheduled to appear at the Chicago Sun Times show. I spent the month before the show purchasing as many vintage Pele cards as I could find. I flew to Chicago, and upon landing received an email notifying me that he had canceled his appearance. He was scheduled to sign at Steiner Sports in New York a few days later, so I overnighted all of my items to Steiner and fortunately he didn't cancel that signing. I didn't get to meet him, but I did get some very cool items signed. These cards have been sitting in my safe for the last several years, and I recently looked to see what his cards have been selling for and I was shocked. I think I paid less than $8,000 for all these cards/tickets and the autograph fee. I see that an unsigned Alifabolaget graded PSA 1 just sold for over $15K. Does anyone know the reason why his prices have spiked so dramatically? I don't have any plans to sell, but seeing these prices does make that possibility tempting.

Perfect timing to make those purchases in 2015! I had the misfortune of selling many Pele cards in 2014-15, including an Alifabolaget PSA 9 for what was then the ungodly sum of $5,000. It's a 6 figure card now.

Worldwide market has opened for Pele - when I list items on eBay, most are sold to international buyers. Desire for the GOAT in various sports has soared, and with Pele secure atop the soccer world as the GOAT, his cards have skyrocketed.

Prices have climbed for Pele over the past several years, but soccer has seen a large spike in 2020 across the board, which has brought Pele to an even higher level. I have cards which were $100 six months ago which are $300 now, both for Pele and for many others (Maradona, Ronaldo, etc.).

So, interesting question re: selling for sure, but can't imagine a better time than now for you!

The equally massive surge in Messi prices suggests to me that Pele's place may not be so secure after all.

I recall considering buying a PSA 9 Alifabolaget around that same time period but passed because I was planning to get it signed and didn't see the point in spending an extra $3k-$4k. I actually ended up buying two raw ones for around $1,500 each and had both signed. I sold the extra one, which I think graded a 2, on ebay during the 2018 World Cup for around $8,000. I thought that price was crazy and almost sold more of my Peles during that time frame. Looking back I'm glad I didn't.

Your analysis of GOATs increasing in value seems to be true. I think the Jordan market started spiking and the others followed suit. The high end market in general has been going crazy.

I wish I had your foresight in buying those and getting them signed - brilliant decision and impeccable timing. Best of luck, whatever you do with them!

Some guys have all the luck!


I'd say start with your least favorite, lowest grade copy with a high buy it now/best offer. It's impossible to time the market, however you only profit/loss when you do sell. The value on paper can dramatically fluctuate, though you bank account stays the same!

First of all, the only Pele card that has exploded is the Alifabolaget. The others have gone up a bit, but nothing worth mentioning as of yet. Nobody truly knows why this has happened, but according to my discussions with another collector, there is some well-known guy in the hobby who seems to have fallen in love with this particular card. Every time this card would go up for sale, he would bid away! I couldn't tell you who the others are that bid up against him, but let me say that this whole thing has been really suspicious to me. This individual has been bidding like crazy on basketball cards as well, but again, the question is did money actually exchange hands here? Remember, there are fake sales that take place all the time in order to create fake comps, and you must always keep that in mind whenever you see a ridiculous price on eBay.

A PSA 2 1958 Editora Aquarela sold for $2600 yesterday. A PSA 8 Rekord Journal sold for $7300 last month. Those cards could be had for a couple hundred dollars each fairly recently. It doesn’t seem like the spike is limited to the Alifabolaget.