Holy Grail Pele Mail

[Anish]

Picked up the top two cards on my Post-War wantlist this past month - the Pele Alfa and Quigol!


As you might expect, the Alfa came from Sweden and the Quigol from Brazil. It's awesome to get cards that are not only 60 years old but also originate in different parts of the world.

The Alfa has a very sharp and vibrant image for a 1950's issue while the Quigol has perhaps the best design of any football set. The former is also more like a "card" while the latter is definitely a "sticker" in terms of its stock.

Anyone else have either or both? Which do you prefer?

[Exhibitman]

IMO the Alpha is a much nicer card. Elegant, simple, classic design.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I have neither but like the Alfa more.

[Arazi4442]

Wow, those are terrific pick-ups! Been looking for both of those as well. Tough to find for a decent price now. It also feels like the amount of fake cards/fraud is on the rise for both examples.

[aljurgela]

The the ALFA was the best Pele rookie card for a number of reasons:

1. It was clearly published in 1958 at the World Cup in Sweden
2. It is on cardboard stock
3. It was Pele's international "stardom" moment when the world recognized him as the talent that he was.

Although I very much love the design of the Quigol, I am pretty sure that it was not actually issued in 1958 based on my research. It is more likely a 1959-60 issue from what I can tell.

BUT, the market has "voted" in terms of value and the Pele Quigol is the only soccer card that I am aware of that has sold for more than $10k USD.

I also like the Titulares cards from Brazil, which I do believe are from 1958.

Also the VAV card from Italy is from 1958 and given its relative rarity when compared to the other issues from 1958, I really like it as well.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Looks not so good in the baggie.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Alifab...ty!02465!US!-1

[Anish]

Originally Posted by Arazi4442

Wow, those are terrific pick-ups! Been looking for both of those as well. Tough to find for a decent price now. It also feels like the amount of fake cards/fraud is on the rise for both examples.

Thanks! Yeah, I’m lucky to have landed them at decent prices.

Originally Posted by aljurgela

The the ALFA was the best Pele rookie card for a number of reasons:

1. It was clearly published in 1958 at the World Cup in Sweden
2. It is on cardboard stock
3. It was Pele's international "stardom" moment when the world recognized him as the talent that he was.

Although I very much love the design of the Quigol, I am pretty sure that it was not actually issued in 1958 based on my research. It is more likely a 1959-60 issue from what I can tell.

BUT, the market has "voted" in terms of value and the Pele Quigol is the only soccer card that I am aware of that has sold for more than $10k USD.

I also like the Titulares cards from Brazil, which I do believe are from 1958.

Also the VAV card from Italy is from 1958 and given its relative rarity when compared to the other issues from 1958, I really like it as well.

Yup. Though for what it’s worth, Messi Megacracks PSA 10 has sold for over 10K and there is a Pele Alfa PSA 8.5 in Heritage this summer that will surely top that.

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Anish,

Congrats on picking up Pele's best cards. Are you going to send it to PSA? It looks VG-EX to me.

I like both cards, but the Quigol is way more difficult to find in high grade due to the following reasons:

- Printed on very thin paper stock

- Glued into albums.

- Poorly cut.

- Since the card was manufactured in Brazil, which is Pele's home country, it was obviously handled more due to popularity.

And I agree with Al that this card wasn't a 1958 issue, however, most collectors are probably aware of this and don't care. Look at the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, for example. It is not his rookie, but Americans still go nuts over it.

Thanks man. I will submit it eventually, but as illustrated above they don’t look great in any of the slabs. PSA probably does the worst job as far as presentation and I want to enjoy looking at and/or displaying the card.

I like the SGC slabs when they have the custom cut, but I understand why they use the sleeves for some issues. The Quigol especially is so thin...