1974 Japanese ANDRE THE GIANT rookie card stash

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I know from this board, eBay and other boards that each of you guys really know your stuff with regard to wrestling cards. Could you weigh in on which Andre card is the one to have between the two Yamakatsu cards and the Wrestling All-Stars card if you could only have one of the three cards.

I know the Wrestling All-Stars set is iconic and much more mainstream, but the Yamakatsu seems more scarce and is nearly a decade earlier.

Is the Andre profile card considered preferable to the action shot in the Yamakatsu set? Thanks for any opinions.

I think it is really personal preference. In recent years there have been efforts to discover older wrestling issues specifically from Japan and those efforts have yielded the 1972 Gong Magazine card and both of the 1974 Yamakatsu cards and a few others from the late 70's.

None of these examples are close to standard sized trading cards so if one likes a more traditional card these won't appeal as much as the 1982 Wrestling All Stars card.

You also have the 1973 Wrestling Annual and once again this is not a typical trading card and is a paper cut out from the magazine. The cover references them as wallet sized photos of your favorite stars and subsequent magazines from 1978 and 1981 refer to them as trading cards and PSA will grade all three.

In my view I would rather a trading card with a front and back that was offered in pack form. The 1982 Wrestling All Stars came in sealed cellophane packs and have two versions that we know of. One with The Chrusher on the back and the other with The Destroyer. Neither have the cards in numeric order but in all cases Andre is the first card making the corners and surface extremely susceptible to damage. All cards from the set have centering issues and the Andre card also has printing problems where his Afro is.

There has been no other card that I spent more time and resources to acquire the highest graded version possible of. I bought countless high grade BGS examples in an effort to secure what appeared to be strong copies. I tried crossing them in the holder and eventually cracked them all out but always fell short of the elusive PSA 9 grade. Once the opportunity presented itself I jumped at the chance. Since then there have been two BGS 9.5 examples surface and I personally do not think they will cross over to a PSA 9 and certainly have no chance at a PSA 10. There will never be a PSA 10 Andre from this set. Period.

For me I would rather the Wrestling All Stars card but I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. Clearly the Yamakatsu card came from a pack and was issued at a much earlier date. That said the Wrestling All Stars are the first true hard stock wrestling set ever issued in the United States and that is one of the things that I find so appealing about them.

If you choose to go with the Yamakatsu I think most if not all would agree that a profile shot is better then an action shot if available and since it is that would be the one I would suggest is the best.

I don't specifically view all wrestling cards as just wrestling cards. Many of the performers are pop culture icons and Andre The Giant was one of a kind. Adding a nice Andre card to any collection in my view is a great idea.

Good luck which ever route you choose.