The Carnival edition on Pele
Amidst the hue and cry of David Beckham coming to the USA with the mindboggling potential to earn $50 million a year, is the sobering thought that there are living geniuses like Pele and Diego Maradona who have never see money like that even though they have done infinitely more for the world of soccer. However no other soccer player arouses emotions like Pele or defines a sport as definitively as Pele.
So if you are a soccer fan who has made a big fat bonus at Goldman Sachs or any of the other Wall Street firms and want the ultimate Pele collectible, you finally have the opportunity. The book published by Gloria UK limited to 2,500 copies personally handsigned by Pele. There are three different editions.
The ‘Samba’ edition comes signed by Pelé and is covered in electric green silk. It comes in an overall print run limited to 2,100 units globally and is presented in its own specially-created, silk-covered case.
The ‘Super Samba’ edition is a special edition that comes packaged with a 16”x20” black & white print, entitled ‘Central Park’ created specially for Gloria by renowned American photographer, Marvin Newman, a key contributor to Sports Illustrated, LIFE and Esquire since 1953, and who has been honoured internationally with a number of one man shows. A version of the photograph first appeared in People magazine in August 1975 in a photo essay documenting Pelé’s arrival in New York to play for The Cosmos. Each print is personally autographed by Newman, hologrammed and specially barcoded. It is part of an edition of only 250 units worldwide.
The ‘Carnival’ edition limited to 150 copies has a colour photograph signed by all the surviving members of the 1970 World Cup winning squad. Gloria located each player during their research in Brazil and secured their signatures one-to-one. ‘Carnival’ comes bound in rich brown silk and is limited to only 150 units globally.
The £4,000 Carnival edition was sold out within weeks and now go for a minimum of £10,000.