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WW2, who lost their lives in an air
disaster in 1949.
Within the next two years, the
popularity of Panini stickers and
albums across Italy grew, creating an
opportunity for Giuseppe and
Benito’s other two brothers,
Umberto and Franco, to join the
company. This is where Umberto,
the family engineer, made his contri-
bution to the business, inventing
machinery that would print, perfo-
rate, mix, and package the stamps
faster and more efficiently.
Printing, perforating, mixing up,
and packaging millions of stickers a
year with rudimentary machinery was
an obstacle that threatened Panini’s
ability to expand its business. The
machine Umberto designed to mix The Fratelli Panini Distribution Agency was founded in 1961 with the
the stickers—a process previously showpiece Calciatori (football players) album – Grande Raccolta Figurine Panini Soccer Sticker Card #38 Pelé, Team
Calciatori in full – launching during the 1961–62 season.
done manually using a shovel and Several million packets were sold for the first album, and many Brazil, Mexico 70 World Cup Story, 1990,
later a butter churn to prevent dreaded
more snapped up the following season once word had spread. photo: The Athletic selling for $69 on eBay.
duplicates in each pack—is still in use
today, 62 years later.
have been printed on thick cardboard cards which can be put into the

The Holy Grail for Panini Collectors album by using glue or scotch tape, while posters and flags are
produced as self-adhesive stickers.
At the time, the 1970 album cost around two Mexican pesos, and a
Panini’s most defining next step was the license it secured with pack of five stickers cost around 20 or 25 cents. Since then, the value
FIFA, the world’s governing soccer body, to create stamps and an of complete albums and stickers of certain players have given rise to a
official album for the 1970 World Cup held in Mexico. For Panini commercial market for Panini stickers and albums, especially stickers
collectors, 1970 means everything, and a complete album from that and albums from this 1970 commemorative album.
year is considered the “Holy Grail” among Panini collectors. In 2014, it was reported that a 1970 Mexico Panini album plus a
The first page of 50 in the 1970 album is dedicated to the Mexico complete set of stickers sold for over $8,400 on eBay, as reported in
‘70 World Cup, with the next eight pages containing a brief history of CardzReview, the self-professed “ultimate stickers and card resource.”
each of the eight FIFA World Cups until that date, with three of the In 2018, a complete Mexico 70 album sold for £1,550 on eBay, and
main players from each winning team receiving a card each. The bulk just this past December, it was noted that an album is expected to
of the album is based on the theme—now a standard in Panini World exceed that record-breaking price and realize £1,800 or more at
Cup albums—with each team’s logo, team photo, and a place for player auction. Individual stickers of certain players from that year and future
stamps. The cards were given multilingual captions and for the first World Cups, however, can far exceed these values and the cost of
time were offered for sale outside Italy. buying albums and stickers continues to rise as collectors worldwide
The combination of self-adhesive peel-off stickers and cardboard look to fill in their albums with the more elusive and famed players.
cards is what makes Panini Mexico 70 unique. All the players and teams One of the most popular players of the 1970 World Cup is Pelé. A
Pelé Panini card today
from that game is valued
at $11,000 (PSA 10).
Other famed players from
other World Cup tourna-
ments realizing invest-
ment-grade values include
Lionel Messi, whose card
from the 2014 World
Cup sold for an astound-
ing £115,000, and
Christiano Ronaldo from
the 2002 games in
Korea/Japan, which
recently realized £60,000.
“The thing about the
World Cup is it’s just an
absolute global phenome-
non,” said Panini America
CEO Mark Warsop in a
2018 interview in Sports
Illustrated. “The backbone of our business has been built on the back of
Footie fan Andrew Knott, 65, from Leics, got the album for his 12th birthday. The the World Cup since we did our first collection in 1970. It’s the one
album was recently found in the owner’s attic and is valued at $2,270. Every sport that’s followed by every country on the planet.”
Mexico 1970 sticker is in the album. Today, it is said the World Cup unofficially kicks off when Panini

Right: The Three Lions page from Andrew Knott’s rare 1970 Panini sticker album releases its sticker album. The Company claims it prints 11 million
includes such legends as Bobby and Jack Charlton and Bobby Moore. sticker packets a day in the months leading up to this quadrennial

20 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles