Estimated at £70,000-140,000, it has already attracted an online bid of £120,000 in advance of being offered from the rostrum.
The current record for any football medal at auction is the £220,000 hammer price set by Stanley Matthews' 1953 F.A. Cup Final winner's medal that sold at a Graham Budd auction in November 2014.
The sale of Pelé’s collection, which is being conducted by Los Angeles-based firm Julien's Auctions and is taking place at London’s Mall Galleries, has already posted a string of exceptional prices including for the player’s two earlier World Cup medals.
His winner’s medal from the 1958 World Cup, where Pelé made his name as a 17-year-old and became the youngest ever World Cup goal scorer at 17 years and 239 days, fetched £160,000 – equalling the second highest price for any football medal. Pelé’s 1962 World Cup winner's medal then went on to make £110,000.
Darren Julien, president and CEO of Julien’s, is expecting the 1970 medal to make even more. “It’s had by far the most interest in a lot for the entire auction,” he told ATG.
The 1970 Brazil national football team is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest ever international football teams. Pelé scored the opening goal in the 18th minute of the World Cup final versus Italy, which was held in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, paving the way for Brazil's 4-1 victory and to the country's third World Cup title. In winning the 1970 World Cup, Pelé became the only football player in history to win the World Cup three times, and he was awarded the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.
Jules Rimet Trophy
The top price of the Julien's sale so far came for a special replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy which was made for Pelé after the 1970 World Cup.
Jules Rimet, the third president of FIFA and the man widely credited with the creation of the FIFA World Cup tournament, had the trophy named after him which was presented to the winner of the tournament from its inception in 1930 until 1970.
Rimet instituted a rule that any team that won the World Cup three times would be allowed to keep the trophy permanently. Brazil accomplished this with its victory in the 1970 World Cup and, as a member of Brazil's 1958, 1962 and 1970 teams, Pelé received this personal replica of the trophy which was jointly commissioned by FIFA and the Mexican government (Mexico was the host nation of the 1970 World Cup).
Estimated at £280,000-420,000, the trophy was taken to £320,000 at which point the winning bid was placed on behalf of the Swiss watch makers Hublot, one of the 75-year-old ex-player’s corporate partners.
The buyer's premium at Julien's is 25/20%.
