MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Unique Uruguay Football Medal for sale.
Memories of football's first ever World Cup final in Uruguay more than 70 years ago have been revived by the proposed sale of the Uruguay Captain's gold medal.
The golden winner's medal was presented to the captain of the host nation, Uruguay, Jose Nasazzi, after their four ?two defeat of Argentina in Montevideo in 1930.
Only 13 teams, four from Europe, took part in the inaugural tournament which was by invitation only.
Jose Nasazzi was the only player to receive a gold medal. His team-mates were awarded silver or bronze medals. His medal is expected to sell for about £100,000 (about 150,000 dollars). It is the centrepiece of the 1930 World Cup museum collection of Rony Almeida in Uruguay. The medal is due to be auctioned by the North-West England Chester firm of Bonham's in April.
Football memorabilia is big business in Britain. Football shirts are most sought after and fetch the biggest prices. A collector paid a world record price of £157,750 (about 236,000 dollars) last year when the London auction firm, Christie's, sold the shirt of the world-famous Brazilian player, Pele. Other Pele shirts have been sold for lesser amounts. Next month, Christie's have 300 football items for sale.
New firms are entering the market. One of them, called Sporting Memory's Worldwide Auctions, hosts postal auctions four times a year.
Football match programmes also fetch big sums, up to about £4,000 (about 600 dollars) each for historic matches.
Harold Briley, (MP) London
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