Ex-Pele Collection: The FIFA Order of Merit awarded toPele, being the highest honour FIFA

Ex-Pelé Collection: The FIFA Order of Merit awarded to  Pelé, being the highest honour FIFA bestows, with  Pelé one of the original inductees in 1984 [the others being Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Charlton and Dino Zoff], by Huguenin, gold tone medal with blue and gold ribbon, obverse with FIFA globes insignia, the reverse inscribed ORDER OF MERIT; sold together with a smaller version of the medal with ribbon, with brooch fitting, to be worn on a jacket lapel, diameter 25mm. and an even smaller version that can be kept on the ribbon, but detachable with a stud fitting so it can be worn simply through a lapel buttonhole, diameter, 12.5mm. Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer are also the only two players to have been awarded two FIFA Order of Merit medals, the other being the FIFA Centennial version awarded in 2004. Pele's 2004 Order of Merit is offered elsewhere in the auction as lot ***. Provenance: The Pelé Collection. Julien’s Auctions, London, 7th to 9th June 2016, as lot 664.