Pin Pointed

The collection started when Bhat’s father S R Bhat,a retired industrialist,started picking up lapel pins from his business travels around the world as remembrances instead of the usual tourist souvenirs. Later,Punit started adding to the collection,and between themselves they have gathered over 500 pins. Amongst these,football-related pins,apart from the FIFA pin,comprise of the official replica of the medal presented to the participating teams of the World Cup in Korea/Japan which bears in miniature the flags of all the participating countries,the lapel pin of the Jules Rimet Cup which is presented to the winners and lapel pins of all 32 countries which participated in the World Cup in Germany – group wise. Lapel pins of participating clubs of the English Premier League (EPL) and European Premier League (UEFA) are also in the collection.

“Contrary to many who feel that I purchased a pin,we wrote a letter to FIFA telling them that we are collectors of Sports memorabilia and that we would love to add the FIFA world cup lapel pin to our collection. They responded promptly and sent the lapel pin as a complement,” smiles he adding that the pins are not available in the market for sale and are possessed by FIFA officials exclusively.