FIFA World Cup 2010 Trophy Replicas Produced by Henry Melo Rey in Colombia
The Football World Cup has kept the world entwined throughout the last month, and we are now approaching the final of the mega event that has seen some spellbinding action, pushing the passionate fans on the edge of their seats as they see their teams advance to the climax or agonizingly crash out of the tournament.
The passion for the game in Latin America is insurmountable with people being caught in the action, and the feeling resonates in some of the countries that are not even participating in the event.
One of those countries is Colombia, where the passion of the game is second to none, and the soccer mad fans (allegedly) shot dead their team defender Escobar, who conceded an own goal in a group match of the 1994 Football World Cup.
To portray his love for the game, Henry Melo Rey, a pottery maker, has produced replicas of the World Cup trophy.
The process of producing the trophy is tedious to say the least: Rey first kneads a mass of clay, and then pours it into a plaster mold to produce a ceramic replica of the most recognizable sporting trophy in the world.
Just like Rey, most of the Colombians are closely monitoring the events in South Africa, where the World Cup has turned into the most coveted sports awards on the planet.
Keeping in mind the interest in the game, Rey and his brothers have used their talents as craftsmen and made the trophy accessible to millions of fans across the nation.
"This idea came about four years ago, during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Along with my brother William, we had the idea, the initiative to make this World Cup because the trophy is fairly unobtainable," said the 34-year-old, who works from a far-flung village.
Rey and his brother spent considerable time searching for the trophy on the internet and working out its dimensions, to make their replicas as close to the trophy as possible.
The trophy owned by the Federation of International Football Association is made of 18 carat gold, and is 36.8 centimeters tall weighing 6.175 grams.
The base of the spectacular trophy has two rings of semi-precious malachite, with the trophy engraved with the names and years of all the champions since 1974. The original trophy, as per the FIFA regulations, belongs to the Federation, while the winners receive a gold replica.
The pieces made by the Melo Rey brothers copy every detail, from color to size, yet there remains one major exception. Their replicas are less in weight compared to the trophy, (as the original trophy is made of solid gold) with the size, height, and base being the same.
The replicas are hollow, with six or seven millimeter-thickness of clay, and they are stored in Rey’s workshop.
The trophies are fired at an extremely high temperature of 900 degrees Celsius for at least 14 hours.
Then, in the second part of the process, the replicas are cooled, polished and painted, with each trophy taking one week to make.
Rey’s brother Javier added that "People have liked it", as they did not have the chance of seeing the greatest prize in football, as in the past, they had a shortage of people who had the ability of producing replicas which soccer fans love.
The replicas have brought about decent rewards for Melo Rey and his family, who have thus far made 700 trophies, each selling at 6 dollars.
Their demand is even higher in some of the major cities in the country, as trophies are also sold at craft shops fetching 10 to 12 dollars apiece.
The next target for the Melo brothers is the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where they hope to make a fortune by selling thousands of replicas.
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