STIRLING, Scotland (UPI) -- The oldest known soccer ball in the world will leave its museum home in Scotland to be part of a display on the game's history at the World Cup in Germany.

Estimated to be 450-years-old, the delicate ball was carefully packed at the Smith Museum in Stirling for shipment to the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Hamburg, the BBC reported Wednesday.

The ball's interior is a pig's bladder and the cover is constructed from pieces of tightly laced thick hide, possibly deer.

"The Germans have decided, from all the evidence, that our ball is the oldest football in the world and it will be the centerpiece of this huge exhibition," said the Smith Museum's collection manager Michael McGinnes.

Legend has it that Mary, Queen of Scots once played with the ball, but McGinnes said there is no way to corroborate the claim, although the ball did belong to her royal household.

McGinnes will personally carry the trophy on Thursday's flight. On its arrival in Hamburg, the ball will be given a traditional Scottish greeting by bagpipers as it enters the museum.