Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment

In the last ATG (No 2731) we featured an Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football sold on January 22 at Truro Auction Centre for £4200 and mentioned others sold at Hansons in 2022.

John Short, a well-known collector in the Bristol area, amassed over 50,000 autographs in his lifetime. He began obtaining signatures at stage doors in the 1960s right up until his death in 2022.

The ancient game of Royal Shrovetide Football has been played in the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday since the 17th century.

Not that many footballers can be “as deeply woven into Leicester City and Scarborough football history as Colin Appleton (1936-2021)”, it is true.

Did you know that Great Britain are still the Olympic tug of war champions? The City of London Police Team competed for GB in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, winning gold – and the category has not appeared since at a Games.

Auctioneer finds out there are two variations of the 1875 guide, but a record is achieved nevertheless

Little is known about Soiree Cigarettes or the firm behind them and it is only thanks to the collectable cards it issued in Mauritius that its name appears in web search results today.

Once renowned for achievements wearing goalkeeping gloves, Pat Jennings (b.1945) achieved an auction white-glove result when his memorabilia collection sold out at Budds (24% buyer’s premium).

Paul Parker will be fondly remembered by many England fans of a certain vintage for his role in the 1990 World Cup campaign (ignore the deflection over Peter Shilton for West Germany’s semi-final opener).

Sustained scrap silver prices of more than £30 an ounce have sent large quantities of middle-of-the-road Georgian and Victorian domestic silver to the melting pot. Today, to sell well above the bullion price, it helps if silver comes with a strong narrative. ATG reports on a few great storytellers.

Phillip Segal Toys are very much rarities. He began production in Hampshire in 1938 but was halted when wartime restrictions banned the use of lead.

City and United player once mired in a bribery scandal but who played until 49 is today a major draw at auction

This early original carte de visite-sized photograph depicting 11 members of the Australian cricket touring party to England 1884 was a stand-out result from an auction offering 500 items from one of the trade’s stalwart books dealers.