Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment

Despite the near absence of face-to-face trading, 2020 was a record year for London’s coins and medals auction houses with combined total sales just shy of £53m.

A sale to be held by Jack-Philippe Ruellan in Vannes in Brittany will feature this Olympic torch from the 10th Winter Olympics held in Grenoble in 1968.

The oldest surviving FA Cup was bought by Manchester City FC owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed when it sold at auction last year, it has now been revealed.

Christie’s is staging a sale of cricketing memorabilia from the collection of Sir Geoffrey Boycott in a timed online sale that closes on November 16.

This large silver arm badge was awarded to a late 19th century winner of Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race – the oldest rowing race in the world, held from London Bridge to Cadogan Pier since 1715.

In almost pristine condition, and with its redeemable coupon still attached, this promotional card bearing an image of a very young and slim Joe DiMaggio sold for $200,000 (£149,255) at Heritage Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) of Dallas on August 29-30.

The linocuts produced by artists from the Grosvenor School provided an ideal medium to portray speed and movement in the inter-war machine age – and were perfect for sport subjects too. Those created by Sybil Andrews, such as her classic speedway image, are the best known on this theme.

Victor Mee Auctions’ Irish Pub Memorabilia & Collectibles sale on August 12 will offer Irish football and hurling lovers and collectors the chance to bid on three advertising figurines, estimated at €200-450 each.

While Manchester United and early FA Cup match programmes often make the big money at auction, a group on offer at a West Sussex saleroom showed that far less famous names can also make the running.

One of the specialist golfing sales held by PBA Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) of San Francisco included the work of a Scottish-born designer of golf courses who is said to have laid out some 400 of them.

A legend of golf is represented at Shropshire saleroom Mullock’s Golfing Memorabilia and Antique & Modern Fishing Tackle auction on August 13-14.

Talk about 30 years of hurt. What about 100 years?

If you remember the American Football mania that first hit the UK in the mid-1980s when coverage started on Channel 4, then you will certainly recall ‘The Refrigerator’.

The simple pair of leather football boots on offer at East Bristol Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) this summer was not as flash as today’s examples in all colours and emblazoned with all kinds of branding and personalised messages.

At the age of 36 most footballers have either hung their boots up or are about to. By that stage Ronnie Simpson had experienced a decent enough career: including two FA Cup wins with Newcastle.

Keeping score in the earliest days of the Football League was not as easy as checking the internet.

The FA Cup proved a happy hunting ground for Norman Whiteside in his playing days and at auction many years later the competition was still proving to be a big winner for him.

As with so many other sales schedules for the summer, Graham Budd’s June two-day auction had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, he has just announced that he will be holding his next on November 9-10 as a live ‘broadcast’ auction (all forms of bidding except for in the room, viewing by timed appointment at the firm’s Enfield premises).