Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment

This sector of the art and antiques market often generates big headlines in the general media – not least when an auction record for 1966 World Cup is set for example. But the market is extremely wide and varied. Here there really is something for everyone at every price level, whether a buyer focuses on football programmes, historic golf clubs or fishing tackle.


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Golf medal converted to a brooch more than triples estimate at Mullock’s

14 February 2022

This 18ct gold and enamel medal was awarded to Reginald Arthur Whitcombe (1898-1957) for winning the 1936 Open Golf Championship of Ireland.

Celestial cup

Silver Vaults dealer S&J Stodel wins the £26,000 trophy

31 January 2022

The potent mix of China, horseracing and the 1851 Great Exhibition yielded a strong price for this splendid ‘export’ silver trophy at auction.

Portrait of John James Hardy

Will buyers look to reel in Hardy of Alnwick memento?

24 January 2022

Angling and fishing fans will be familiar with the firm Hardy of Alnwick. In 1872 William Hardy set up shop as a gunsmith.

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McWhirter’s four-minute-mile stopwatch clocks up five figures at auction

03 January 2022

On May 6, 1954 - the day British middle-distance athlete Roger Bannister (1929-2018) ran the first ever sub-four-minute mile - there were five official timekeepers plus a sixth watch manned by race commentator Norris McWhirter (1925-2004).

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Bidders sense the Links effect

03 January 2022

Perhaps established as early as 1735, the Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh holds claim to be the oldest golfing society in the world.

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Red alert as early Arsenal shirts impress

03 January 2022

Arsenal FC’s familiar red jersey with white arms is instantly recognisable to football fans worldwide now. However, a pair of shirts sold at the Graham Budd (20.5% buyer’s premium) December 1-2 auction in London show an earlier look.

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Medal reflects unofficial Olympics that followed the 1904 St Louis flop

03 January 2022

This silver medal sold for £3250 at Fellows (23% buyer’s premium) is one of a relatively small number awarded at the Intercalated Games in Athens in 1906.

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Hefty price for medals won by footballer ‘Fanny’

29 November 2021

If you ever encounter the pub quiz question ‘who is the smallest footballer ever to represent England at a senior level’ just remember an FA Cup winner’s medal sold at sporting specialist auction house Knights (20% buyer’s premium).

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Mauchlineware suited to a tee

29 November 2021

The game of golf (originating on the eastern coast of Scotland) and mauchlineware (the name given to a family of wooden souvenirs made in south-west Scotland over a period of a century) would seem ideal bedfellows.

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Handy if you have pressing concerns

08 November 2021

If you wanted to keep the strings of a tennis racket taut, you could do with a tennis racket press – a device consisting of a frame closed by a spring mechanism.

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Football lots in Sheffield and Chippenham keep with the programme

08 November 2021

Before match programmes grew into the glossy mini-magazines of today they were relatively simple affairs – most just a single sheet printed on both sides.

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Stan Anderson’s unusual hat-trick

08 November 2021

Stan Anderson (1934-2018) was a north-eastern football stalwart playing as captain for a hat-trick of local clubs.

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Cycling gears up at auction

08 November 2021

A group of “rare and interesting” 20th century cycling ephemera relating primarily to the Olympic Games offered by Catherine Southon (20% buyer’s premium) came from the collection of cycling journalist David Taylor (1937-2020).

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From £3.50 to £1000 – car boot Edwardian table tennis bat pings its way to auction success

08 November 2021

A humble table tennis bat bought at a car boot sale in Surrey for £3.50 served up a surprise at Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) London monthly auction on September 25.

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Silver salute to the great Sir Stanley Matthews sold by dealer

08 November 2021

A silver tea service presented to Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) to mark his record England cap has been sold by a Hampshire dealer.

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Fishing gear to catch your eye

08 November 2021

‘I have laid aside business and gone a’fishing,’ said Izaak Walton in 'The Compleat Angler', a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing first published in 1653.

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Never on a pitch, but Best and Beckham meet in the saleroom

08 November 2021

Derbyshire auction house Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) sold memorabilia this summer worn by two Manchester United favourites of different eras: George Best and David Beckham.

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England cap won by later World Cup-winning boss

08 November 2021

An England blue velvet and silver braid cap awarded to Sir Alfred Ramsey sold for a mid-estimate £3400 at Lacy Scott & Knight (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Bury St Edmunds.

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Denis Law shirt given to team-mate

08 November 2021

Maurice Setters (1936-2020) is perhaps best known to many football fans as the assistant to Jack Charlton as Republic of Ireland enjoyed success in the 1980s-90s.

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Sporting memorabilia: Dealer keeps boxing clever to add to collection

08 November 2021

A painting of a pugilist will now be researched by the dealer who bought it at auction thanks to his collecting fascination with the early days of the sport

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