Treasured trophy to go under the hammer

Times

January 07, 2005

Treasured trophy to go under the hammer

By Jack Malvern

SPORTS enthusiasts with deep pockets will be given the chance to buy the FA Cup for an estimated £300,000, it was announced yesterday. The trophy is expected to become the world’s most expensive piece of football memorabilia when it is sold by Christie’s in May.

It is the oldest surviving version of the Cup, manufactured after the original was stolen from a Birmingham shop window in November 1895, and the only one likely to come on the market. The third version, a new design created in 1910, is held at the FA’s headquarters in Soho Square. The fourth is held by last season’s winners, Manchester United.

The second incarnation, made from sterling silver, shows the results of the early finals, when teams such as Bury, Sheffield United and Everton were the most skilled in the country. It is the only FA Cup held in private hands. The first Challenge Cup, created after a meeting of the FA on July 20, 1871, is believed to have been melted down by thieves to make counterfeit coins.

The thief snatched the trophy from a shop owned by William Shillcock, a football and boot manufacturer, after Aston Villa’s Cup Final victory over West Bromwich Albion in 1895. Despite a £10 reward (£706 in today’s money) the Cup was never seen again and Aston Villa were fined £25 (£1,765) to pay for a replica.

The new Cup lasted until 1910, when it was given to Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, a chairman of the FA for 33 years. The Cup is now being sold by the Kinnaird family, which has passed it down from generation to generation.

Kinnaird was an eminent figure who became the main architect of the modern professional game. He played in nine FA Cup Finals and once for Scotland. His most memorable performance on the field was for Old Etonians, who beat Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup Final of 1882, three years before players were allowed to become professional.

A striking figure in his red beard, quartered cap and long white trousers, Kinnaird won an ovation from the crowd when he performed a victory handstand in front of the pavilion. His popularity grew so much that, before one Cup Final, members of the crowd released the horses from his carriage and pulled Kinnaird the last few yards to the pitch at the Kennington Oval.

He was a Liberal in the House of Lords until 1886, when he crossed the floor to become a Unionist.

Under his stewardship, football became the national sport, with crowds rising from 2,000 to 100,000 spectators. “I believe all right-minded people have good reason to thank God for the great progress of this popular national game,” he said.

Kinnaird died on January 30, 1923, aged 75. The peerage died out after his grandson, Kenneth Charles Kinnaird, died in 1997, leaving no male heir.

Likely buyers of the trophy include Manchester United, who won it in 1909 with a 1-0 victory against Bristol City, Tottenham Hotspur, who won in 1901 with a 3-1 replay victory over Sheffield United, and Newcastle United, who became the last winners of the trophy when they beat Barnsley 2-0 in 1910.

Bury, who won the FA Cup for the only times in 1900 and 1903, said that they would love to buy the trophy but would not be able to afford it. “We are fighting to keep the club alive at the moment,” a spokesman said. “So no.” The FA said that it would not be bidding because it already had a replica.

David Convery, the head of sporting memorabilia at Christie’s, said that the buyer would probably be a British individual. “We are confident that it will stay in England,” he said. “There isn’t much value for English football memorabilia overseas.” All England World Cup medals have been bought by British private buyers. The Cup is expected to beat the record for football memorabilia held by a replica of the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy, which sold for £254,500 at Sotheby’s in 1997.

Other top-priced football memorabilia includes Pele’s shirt from the 1970 World Cup final, which sold for £158,000 in 2002. The world record for a football medal is £125,000, set by Gordon Banks’s 1966 World Cup-winner’s medal in 2001.

The trophy will go under the hammer as part of the Football Memorabilia sale on May 19.

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