Old FA Cup trophy up for auction

The trophy awarded to the winners of the FA Cup between 1896 and 1910 is being put up for auction and is expected to raise up to 300,000 pounds ($562,800) when it is sold in May. The trophy being auctioned by Christie’s was the second awarded to the FA Cup winners after the 1872 original was stolen from a shop in Birmingham after Aston Villa won it in 1895. It was never recovered.

David Convery, Christie’s head of Sporting Memorabilia, said, ‘‘Nothing comparable to this has been sold before and we expect it to fetch between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds. We will be taking the Cup on tour to some of the clubs that won it, like Newcastle United and Manchester United, and it is in surprisingly good condition.’’

The trophy on offer was first won by Sheffield Wednesday in 1896 and after Newcastle won it in 1910 it was retired and presented to FA president Lord Kinnaird whose family have retained ownership of it ever since.

The third trophy, designed by a Bradford firm, was won by Bradford City in 1911 and retired after Tottenham Hotspur won it in 1991. The fourth trophy, cast from the same mould, has been in use since then and will be presented to the FA Cup winners at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on May 21. — Reuters