Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment

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.

A pair of early 19th century Staffordshire pearlware figures modelled after bare-knuckle boxers Tom Cribb and Tom Molineaux who fought for a ‘world title’ of sorts is estimated at £3000-5000 in Tennants’ Autumn Fine Sale on November 13 in Leyburn.

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

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).

The highlight of an impressive range of football memorabilia offered by specialist Graham Budd (20.5% buyer’s premium) was the earliest Manchester United medal sold at auction.

In the mid 1930s players making an England debut could receive a gold commemorative medal instead of their normal match fee.

One of only two known copies of the first edition of the rules of football printed by the world’s first football club came to auction at Sotheby’s on July 21.

The stopwatch used by English referee Jack Taylor in the 1974 World Cup final sold for a within-estimate £3300 at Fellows (23/15% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham.

Gold medal won at Wimbledon in 1936 by British tennis great is purchased by the Lawn Tennis Museum at the All England Lawn Tennis Club

Remarkable Birkett family archive sold at Rogers Jones auction reflected the earliest days of organised sport.

Rogers Jones of Cardiff is selling an archive relating to a remarkable Victorian sporting dynasty on April 17.

This 3in (7.5cm) brass and ivorine fishing reel is inscribed to the face 'Ustonson & Peters, Makers to the Queen, 48 Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London'.

If the famous image of the Milton Shield by Elkington and its £800-1200 estimate drew a double-take at a recent auction, there was good reason.

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.