A rare Sheffield Football Club athletics trophy dating to 1872 sold for $27,500 at Woodbury Auction's Fall Fine Estates sale in Connecticut on September 29.
The sterling silver cup was presented to the winner of a three mile flat race held on July 8, 1872 at Bramall Lane cricket ground in Sheffield, and is one of just a few such trophies in private hands.
 The cup sold for $25,500 |
Founded in 1857, Sheffield FC is the oldest surviving football club in the world.
Memorabilia from the early years of organised football often performs well at auction - last year a ball used in the 1892 FA cup final sold for £15,000 ($23,843).
Earlier this year, the earliest known example of an FA Cup football programme achieved a record price for its type when it hammered for £30,000 ($46,000) at Graham Budd Auctions in the UK - an increase of 20% on its £25,000 ($39,738) estimate
We have a wide variety of football memorabilia available.
A Chinese carved two-sided jade panel was the surprise lot of the auction, achieving a sale price of $330,000 against a $400-600 estimate - an extraordinary increase of 54,900%.
It is likely that the piece was bought by a Chinese bidder, as jade is regarded as an intrinsically valuable material in Chinese culture.
A number of other eclectic lots featured, including a boars tusk and silver cigar cutter, which sold for $6,000.
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