120-year-old Baggies leather ball hits £15k at auction
A 120-year-old piece of West Bromwich Albion history fetched £15,000 when it was sold to a mystery buyer at auction.
A 120-year-old piece of West Bromwich Albion history fetched £15,000 when it was sold to a mystery buyer at auction.
The leather ball from the 1892 FA Cup Final went under the hammer yesterday at Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire with a starting price of £10,000. In just a few seconds the price flew up to £13,000 before finally being sold a private collector who stumped up £15,000 for the unique item.
The leather ball was used at the Kennington Oval in Lambeth – now the Oval Cricket Ground – in 1892 for the FA Cup Final between West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa.
Newspaper reports from the time say 30,000 fans cheered on the two teams with Albion finally emerging victorious 3-0. The 1892 final was also the first to be contested using nets attached to goal posts. Keith Hartwell, from Mullock's Auctioneers, took the winning bid over the phone.
He said: "The man who bought the ball is a private collector and we cannot reveal his identity. Although the winning bid was £15,000 with a 21 per cent buyers premium this will rise to about £18,000." The ball was presented after the final to an Alderman Heelis by Baggies officials.
"He then passed it on to Mr W. Richards – whose link to the club is not known – and the ball has been passed down generations of the family ever since before finally going to auction yesterday and finding a new home." The ball was specially gilded, painted and featured the inscription: "This ball was used in the final for the English Cup when the Albion defeated the Aston Villa three goals to nil."
In honour of Hawthorns' imagery, a Baggies throstle was even perched on top.
The auction also featured hundreds of items ranging from original international caps to collections of matchday programmes from a range of former stars and their clubs.
The ball was, however, the highlight of the memorabilia on offer.
Before the auction, the Baggies had hinted the club was always looking to expand its collection of heirlooms but auctioneers insisted the ball's new owner could not be revealed.
