Bids kick off for cup final nostalgia
A trio of Black Country football cup final programmes which cost a matter of pence on match day are now expected to fetch more than £4,000 at auction next month.
A trio of Black Country football cup final programmes which cost a matter of pence on match day are now expected to fetch more than £4,000 at auction next month.
Fans only had to hand over a sixpence to take home the programmes on match day but each is now expected to change hands among collectors for hundreds of pounds.
A rare 1921 Wolves v Spurs cup FA Cup final programme is valued between £1,500 and £2,500 and a 1931 West Brom versus Birmingham cup final programme could fetch between £700 and £800.
Both are being sold by Graham Budd Auctions in London on November 12. The sale will also feature a 1939 Wolves v Portsmouth FA Cup final programme branded "the best example" ever seen.
The programme for the 1921 Wolves v Spurs FA Cup final, played at Stamford Bridge, is particularly valuable because it was produced for one of the last finals played before they moved to Wembley in 1923.
Wolves, then managed by Wolverhampton-born Jack Addenbrooke who was the club's first manager, beat Stoke, Derby, Fulham, Everton and Cardiff to reach the 1921 FA Cup final but lost 1-0 to Spurs.
Midlands football fans will also have their eye on another item in the sale as it includes a programme produced for the 1936 FA Cup semi-final between Fulham and Sheffield United played at Molineux.
It originally cost two pence and is expected to sell for between £400 and £500.
Its front cover features an advertisement for the Wolverhampton Freeholders' Permanent Building Society, which was based in Queen Square.
l Meanwhile, children's favourite Sooty is due to go under the hammer today through a Lichfield auction house.
Hansons Auctioneers are handling the sale of the iconic puppet, which is believed to be the original Sooty which was bought by puppeteer Harry Corbett for his son Matthew at the end of Blackpool Pier in 1948.
Bidding is set to start at between £200 and £300 for the yellow bear at the Mackworth Hotel in Derbyshire. Sooty was originally snapped up for 7 6d by Mr Corbett back in 1948.
Sooty would have been celebrating his 60th birthday this year.
