The CFL Alumni Association Legends Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/11/2012
The Grey Cup is the most enduring and celebrated of a number of Albert Grey’s Canadian legacies. The ninth Governor General of Canada, Albert Henry George Gray, 4th Earl Grey, was appointed by King Edward VII as his representative in Canada, an office he held from December 10, 1904 until October 13, 1911. The Earl Grey offered an award to the Dominion’s amateur football championship and the first Grey Cup game was contested in 1909. The University of Toronto beat the Parkdale Canoe Club, 26-6, on December 4, though they did not receive the Grey Cup itself until March 1910 because the order for the $48 sterling silver cup on a wooden base was only placed with the silversmiths on the eve of the big game. Grey passed away in 1917. He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder in 1963.
The Earl Grey has signed “Albert Grey” on the handwritten letter offered from the dawn of the 20th century. Grey’s exquisite penmanship is displayed in black fountain pen ink on three pages of this vintage letter of condolence. The letter is signed to Mrs O’Hara and handwritten on stationery from the Northern Counties Club, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of which Grey was a member. The letter of sympathy on the sudden and unexpected death of her husband begins on the cover page which measures 7” long and 4 3/8” wide. The letter is 9 3/4" wide when unfolded to display the two inner pages of handwriting featuring Grey’s signature at the bottom of page three. This original autograph is lightly faded other than the bolder end of his surname. The blank end page is where the two vertical fold creases show most. Vintage published picture of Lord Grey from a photograph by Pittaway of Ottawa is displayed on a 9 3/4" x 6 5/8” page with rough edges on the left side of the paper where it was removed from a publication. Comes with a Classic Auctions letter of authenticity.
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