Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction Spring 2025
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/29/2025
Featuring the early game of football - which as knowledgeable historians and collectors know - evolved from English rugby. In this lot we present 11 antique items regarding the sports, beginning with a framed copy of the Oct 31, 1874 Canadian Illustrated News that features a football scene on the cover, specifically McGill (Canada) vs Harvard (USA), with this a historic match regarding the evolution of the sport in both countries (see below description for a more detailed account of this event), framed to 18 1/2" x 23". Next, exhibiting the popularity of rugby as the "National Game" in England during the late-19th Century, we have a scarce 1880s Keen's Mustard tin with rugby scene, along with a period rugby team photo also from the 1880s and set in the original Arts & Crafts frame with hand embellishments. The tin is 7 1/2" x 6" x 5 1/2", with beautiful rugby game scene on the lid, with players in striped uniforms and one team wearing beanie caps. The tin shows other pastimes from commonwealth countries around the sides including Canada and Australia. There is moderate surface wear throughout, with a bit of paint loss to the rugby image (see photos). The rugby team photo features a posed studio shot in striped uniforms (similar to the tin) and is 8" x 9" and glued to a larger original mount of 14" x 16", with the players names handwritten in fountain pen beneath the image. There is no condition issues to the photo, with the 16" x 18" original frame showing wear throughout, with hand embellishments done to each corner. This is followed by a 1906 Spalding football guide (wrapped in plastic for display, there is considerable wear to the covers and spine), 1912 Football calendar plate (9 1/4" in diameter), 1914 Junior Rowing Club Rugby Football Club cabinet photo (18" x 20"), 1901 "Physical Culture" magazine with football cover, circa 1910s scribbler with rugby scene on cover, a pair of antique marble book ends with mounted gold painted footballs, 1907 "First Touchdown" framed lithograph (12" x 17", wear to the period frame) and 1932 All American Girl framed sheet music (13 1/2" x 16 1/2"). Most of the items show moderate wear but display beautifully, unless otherwise noted.
The McGill vs Harvard matches in 1874 were two games played between the schools in Cambridge, Mass, with one game played under the Harvard rules (played with a round ball), and one game played under the McGill rules (played with a rugby-style oblong ball). At this time, American colleges still played the game using English association football (soccer) rules, which were codified in 1873. Harvard had it's own rules, referred to as the "Boston Game", which included picking up and carrying the ball. The Canadians were playing a game more based off English rugby, which included scoring "tries", which would evolve into touchdowns. The two games represent an important milestone in the development of the modern games of Canadian and American football. Later in 1874, Harvard travelled to Montreal to again play McGill, with the scene on the cover of the offered Canadian Illustrated News showing this match.
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