Thought to have been made by Henry Mallings of Woolwich, it is applied with a silver-plated plaque recording its presentation to Mary Gray as the winner of the Ladies’ Singles at the Bermuda Tennis tournament of 1876. This event pre-dates the first ever Wimbledon by a year and it is from Bermuda that the game is thought to have found its way to America. It sold for a lower estimate £12,000 to the International Hall of Tennis Fame, Rhode Island.
Early tilt-headed lawn tennis racket
A sporting treble of Cricket, Boxing and Tennis made up the 311-lot sale held at Christie’s South Kensington back on June 22. This early tilt- headed lawn tennis racket which made one of the highest prices in the tennis section had the double distinction of being an early piece of equipment with a provenance to a pioneer champion of the sport.
