The Dave Mackay collection of Newcastle United programmes accounted for 62 of those lots and raised a total of around £57,000.
A group of four Manchester City v Newcastle match programmes of the 1913-14, ’22-24 and ’38-39 seasons, the earliest of them repaired to the spine with sellotape, sold at £2300 and a well-preserved example of the programme issued for an infamous local derby with Sunderland, a match held on April 5, 1901, that had to be abandoned when riots broke out, was sold at £650.
The most expensive single Newcastle programme, at £1300, was that issued on January 3, 1899 for a friendly against Heart o’ Midlothian.
The majority of programmes, Newcastle and others, were sold in multiples of varying size and appeal. Among the larger lots, a group of 430 Arsenal programmes, principally comprising 66 wartime sheets and programmes from the 1946-47 and ’58-59 seasons, brought £5000, while 63 programmes issued for Clapton Orient games of the 1930s, in poor condition and obviously a very specialised prospect, sold for £3200.
Originally formed as Orient in 1888, the Essex team later became Clapham Orient and in 1966, Leyton Orient. As Clapham Orient they seem to have been a significant force on the English soccer scene, with games against Motherwell, Coventry and Chelsea Reserves featured in the catalogue illustration.
Thirty-three programmes for Liverpool’s away games in European competitions of the 1960s-80s sold at £3200, while one of the more successful single entries was the Southampton v Tottenham match card of 1906 that sold for £900.
Magazine runs included, right, upper, a complete collection of 925 issues (bound as 18 volumes) of Soccer Star from the first issue of September 1952 to the last of June, 1970, at £1500, and, right, lower, a complete run of 545 issues (in 47 volumes) of the magazine that launched in 1951 as Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly and went through several changes in format and title before folding in March 1999. The latter sold at £1700.
Buyer’s premium: 17/15/10 per cent
Newcastle and Clapton Orient each have their fans…
Stanley Matthews’ 1953 FA Cup winner’s medal, sold for £20,000 to TV presenter and Stoke fan Nick Hancock, was the lot on which national media publicity focussed, but the Football Memorabilia sale held by Sotheby’s on September 21 – one of the first sales at the new Olympia salerooms – also contained some 150 lots of programmes, match cards, magazines and related ephemera.
