The 99oz silver gilt tankard pictured right was made in 1827 by John Bridge of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, possibly to a design by Flaxman, as a presentation trophy for the Royal Yacht Club’s King’s Cup.
This was a 100-guinea challenge cup from Cowes to Yarmouth and back, instigated by George IV, the club’s enthusiastic first royal patron, to be contested annually on his birthday. The trophy here is the one awarded for the first King’s Cup race and was won by James Maxse’s Miranda, a 147-ton large cutter, the class of yacht that dominated the race. The tankard bears the royal arms plus engraving of marine motifs and a dated presentation inscription and it fetched £32,000 comfortably over the £20,000-25,000 estimate.
The second trophy pictured right, dates from 60 years later, a 158oz presentation bowl made by Tiffany and Co. c.1887. This was the trophy for that year for the Newport Citizens’ Cup. This was one of four challenge cups put up by the wealthy inhabitants of Newport, Rhode Island and was for 1st Class schooners measuring 71 feet or more at the waterline racing a 45-mile triangular run. This particular trophy was won by the schooner Magic of the
New York Yacht Club and was one of three big schooners contending this race, the others being Phantom and Sachem. The latter was the first to cross the finishing line, but due to the complicated system of time allowances Magic was declared the winner.
The inscribed Tiffany bowl, which was chased and applied with seaweed and aquatic vegetation and stood on four dolphin feet, came in at a lower estimate £15,000.
Silver with a Magic touch
Twenty one lots in Bonhams’ marine sale on January 22 came from the collection of the late John Foster, celebrated yachtsman and yachting enthusiast. The bulk of these were paintings but there were also three non-pictorial entries: a pair of carved wooden Prince of Wales feathers from Edward VII’s yacht Osborne, which fetched £1100, and the two silver racing trophies pictured here, which represented significant mementoes of racing history from both sides of the Atlantic.
