The design features various real tennis and lawn tennis champions of the day who participated in the Manchester Tennis & Racquet Club’s 1883 Tennis Handicap.
The club had opened in 1876, with two rackets courts but soon after moved to Blackfriars Road, Salford, where a tennis court, a rackets court and a bowling alley were built.
The site (it survives today) held the Amateur Rackets Championship from 1878 to 1882, and the Amateur Tennis Championship from 1883-87.
All round talent
To the centre of this poster is a portrait of the 1883 tournament winner BN Akroyd. Relatively little is known about Akroyd although he was a sportsman of some renown.
Like most ‘tennis’ players of his day he played a number of racquet sports – rackets, real tennis and the relatively new game of lawn tennis – and is also listed a batter for the Gentlemen of Yorkshire cricket team.
Crucial to his fame, however, is his participation in the world’s first official lawn tennis tournament.
His name features among the 22 players who paid a guinea to enter the draw for the first Wimbledon Championships in 1877. He won his first-round match against G Nichol but lost in the second to William Marshall.
Spencer Gore beat Marshall comfortably in the final to become the first Wimbledon champion.
The poster was sold at sporting specialist Graham Budd Auctions (24% buyer’s premium) in London on June 6-7 together with a white metal plaque that once adorned Akroyd’s winner’s trophy.
A white metal plaque that once adorned BN Akroyd’s winner’s trophy, included in the lot sold for £4000 at Graham Budd.
The engraving reads Manchester Tennis & Racquet Week 1883 Tennis Handicap 1st Prize won by BN Akroyd.
Although modestly estimated at £120-150, these rare survivors from the early years of tournament tennis sold at £4000.
Juventus shirt
Juventus shirt of Giuseppe Furino worn against Leeds United in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final 2nd leg in 1971, £12,000 at Tennants.
Vintage match-worn football shirts sold well at Graham Budd’s auction. Shown here is a blue No 4 Juventus shirt of Giuseppe Furino worn against Leeds United in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final 2nd leg in 1971 and gained by Norman Hunter as a swap after the match (the two legs were won by Leeds on away goals).
It took £12,000 on an estimate of £1500-2000.
See our Pick of the Week, ATG No 2598 for more about a remarkable archive related to Huddersfield Town player Tom Wilson sold in this same auction.
