DEVON CUPBOARD FIND TURNS BRASS INTO GOLD AT BONHAMS Premier South African Horse Race Cup Is Solid Gold
An astonished and delighted North Devon man has discovered, thanks to Bonhams, that the brass horseracing cup he’d left in a cupboard for years is in fact a solid gold trophy from South Africa's Durban Gold Cup circa 1931.
The cup, estimated to be worth £15,000 to £20,000 will be sold at Bonhams South African Art sale on March 20 in London. This very distinctive trophy was made by Deakin and Francis in Birmingham.
Charles Lanning, Bonhams Regional Director in Devon explains how the cup came to Bonhams: “The cup belonged to our Devon clients grandfather and then to his father and he inherited from there. It has been in the same wardrobe for 20 years and has not seen the light of day. Its current owner asked a relative one day to research it and see if it had a value, otherwise it was off to the car boot sale, and that was when Bonhams got involved.”
The 9ct gold trophy, 'The Durban Gold Cup' was won by Le Vin Chaud, owned by William J Jackson, grandfather of the current owner. William J Jackson emigrated to South Africa and settled in Durban where he became a successful owner of racehorses, winning two other premier races. When he died the three cups were passed to his three sons, Percy, Don and Harry, Harry was the present owners grandfather. Harry also had a love of horses and he held the rank of Captain in the famous Cavalry regiment the 17/21 Lancers.
The Gold Cup still takes place every year on the Greyville course, in Durban and is South Africa's premier stayers contest run over two miles (3,200m), it was first raced in 1926 when won by Sir Abe Bailey's "Sun Lad".
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street and Knightsbridge; and a further three in the UK regions and Scotland. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Connecticut in the USA; and Germany, France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Australia. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 60 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments go to www.bonhams.com.