Setting a record for any football programme at auction, an official one penny match card from the 1909 FA Cup final between Manchester United and Bristol City sold for £20,000 at Graham Budd’s sale in association with Sotheby’s.
The game at Crystal Palace was the first
time either team had reached an FA Cup final and, such is its
rarity, the appearance of the programme here represented the first
time a copy had been offered at auction.
A first-half Sandy Turnbull goal was enough
to earn the first of United's 11 FA Cup wins.
The 1909 final came only seven years after
the Newton Heath LYR FC had changed their name to Manchester United
following a change of ownership due to heavy debts. LYR referred to
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway depot at the Newton Heath area
of Manchester.
The programme simply listed the line-up with
a few adverts, and a piece of text relating to an offer from
Farrow's Bank reads: "Keep this programme, it is worth one shilling
to your children."
It was in decent condition for a
103-year-old programme (it had a few folds and sellotape
repairs).
In terms of their collecting following,
Manchester United are in a league of their own when it comes to the
prices buyers are prepared to pay for programmes and memorabilia
and, estimated at £18,000-22,000 at the London sale on May 15, it
drew three interested parties on the phone but was finally knocked
down to a commission bidder at £20,000.
The price was just higher than the £19,000
seen for a copy of the 1889 FA Cup final programme which sold at
Graham Budd in May 2006 and held the previous auction record for
any football programme.
The buyer's premium was 17.5%.
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