Cuthbert Ottaway signature – estimate £3000-5000 at Graham Budd.
A highlight of the Graham Budd sale on September 6-7 is an autograph from Cuthbert Ottaway (1850-78) – England’s first-ever football captain. Dating from 1872, it is estimated at £3000-5000.
Ottaway was educated at Eton and Oxford. He represented his university at football and took part in three FA Cup finals as well as playing for Crystal Palace. He led the England team onto the field in the world’s first-ever international football match against Scotland in Glasgow on November 30, 1872.
Earlier in the year he had been playing cricket for England on a tour of the US and Canada, representing his country in summer and winter national sports within the space of a couple of months.
Adam Gascoigne, CEO of Graham Budd Auctions, said: “I don’t know how he had time, but he also trained as a barrister and was called to the bar at the age of 23 and practised law in London until his premature death when he was only 27 - making this autograph even rarer.”
First modern Olympics
In Mullock’s Sporting Memorabilia auction in Shropshire on September 29 a medal from the first modern-day Olympic Games is estimated at £20,000-25,000.
The 1896 Athens second place bronze medal was designed by JC Chaplain (1839-1909), with the reverse inscribed in Greek First International Olympic Games, Athens 1896, the edge stamped Bronze.
Housed in the original box lined with red fabric, the 2in (5cm) diameter medal had been kept in a drawer by a family for many years. The recipient and event is unknown. Forty-three second-place medals were awarded across nine sports.
