Two Day Sporting Memorabilia Auction - Day 1 Monday 13 May 2013 14:00 Graham Budd Auctions Ltd Sotheby's 34-35 New Bond Street London W1A 2AA Graham Budd Auctions Ltd (Two Day Sporting Memorabilia Auction - Day 1) Catalogue - Downloaded from UKAuctioneers.com Lot: 1 A signed foam board poster for the 2003 Mosconi Cup held at London Transport poster titled "What's On" 3rd to 9th May the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, fully signed in silver marker pen 1931, listing cricket at Lord's and at The Oval, greyhound by both teams, the American players comprising Jeremy Jones, racing at Clapton, Harringay, White City, Wimbledon, West Nick Varner, Johnny Archer, Tony Robles (signed twice), Earl Ham, Park Royal & Wembley, speedway racing at West Ham, Strickland, Charles Williams & Rodney Morris, the Europeans Wimbledon, Harringay & Stamford Bridge, plus non-sporting comprising Nick van den Berg, Steve Davis, Ralf Souquet, events including exhibitions and bandstand performances in Oliver Ortmann (non-playing captain), Thorsten Hohmann, Mika parks, published by Waterlow and Sons, codes to the lower Immonen & Marcus Charmat, together with a further margin reading 881-300, 14.4.31, 1026-176-29-4-31, backed unidentified signatures inscribed 'California', possibly a reserve onto linen, 101 by 62cm., 40 by 24 1/2in. player This poster is for the 10th edition of the annual nine-ball Estimate: £200.00 - £300.00 pool competition between teams representing USA and Europe. Team USA, led by non-playing captain Nick Varner, won the Mosconi Cup by a score of 11-9. Lot: 2 Estimate: £150.00 - £250.00 A heavy leather-bound 'Olympia' photograph album with a musical box which operates automatically on opening, German, circa 1890, the boards with apertures for some 60 photographs Lot: 8 of varying sizes are decorated with coloured lithographs The original Thomas Inch Middleweight Dumbbells weighing showing a wide range of sports and leisure activities including 144lb. and 153lb., from the original set of certainly four possibly tennis, cricket, archery, golf, bowls, angling, sailing, lacrosse, five bells, the most famous of which was the 172lb. curling, baseball, swimming, rowing, cycling, polo, horse racing, heavyweight "challenge dumbbell", the set originally belonging fox hunting, steeplechasing, shooting, rugby, athletics & winter to Thomas Inch (1881-1963) the celebrated British Strong Man, sports, some looseness to the spine and areas of wear to the and believed to date circa 1897-1904 Thomas Inch was born at leather, musical mechanism running Scarborough 27th December 1881. His name is perpetuated to Estimate: £250.00 - £350.00 this day in the world of strength and body building by the Thomas Inch dumbbell. Inch claimed that in his lifetime he never encountered anybody who was able to lift the 172lb. dumbbell above his head, and only one who was able to even Lot: 3 raise it off the floor. In modern times the surviving 172lb. bell Desborough of Taplow (The Right Hon. Lord) Fifty Years of has never been taken 'clean' above the shoulder, although Sport at Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, Harrow and Winchester, Strongman Bill Kazmeier lifted it 'continental' style which allows various editors, published in 3 large volumes, 2 in 1913 in for body touching on the upward movement to the shoulder. deluxe boards and the third in standard boards published in Most of the historical information on Thomas Inch and his 1922 not illustrated dumbbells is written in the "Strength" publications and Estimate: £140.00 - £180.00 newspapers of the day. These have been summarised in later writings, some now published on the net, but for those with a serious interest in Inch it would be advised to go back to the Lot: 4 original source materials when drawing all conclusions. The A collection of sports programmes, wartime boxing events in most famous of Thomas Inch's dumbells is his "challenge Leicester in 1941; field hockey mostly 1950s to 1970s, dumbbell". This was the largest and weighed 172lb. In internationals, county championships, varsity, tournaments etc.; subsequent times it has had a few owners including the University Boat Races late 1940s to late 1960s; and other bodybuilder Reg Park who sold it to the enthusiast Bert miscellaneous issues for show jumping, snooker, swimming, Lightfoot who, in turn, sold it to the British bodybuilder and baseball, ski jumping etc.; the lot also including British ice weightlifter David Prowse, later famous as being the actor who hockey scrapbooks from the 1930s & 1940s portrayed Darth Vader in the Star Wars films. Prowse then sold Estimate: £50.00 - £100.00 the Challenge bell to the American collector Kim Wood, the former NFL strength coach at the Cincinnati Bengals. There is a video on 'You Tube' of Thomas Inch lifting what he calls his Lot: 5 "famous challenge dumbbell" and another smaller example to A collection of programmes for sporting events at Wembley set an overall weight lifting record. However, it is far from Stadium and Empire Pool, Rugby League Challenge Cup Finals certain what he is actually lifting on the occasion of this publicity for 1931 (punch-holed) & 1937, Olympic Games 1948 brochure film. The dumbbells in the video are of a different style of plus 3 regulations booklets, Amateur Boxing Championships manufacture to the celebrated Inch bells with threaded handles 1946 and 1952, Swimming galas for 1937 & 1938,England v and removable hollow cast iron globes. The Thomas Inch Denmark aquatic sports international 1939, Gala Ice Middleweight Dumbbells Thomas Inch is believed to have had Presentation 1939 & Harlem Globetrotters 1952-53 (13) not certainly four probably five different thick handle globe illustrated dumbbells. The most famous and heaviest being the previous Estimate: £80.00 - £120.00 described 172lbs. bell. What are being offered here in the auction are the two 'middleweight' dummbells, weighing 144lbs and 153lbs. There has been much speculation as to the Lot: 6 whereabouts of the middleweight bells in recent times. The Two Vanity Fair Prints of billiards players, John Roberts and W auctioneer can now reveal that they have been a private H Stevenson, both by Spy, unframed not illustrated collection in west Wales. The collector acquired them from Tom Estimate: £60.00 - £80.00 Fenton who had been bequeathed the dummbells by Thomas Inch. Tom Fenton was from the Cathays area of the Welsh capital Cardiff. He was a strength enthusiast who had been a Lot: 7 close friend of Inch for many years. When in possession of the 1 of 26 Graham Budd Auctions Ltd (Two Day Sporting Memorabilia Auction - Day 1) Catalogue - Downloaded from UKAuctioneers.com dumbbells Fenton set up his own club, albeit it run from his A Vanity Fair print of the boxer Captain Edgeworth Johnston, home. The bells were often loaned out for public performances titled 'Hard Hitter', unframed not illustrated by local athletes and at least three individuals have been Estimate: £30.00 - £40.00 recorded as successfully lifting the middleweight bells at the time, namely Gerald "Strang" Davies, Hubert Thomas and Mike Brown. A careful analysis has been carried out on the weight, Lot: 14 dimensions and structure of the dumbbells on behalf of the A signed manuscript letter by the 19th century heavyweight auctioneer: The144lbs. dumbbell has a 60.5mm diameter boxing champion of the world John L. Sullivan dated 28th handle, 100mm between globes, a 10mm hole at the centre of October 1910 and addressed to Mr Ernest Isitt and a the handle. The handle is hollow with a wall thickness of 3mm. personalised photograph of Sullivan aged 53 that was an It has a silver coating that appears directly applied to the iron enclosure with the letter, two pages in ink written on headed casting. The 153lbs. dumbbell, also with direct silver coating, paper of the Van Nuys Hotel, Los Angeles, a letter to an old has a 59.5mm diameter handle, 100mm between globes, friend that Sullivan had not seen for many years, having retired 10mm hole in the centre of the handle filled with a malleable from boxing some 18 years before hand Sullivan makes the substance, a small second hole 10mm from one globe in line reference HAVING NOTHING TO DO, Sullivan states with the central hole, filled with a non ferrous metal silver paint. ENCLOSE YOU A TOKEN with reference to the photograph he It has been suggested that Thomas Inch would substitute the sent Mr Isitt which is inscribed in his hand JOHN L. SULLIVAN, dumbbells at different points in his performances, so it is no EX-CHAMPION HEAVYWEIGHT OF THE WORLD. AGE 53. surprise to see the presence of handle holes. The casting of the YOURS TRULY, TO, ERNEST ISITT, the letter goes on to dumbbells is of exceptional quality. Now with slight rusting, dust encourage that the friend stay in touch and express a hope that and a patina accumulated over the years but with enough silver they will meet again one day, although in retirement Sullivan coating preserved to relay the impression of how spectacular ran a saloon, and gained work as a Speaker as well appearing they must have looked during Thomas Inch's original on the Vaudeville stage, umpiring at baseball and filing sports performances. reports, he did fall on hard times due to lavish spending and Estimate: £4,000.00 - £6,000.00 heavy drinking, and would eventually die a pauper at the age of 59, the significance of this letter is that Sullivan makes reference to his POOR MAN'S ABODE and COMING DOWN Lot: 9 FROM THE HILL OF PROSPERITY from being one of the Charles Atlas 'Health & Strength' body building system wealthiest sportsmen in the world Provenance: Annie Howard publications circa 1940s/1950s, 18 in total not illustrated Isitt was the maiden name of the present vendor's paternal Estimate: £20.00 - £30.00 grandmother.