An historic early version of the FA Cup given to one of the founding fathers of English soccer is expected to fetch up to £300,000 at Christie's and could become the most expensive piece of football memorabilia ever auctioned. | |  | | The cup made in 1896 |
Only four cups have been produced for the world's most famous domestic soccer competition since it was founded by the Football Association in 1871 and the version to be sold at Christie's in London on May 19 will be the only one to come up for sale. It was made in 1896 as a replacement for the original cup, which was stolen from a Birmingham shop window where it had gone on display after Aston Villa won the competition for the second time. During the next 15 years the cup was won by teams such as Manchester United, Everton and Newcastle United, which are still in soccer's top flight, and others such as Bury and Sheffield Wednesday that have fallen on harder times. But when Manchester United won the Cup in 1909 the club presented a replica to one of its directors, alerting the Football Association to the fact that it did not own the design copyright. Within two years a new FA Cup had been designed and the old one was given to Lord Kinnaird, who had captained the Old Etonians to victory over Blackburn Rovers in the 1882 final and became a key figure in the development of English soccer. Kinnaird, who in his playing days wore long white trousers, a quartered cap and a flowing red beard, was appointed president of the FA in 1890 and under his guidance the Cup evolved from amateur teams playing in front of small crowds into a well-organised competition attracting huge gates. He was given the cup to mark his 21 years as president of the FA and it has remained in the possession of his family since then. Christie's expects it to fetch between £200,000 and £300,000, which means it could beat the current auction record of £254,500 paid for a replica of the football World Cup at Sotheby's in 1997. The first cup is believed to have been melted down after it was stolen while both the third, which was used until 1991, and the current trophy are still owned by the FA and will never come on to the market. | 
