While awaiting your cuppa in the McManus, glance at the glazed display case lining the café and the shimmering presence of a museum treasure – the silver-gilt Doncaster Gold Cup, made for one of the oldest horse races in Britain.
This striking trophy was designed by John Flaxman (1765-1826) and made in London by the leading silversmith of his day, Paul Storr (1770-1844). The neo-Classical cup is hallmarked 1816 and is perhaps the finest example of silver in Dundee’s collection. Try to escape from your sticky bun long enough to take in the superb equine engraving on its reverse.
This brings me at a gallop to Duke’s sale in Dorset on January 24 and another magnificent silver-gilt racing cup.
The Richmond Race Cup (illustrated) was made by Paul Storr in 1802 in campana form, with a domed cover and fluted acorn finial, capped angular handles and upper frieze richly engraved, with one side depicting galloping horses.
It was based on drawings by the Scottish architect/designer Robert Adam, who had been commissioned to design a new trophy for the ‘Gold Cup’ horse race at Richmond, then one of the biggest and most celebrated attractions in the racing calendar.
This trophy was – by tradition – paid for by general subscription and by the worthy gentleman of the Yorkshire town, with the most famous London silversmith ordered to ‘make the best cup he can for 100 guineas.’
Engraved on the rim ‘Richmond 1802’ the trophy came with its original wooden carrying case. It also retained the retailer’s label for ‘Robt Makepeace, Goldsmith and Jeweller, Serle Street, Lincolns Inn Fields’.
It sold at Duke’s of Dorchester for £20,000.
Picture: The Richmond Race Cup, £20,000 (Duke’s Auctions).
