Two rare medals, awarded to Inverness Thistle players in the late 1920s and early 1930s, are set to fetch about £300 at an auction later this month.
The nine carat gold medals were awarded when Thistle won the Inverness Cup in 1927-1928 and 1933-1934, when the club was a Highland League outfit and playing their matches at Kingsmills Park, Inverness.
The 1933-1934 medal is inscribed : “Inverness Cup 1933-1934 I.T.F.C. Jas.Roy.”
Ian Broadfoot, Inverness Thistle’s historian, says: “Roy first appears (for Thistle) in 1929-1930 and was still there in 1933-1934. He was a right half or inside right, but I do not have his first name or initials. Sadly, records for the early years are very sparse.”
The 1927-1928 Inverness Cup medal, in the forthcoming auction, does not feature the recipient’s name and it is simply inscribed : “Inverness Cup 1927-1928,Thistle F.C.”
The Inverness Cup was introduced in 1895 and was originally a competition for the four Inverness clubs: Thistle, Caledonian, Citadel and Clachnacuddin. It was later opened up to other clubs, before interest in the competition waned.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle was founded in 1895. The two Thistle medals, which are to be sold together in one lot, are expected to fetch between £250 and £350 at Graham Budd Auctions in London on May 22.
The Inverness medals are part of an extensive collection of football medals assembled over many years by an enthusiast living in the north east of England. Following his death, his daughter has now put the collection up for sale.
Auctioneer Graham Budd said: “The collector who owned the Inverness medals asked jewellers to let him know if they ever came across any football medals. He collected everything from FA Cup winners’ medals down to Sunday League medals.”