Jane Austen and Soccer Rules at Sotheby's London

Bloomberg is reporting on the two top selling lots from a Sotheby's London sale. The top lot was a Jane Austen manuscript from the unfinished The Watsons novel selling for $1.6 million including buyers premium, followed by the earliest known set of soccer club rules selling for $1.42 million (see image). The soccer rules sold at the low end of the pre sale estimate including buyers premium, while the Austen manuscript nearly more than tripled the high estimate. The soccer rules set a record at auction for any item of football (I assume soccer) memorabilia.  Half of the top ten lots were sold to private collectors, 3 to anonymous buyers, one to an institution and one to the UK trade.  This top ten again shows the active buying at auction buy private collectors.

The English History and Literature sale totaled $7.76 million including buyers premiums.  The sale offered 155 lots, with 94 selling for a 60.6% sell through rate and it sold a strong 92.7% by value.

Bloomberg reports on the sale

The original draft of Austen’s unfinished novel “The Watsons” fetched 993,250 pounds ($1.6 million) with fees, three times its presale high estimate of 300,000 pounds at hammer prices. It sold to an unidentified buyer in the room after a battle between four bidders in the 159-lot sale of English literature and history.

Sheffield FC, a northern England team founded in 1857, was selling the only known surviving copy of its 1859 printed “Rules, Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot-Ball Club,” as well as the original handwritten draft, dating from the previous year. These items fetched 881,250 pounds.

The Austen manuscript is described by literary scholars as having been written in 1804. The incomplete, extensively revised and corrected text was the last major Austen manuscript left in private hands.

Estimated by Sotheby’s (BID) at 800,000 pounds to 1.2 million pounds, the soccer works sold to a telephone bidder, said the New York-based auction house. There were two bidders. The amateur side, which plays seven divisions below England’s Premier League, has been recognized by world governing body FIFA as the oldest club. Its rules were formulated at a meeting at a local hotel.

The Sheffield rules describe a game played with the feet, and refer to current elements of the game such as free kicks, throw-ins, goalkicks and the crossbar. They also list restrictions on handling the ball and “hacking or tripping” opponents. j

To read the complete Bloomberg article, click HERE.

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