A Gorham Mfg. Co. Silver Horse Racing Trophy: The Horseman Cup, Providence, Rhode Island, 1894. Marks: (lion-anc...

Description

A Gorham Mfg. Co. Silver Horse Racing Trophy: The Horseman Cup, Providence, Rhode Island, 1894
Marks: (lion-anchor-G), STERLING, (4531 in rectangle), (date mark), 26 PINT
20-1/2 x 20 x 13-1/2 inches (52.1 x 50.8 x 34.3 cm)
320.83 troy ounces
Inscription to front: THE HORSEMAN CUP
Inscription to reverse: THIS CUP ADDED BY THE HORSEMAN/ TO THE / Horseman guaranteed Stake, / VALUE $20,355, / FOR FOALS OF 1890 WAS WON JULY 17TH 1894, BLUE RIBBON MEETING AT DETROIT, MICH/ IN THE FIRST, FOURTH AND FIFTH HEATS OF THE RACE BY THE BLACK COLT / DANCOURT (continue below)

PROVENANCE:
DuMouchelles, Detroit, Michigan, September 15, 2006, Lot 090003;
The McNally Company Antiques, Inc., Rancho Santa Fe, California;
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, November 17, 2020, The Gilded Age: American Presentation and Trophy Silver from the Collection of J.D. Parks, lot74063.

The massive standing cup with two naturalistic branch-form handles continues to body with applied acorn and leaf design to a waisted bowl framing front with a pastoral scene with two horses and inscription to reverse, trunk-form standard, and naturalistic base supporting a mare, stallion, and colt.

According to the Gorham costing ledger, this prize cup was made for Spaulding & Co., the Company's Chicago retail affiliate and was completed on June 30, 1894. It weighed 322 troy oz, valued at $322. The record includes hours spent creating the pattern, turning, stamping, modeling preparatory to casting, casting, and chasing the casting, and interestingly, due to intense preparation, little polishing was required. It took a total of 855.5 hours to create this cup at a cost of $1,200. The fee was discounted, and the cup was sold for $1,000.

The Horseman Cup was won by Dancourt, sired by Ambassador. His owners, Samuel A. Browne & Co., of Kalamazoo, were presented with this silver cup, valued at $1,000, along with prize money.

"This stake, which was inaugurated by Chicago's enterprising turf paper, The Horseman, was originally guaranteed for $12,500 but when the entries closed July 1, 1890, it was found that there were 532 nominations, and the stake has therefore reached much greater size than was anticipated, and its value is now $20,355." The Inter Ocean, Sunday, July 15, 1894.

In commemoration, the inscription to the reverse includes DANCOURT/ BY AMBASSADOR 2:2 ¼ - DAM LOWLAND GIRL 2:19 ½ BY LEGAL TENDER FR, 2:25 ½ / BRED AND OWNED BY S A BROWNE, KALAMAZOO MICH. / TIME 2:15 ½. 2:17, 2:17, and the inscription to the foot reads DANCOURT 2:16 ½ / AMBASSAOR 2:21 ¼ / LOWLAND 2: 19 ½

In the 1870's, Samuel A. Browne, in partnership with Senator Stockbridge, established the Kalamazoo Stock Farm. Among their best performers were Dancourt's dam and sire, Lowland Girl and Ambassador. Upon Browne's death, the New York Times reported, "His greatest triumph on the turf was when Dancourt, the son of [Ambassador ] and the old campaigner Lowland Girl, landed the stake for the four year olds at Detroit last July."



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