Lot 300
A collection of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century football medals and...
Monday 9 July 2012 | 11:00 | Lots: 271
Lot 300
A collection of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century football medals and...
Lot 300
Lot Description
A collection of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century football medals and presentation watches awarded to Alexander Leake, known as Alex or Alec. Leake was an English professional footballer who won five caps for his country and made 407 appearances in the Football League playing as a half-back for a number of teams including Small Heath, Aston Villa and Burnley.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 9ct gold Championship medal, engraved to the reverse, 'B&D F.L. Championship Old Hill Wanderers Winners A. Leake 1893-4'. Hallmarked Birmingham 1893. Height measuring 4 cm, weight 8.3 grams.
A 9ct gold Smallheath football medal, engraved to the front, 'Alec Smallheath 1901', and to the reverse Presented by C. Smith. Hallmarked Rolason Brothers Chester 1900, registered no. 332399.Height measuring 3.3 cm, weight 7.8 grams.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 9ct gold and enamel Senior Cup Winners Medal, engraved to the reverse 'Senior Cup Winners 1902-03 Aston Villa F.C. A. Leake'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1902, height including suspension ring 4.2 cm, weight 22.5 grams.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 9ct gold and enamel Senior Cup Winners Medal, engraved to the reverse, 'Senior Cup Winners 1903-4 Aston Villa F.C. A. Leake'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1903. Height including suspension ring measuring 5 cm, weight 23 grams.
An early twentieth century 15 ct gold medal engraved to the front 'Presented to Aleck Leake' with central recipients' enamelled monogram and engraved to the reverse, 'By John E. Jones To Englands Most Consistant & Resourceful Half Back Football Season 1903-4'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1903. Height including suspension ring measuring 4.7 cm, weight 17.6 grams.
A 15ct gold English FA Cup Winners Medal 1905, engraved to the reverse, 'Aston Villa F.C. Winners English Cup 1905 A. Leake'. Hallmarked Constantine & Floyd Ltd Birmingham 1904, registration No. 223727. Height including suspension ring 5 cm, weight 17 grams.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 9ct gold and enamel Charity Cup medal, engraved to the reverse, 'Aston Villa A. Leake'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1904. Height measuring 4.2 cm, weight 14.7 grams.
The Football League England V Scotland 15ct gold medal, engraved to the reverse, 'The Football League v Scottish League March 11th 1905 A. Leake'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1904. Height including suspension loop 36 mm, weight 16 grams.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 9ct gold Championship medal of circular form, central red enamelled shield and rampant lion above the motto 'Prepared', the reverse engraved, 'B&D.F.L. Championship Aston Villa F.C. Winners 1906-7 A. Leake'. Hallmarked Herbert Bushell Birmingham 1906. Height including suspension loop measuring 4 cm, weight 11 grams.
A 9ct gold Robey Charity Cup medal 1906-7, engraved to the reverse, '1906-07. Alex Leake Aston Villa'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1906. Height including suspension ring 3.8 cm, weight 12.6 grams.
Birmingham District & Counties Football Association 18ct gold and enamel medal 'For Merit', engraved to the reverse 'Presented to Alex Leake For Honours gained while a player for Aston Villa Football Club on the occasion of his benefit Nov 9th 1907 By His Friend Joe Milton'. In case of issue. Hallmarked Birmingham1907, height including suspension ring 4.8 cm, weight 26 grams.
The Football League England V Ireland 9ct gold medal, engraved to the reverse, 'Inter League Match v Ireland A. Leake Reserve Player'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1909. Height including suspension ring 3.7 cm, weight 16 grams.
Wednesday Charity Football Association 9ct gold medal, engraved to the reverse, '1910-11 A. Leake'. Hallmarked Vaughton & Sons Birmingham 1910. Height including suspension ring 3.8 cm, weight 6.7 grams.
Bedstead Workmen Association Challahge Cup football medal, metal, engraved to the front, 'Hoskins & Sewell United Runners Up 1890&91'. Height measuring 3.8 cm.
A late nineteenth century Old Hill Wanderers silver football medal, engraved to the reverse, 'Presented to A. Leake by the Old Hill Wanderers F.C. For Services rendered 1893-4'. Hallmarked Birmingham 1893. Height measuring 4 cm, weight 10 grams.
Birmingham & District Football League Championship silver football medal, engraved to the reverse, 'B&D. F.L Championship Small Heath F.C Runners Up 1895-6 A. Leake'. Hallmarked Birmingham 1895. Height measuring 5.2 cm, weight 27.9 grams.
Small Heath Football Club silver medal, engraved to the reverse, 'S.H.F.C 2nd A. Leake 1. Prize Long Kick'. Hallmarked Birmingham 1894. Height measuring 4.6 cm, weight 16.3 grams.
Birmingham Publics Parks Cricket Association silver medal 1902, engraved to the reverse, 'B.P.P.C.A 1st League A. Leake'. Hallmarked Chester 1902. Height including suspension loop measuring 5 cm, weight 12.1 grams.
A late Victorian silver medal, central applied shield engraved with the initials AL. Hallmarked Birmingham 1892. Height measuring 4 cm, weight 12.6 grams.
A late Victorian silver open face keyless wind presentation pocket, the back case engraved with a monogram of the recipients initials and the movement cover engraved, 'Small Heath Football Club Presented to Their Captain Alec Leake in Recognition of Valued Services Rendered to the Club by Gaining First League Honours Season 1900-1901'. Hallmarked Chester 1900. Diameter measuring 5.5 cm.
A gold plated full hunter keyless wind pocket watch. Diameter measuring 5 cm. The watch bears no personal engravings but is believed to have belonged to Alex Leake, remaining with the medal collection in family ownership.
Postage: Auction Default
Weight: No
Total lot weight: No
Condition Report
Alexander Leake was an English professional footballer who won five caps for his country and made 407 appearances in the Football League playing as a half-back for Small Heath, Aston Villa and Burnley. Leake was born on the 11th of July 1871 in Small Heath, Birmingham and after leaving school he trained as a blacksmith with Hoskins & Sewell, Birmingham, and played for the works football team. He later helped Old Hill Wanderers to the championship of the Birmingham & District League in the -189394 season and later signed for Small Heath, newly promoted to the First Division, in July 1894.
Leake joined Aston Villa in July 1902, when he was 31, and stayed five years. In his first season the club were runners-up in the First Division, and in 1905 he played in their 1905 FA Cup Final team which beat Newcastle United 2-0. While with Aston Villa he won five official caps for England, making his international debut at the age of 32 on 12 March 1904 in a 3-1 win against Ireland in Belfast. Described as "hard to beat in a tackle, and good at spoiling an opponent's pass,’ Leake was a stalwart of Midlands football. In 1905, having captained Villa in their last league game of the season, Leake accused Manchester City star, Billy Meredith, of attempted match fixing, which lead to one of the biggest football scandals of the period and caused Manchester City’s increasing prominence to come to an abrupt end.
In December 1907 at the age of 36 Leake joined Burnley. In 1910 he returned to the Midlands and played a season with Wednesbury Old Athletic which had been elected to the Birmingham & District League. He later worked as trainer with Crystal Palace, Merthyr Town, and Walsall, and also coached at school level. Alexander Leake died on the 29th of March 1938, Birmingham, aged 66.
In the early 1960’s the collection of medals were very nearly lost forever but were rediscovered in remarkable circumstance. During the architectural development of a local Birmingham bank, the staff mistakenly left a package containing over 200 of Leake’s medals in the vault, which, upon the demolition of the building, were bulldozed into the soil. This banking blunder was discovered by an ice cream man who was alerted to the medals’ presence one hot summer’s day when some local children attempted to purchase ice cream in exchange for some shiny gold and silver, Leake’s medals. Sadly, this episode caused the majority of the collection to be lost, but the remaining medals were returned to the Leake family, along with a compensatory cheque from the bank and have remained in family ownership since.
Please login to request a condition report or ask more questions.
Own a similar item?
Request a Valuation
Get started
Receive alerts about
similar lots
Get Started
Upcoming Lots
Telephone Bid
Bid
Newsletter Signup
Keyword Alerts
Would you like to receive personalised keyword alerts when new catalogues go live. If so, please indicate these below
Set a password to save your keyword alerts
Passwords are a minimum of 8 characters and must include an upper case letter, a lower case letter, a number and a special character.
Newsletter
