A superb silver-mounted real tennis prize racquet won by Robert Oswald Milne of Brasenose College Oxford in 1872, with gilt maker's stamp for BROUAYE,

A superb silver-mounted real tennis prize racquet won by Robert Oswald Milne of Brasenose College Oxford in 1872, with gilt maker's stamp for BROUAYE, PARIS, silver mounted end cap with repousse work foliate decoration and reserved shield for engraving (uninscribed), hallmarked Richards & Brown (Edward Charles Brown), London, 1872, further silver band at the top of the fine green cloth grip, green leather strip tooled gilt running along handle from the top of the grip and continuing over the convex wedge, green & red banding details following the direction of handle and the lop sided head shape, gilded decoration to the sides of the handles, length 68.5cm., 27in.; the racquet housed in its original glass fronted display case, with key; sold together with a pair of real tennis balls believed to have been the balls used in the match for which this racquet was won as the prize Real Tennis is one of several sports sometimes referred to as the Sport of Kings and has a history as a racquet sport that be traced back to the 16th century. In 1850 Oxford University began a real tennis tournament with students competing for the Gold Tennis Racket. By 1857 this had been revised to the silver-mounted racket, presumably for financial considerations. The present example of a silver racquet trophy was won by R.O. Milne of Brasenose College in 1872. Robert Oswald Milne (1853-1927) was the son of a Manchester cotton merchant who lived at Oakfields in Leamington Spa. He was a renowned amateur photographer and took pictures that were illustrated in the Annals of the Warwickshire Hunt in 1896. An all-round sportsman, R.O. Milne also played one first-class cricket match for Lancashire in 1882. Talking of sporting all-rounders, Milne often partnered fellow Brasenose student Cuthbert Ottoway in real tennis doubles competitions. Ottoway, a silver racquet winner himself in 1870, also played first-class cricket as well as being the captain of the England football team in the world's very first international soccer match against Scotland in 1872; this being the same year in which Milne won the silver racquet being offered here.