Rare Doubles trophy, dated 1891, important in the history of Lawn Tennis in Germany, in the form of a hallmarked .800 German silver mounted cut-gla

Rare Doubles trophy, dated 1891, important in the history of Lawn Tennis in Germany, in the form of a hallmarked .800 German silver mounted cut-glass decanter, silver mounted stopper engraved TENNIS TURNIER 1891 HAMBURG PREIS DAPPEL SPIEL, with hobnail cut-glass square decanter, height 23cm., silver mount bears German hallmarks, good condition overall, with wear to silver covered glass stopper, wear to stopper base, the neck of the decanter has a crack running down from top down into the body The first German National Tennis Championships were held in Hamburg in 1891. The organiser of the championships, Carl August von der Meden, later to become recognised as the ‘Father of German Tennis’, decreed that only German and Austrian players would be allowed to enter. This was a response to earlier tennis tournaments recorded in Bad Homburg and Baden Baden in the 1870s and 1880s when British entrants frequently came away with the spoils. Tennis in Hamburg was developed by two ice skating clubs, which resulted in an unusually hard playing surface of gravel with lines of iron. The history of tennis in Uhlenhorst and early championship matches is expertly detailed by Heiner Gillmeister in his book “Tennis: A Cultural History”, p.244-269. Gillmeister identifies 1891, the year of this trophy, as a trial run for the first German championships held in 1892. In these 1891 matches, an Englishman Walter Howard won the Men’s Singles, Handicap Singles and Men’s Doubles (with his brother J.G. Howard) and this domination confirmed von der Meden’s decision to restrict entry the following year. These matches are fully detailed in Pastime magazine of September 1892. Gillmeister also wrote an article for The Tennis Collector, issue 8th August 1993, where he discusses the 1891 trial run. The article also refers to a south of England auction of 1992 where a Doubles trophy and racquets from the 1891 competition were sold. These are now in the collection of the Hamburg Clipper Club and the trophy on sale here is of significant historical interest at a national level in Germany.