ATTENTION ANNOUNCEMENT !
Due to a request from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Cup will be withdrawn from the Early Art Auction on June 18, 2023.
Agra-Art Auction House has made every effort to determine the origin of the object. Using all publicly available sources of information and databases, it found no indication that the Cup should not be auctioned.
However, the Ministry has informed us that additional research is being conducted into the object's history to clarify whether it is a war loss.
Accordingly, to meet the Ministry's request, we have decided to withhold the sale of the Cup until the matter is clarified.
48.0 x 14.7cm - silver partly gilded silver inside gilded pr. 800, cast, chiseled
height: 48 cm; weight: 810 g
hallmarked: press (Koch & Bergfeld company mark), 800, crown, crescent moon, model no: Z 42075; Austro-Hungarian contribution mark on the foot and on the lid
At the top edge, engraved inscription: ILLUSTRATED DAILY CURIER;
On the belly in the reserve engraved dedication: To the Polish soccer champions, below: 9/XI 1913
Cup reproduced:
- "Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny" 1913, no. 259, p. 4;
- "Illustriertes (Österreichisches) Sportblatt" 1914, no. 1, p. 5;
- Piotr Chomicki, Leszek Śledziona, History of Sports, Volume III. Football matches in Galicia until 1914, NADA Publishing House, Mielec 2015, p. 109, cover photo.
The magnificent silver cup, won by Cracovia at the First Galician Championship in 1913, is a unique monument of exceptional museum value, as one of the few mementos of this importance still preserved, related to the early history of Polish soccer.
The unique monument was made by Koch & Bergfeld - one of the most famous German goldsmith companies, the contractor of the UEFA Champions League cup.
The first Galicia Football Championship was held in 1913, and the FIFA-approved event was organized by the Polish Football Association, which had been established two years earlier. Prior to the founding of the ZPPN, Polish clubs belonged directly to the Austrian federation (ÖFV). Hence, the organization from which the Polish Football Association was formed in 1919 held important significance for the formation of the Polish sports community. Its activities were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, hence the second edition of the games, scheduled for 1914, did not live to see completion.
The final of the First Galician Championships had a rather unpredictable course, while its result is still controversial today. It involved the two oldest clubs in Poland still in existence - Cracovia and Wisla (founded in 1906). In the last match, played on November 9, 1913, Wisla won 1:0 on the field. However, a 5:0 walkover was ruled for Cracovia because the Wisla team featured unauthorized players from Sparta Prague (Pek and Spindler).
The silver trophy, which was awarded to Cracovia, was sponsored by the editors of the IKC, about which the founders wrote: For a number of years the custom has been established abroad, that more important sports competitions are played for honorary prizes, donated by world-famous newspapers (such as Matin, New York Herald, Excelsior, etc.), industrial institutions, or individuals. This custom has brought great benefit to sports. This is because the honorary prizes for the winners gave birth to a noble rivalry, which contributed to putting sports on a higher level. Following the example of foreign periodicals, our Editorial Board has offered a silver puhar (!)to the three-time winners of the Galicia championship in football competitions. This prize will be a traveling one and will be given to the club whose team wins the championship of Galicia three times at all, and two times in a row. May this award contribute to the most beautiful development of Polish sports. The puhar (!), donated to the Polish footbalists will be exhibited these days at the exhibition of the well-known Sperber Brothers company in the Market Square. ("Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny" 1913, no. 255, p. 4)
The cup was made by Koch & Bergfeld of Bremen according to a model that was introduced in the second half of 1902 or before May 1903.
Koch & Bergfeld is one of the oldest German goldsmith companies. Its history is recorded from 1829, when Gottfried Koch started his business. In 1856, he entered into a partnership with Ludwig Bergfeld, a stone cutter. Developed by successive generations, the manufactory was known before World War I as one of the largest and best in Germany. It owed its reputation to its collaboration with the most prominent designers, the quality of its machining tools, which are still made by hand in the manufactory today, and its high standards of quality control. Today, Koch & Bergfeld specializes, among other things, in the manufacture of sports trophies and statuettes that constitute awards in the media world. It should be noted here that it is the maker of the UEFA Champions League trophy.
