Coins, Tokens, Historical Medals and Antiquities

The 77 Medals and Awards to Edith Trickey, one of England’s top female athletes in the inter-War years and the holder of the Women’s World Record for the 1,000 Metres, and to her husband, Frederick Littlefair, of Woodford Green:

L[eyton] H[arriers] A[thletic] C[lub], an openwork gold and silver badge by H. Bushell, clasp named (E. Trickey), 32 x 24mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1922, 11.58g;
Championship of Essex, an enamelled silver badge by Fattorini, engraved (Ladies 100 Yards, Championship of Essex, 1923), 37 x 30mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1923, 13.49g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, a bronze award medal, unsigned, engraved (Relay Championship, 1923, 3rd), 29mm;
FRANCE, Baiser d’Enfant, or Tendresse Maternel, [1903], a silver plaquette by O. Yencesse, rev. engraved (Fédération Féminine Sportive de France 1923), 35 x 25mm (PBE 1015; Coll. R. Marx 154; Classens 83; ANS Exh. Cat. 1910, p.369, 3), wt. 17.61g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, gold award medals by J. Daffern & Co (5), named (880 Yds Championship, 1923, 1st; 880 Yds Walk, Championship, 1923, 1st; 1924, 880 Yds, Winner, E. Trickey, 2m 30 2/3s; 1924, 880 Yds Walk, Winner, E.F. Trickey, 4m 17 2/5s; 880 Yards, 1925, Winner), all 29mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1923, 1923, 1924, 1924, 1925 respectively, all 9ct, total wt. 52.43g;
Insurance Athletic Association Championship, silver award medals (13), by Cohen & Charles (7), named (Ladies 80 Yds, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 1923; Ladies High Jump, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 1923; Ladies Relay, N.B. & M., 1923), all hallmarked 1922, un-named (4), all hallmarked 1923; by A.G.C. (3), named (220 Yds, 2nd, E.F. Trickey, 1925; Relay, 2nd, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 1925; Long Jump, 1st, E.F. Trickey, 1925), all hallmarked 1924; by J.A. Wylie & Co (2), named (220 Yds, 1927, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 2nd; Relay, 1927, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 1st, Record), both hallmarked 1926; unsigned, un-named, hallmarked 1925, all 29mm, total wt. 137.54g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, silver award medals by J. Daffern & Co (2), named (1924, 440 Yds, 2nd, E.F. Trickey; 440 Yards, 1925, Second), both 29mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1924, 1925, total wt. 21.01g;
Women’s International Games, London, 1924, gold award medals by F.W. Reynolds for the News of the World (2), one named (World’s Record, E. Trickey, 1,000 Metres Flat, 3 Min. 8 1/5 Secs), both 32mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1924, both 9ct, total wt. 31.04g;
L[eyton] and L[oughton], silver award medals (2), by J.S., named (Winners, 1924, N.B. & M., Miss E.F. Trickey); by Fattorini, named (Winners, 1925, Miss E.F. Trickey), hallmarked Birmingham 1918 (!), both 32mm, total wt. 27.16g;
BELGIUM, Brussels, La Dernière Heure, c. 1925, a bronze award plaque, unsigned, 64 x 44mm;
The Women’s International Athletic Contest, 1925, a bronze award medal by Pinches for the Daily Sketch, un-named, 33mm;
Middlesex Ladies Athletic Club, gold award medals by D.G. Collins (3), engraved (1st, 880 Yds, 1925; W.A.A.A. Inter-Club Championship, Daily Mirror Prizes, 1926; W.A.A.A. Inter Club Championship, 1927), all 29mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1925, 1926, 1927, all 9ct, total wt. 37.52g;
Insurance Athletic Association Championship, bronze award medals (3), unsigned, named (80 Yds, 3rd, E.F. Trickey, 1925; Relay 1926, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 3rd; 80 Yds, 1927, E.F. Trickey, N.B. & M., 3rd), all 29mm;
North British & Mercantile Sports Club, a silver award medal, unsigned, named (Wakefield Cup, 1926, E. Trickey), 38mm, 21.16g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, gold badges by A. Roden & Son (3), engraved (1926 Championships, 880 Yards, 1st; 1927 Championship, 880 Yards, 1st; 1928 Cross Country Championships (Team), 1st), all 25mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1925, 1926, 1927, all 9ct, total wt. 27.42g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, bronze badges (2), unsigned, engraved (1926-7 Cross Country Championships (Team), 3rd), and by Toye & Co, engraved (W.A.A.A. Championships 1933, Standard Discus), both 25mm;
London Olympiads Athletic Club, a silver badge by H. Bushell & Son, named (Points Cup, 1927, E. Trickey), 30 x 25mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1923, 13.42g;
Middlesex Ladies Athletic Club, silver award medals by D.G. Collins (2), engraved (W.A.A.A. Inter Club Championship, 1928...1930), both 29mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1927, 1929, total wt. 26.00g;
London Olympiads Athletic Club, silver badges by H. Bushell & So (4), all un-named, 31 x 26mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1931, 1932, 1933 (2), total wt. 24.90g;
London Olympiads Athletic Club, an enamelled silver medal by J.A. Wylie & Co, un-named, 30mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1932, 11.72g;
London Olympiads Athletic Club, silver badges by W. Adams Ltd (2), un-named, both 30 x 24mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1935, total wt. 10.12g;
Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, silver badges by J. Taylor & Co (4), engraved (N.R.W.C. 1935, 1st; N.R.W.C. 1936, 1st; N.R.W.C. 1936 1st Individual; N.R.W.C. 1938, 2nd Team), all 25mm, first hallmarked Birmingham 1934, total wt. 38.13g;
Southern Counties Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, enamelled silver badges by J. Taylor & Co (3), engraved (Road Walk Champp. 1936...1938...1938), all 30 x 20mm, first hallmarked Birmingham 1935, total wt. 30.35g;
Southern Counties Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, an enamelled bronze badge, engraved (1 Mile Walk Champp. 3rd), 30 x 20mm;

together with the medals awarded to her husband, F.N. Littlefair:
Walthamstow Harriers, enamelled silver badges (2), by Fattorini, named (100 Yds, 1926, 3rd, F.N. Littlefair); by A.G. & Co, named (F.N. Littlefair, 100 Yds, 1st, 1930-1), both 25mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1926 and 1930; total wt. 19.18g;
Daily Mail Push Ball, a plated bronze medal, unsigned, named (Walthamstow, Sept. 3rd 1927, N. Littlefair), 38mm;
Walthamstow Harriers, enamelled gold badges (2), by W.H. Haseler, named (100 Yds, 1st, F.N. Littlefair, 1928), and by Fattorini, named (100 Yds Chamionship, 1st, F.N. Littlefair), both 25mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1928, 1930, both 9ct, total wt. 15.68g;
London Shipping Athletic Association, bronze award medals (2), unsigned, named (100 Yards 1928, Third, F.M. Littlefair; 1 Mile Relay, 1929, Third), both 33mm;
Metropolitan Championship, a bronze award medal, unsigned, engraved (Seniors, 100 Yards Scratch, 1930), 29mm;
Wadham Harriers, an enamelled silver badge by A.G. & Co, named (100 Yds, 1934, 2nd, N.F. Littlefair), 29mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1934, 9.92g;
Wadham Harriers, an enamelled bronze badge, named (100 Yds, 3rd, F.N. Littlefair, 1935), 29mm;
Essex County Cycling & Athletic Association, a silver badge by W.H. Ltd, un-named, 24mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1938, 9.25g;
Road Walking Association, an enamelled bronze badge, engraved (National 20 Miles Championship 1939, 2nd Class Standard), 26mm;
London Shipping Athletic Association, silver award medals by H. Phillips (2), named (2 Miles Walking Championship, 1939, Second, F.N. Littlefair; 5 Miles Road Walking Championship, 1939, First), both 33mm, hallmarked London 1938 and 1939, total wt. 42.03g;
Woodford Green Athletic Club, an enamelled bronze badge, engraved (20 Miles Walk, 1940, 3rd), 28mm;
Highgate Harriers, an enamelled silver badge by J.A. Wylie & Co, named (20 Mls. Open Walk, 1941, F.N. Littlefair), 29mm, 9.81g;
Centurions, 1911, an enamelled silver badge by Marples & Beasley, un-named, 31mm, hallmarked Birmingham 1946, 14.42g [Lot].
Gold medals all extremely fine, others very fine and better, an extremely comprehensive group; sold with a pencil-marked copy of the souvenir programme for the Women’s International and British Games held at Stamford Bridge on 4 August 1924, at which Edith Trickey broke the women’s 1,000 metre world record by 3.8 seconds [see above] £3,000-£4,000

Edith Florence Trickey (b. 1903), later Littlefair; educ. Walthamstow School for Girls, rose to prominence in the early 1920s and quickly made a name for herself as a short and middle-distance runner. Competing under the banner of the London Olympiads Athletic Club, she was at the forefront of moves to encourage women’s athletics in the wake of the first three Women’s Olympiads, held in Monaco in 1921-3. Since 1880 the Amateur Athletic Association had held championship meetings, but only for men. Women's clubs and competitions were typically separate and, in line with growing interest in the sport, the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) was founded in 1922. The first women’s championships were staged at the Oxo Sports Ground, Downham, Bromley in August 1923 and, with the exception of Reading in 1927, track and field championship events were staged at various London locations until the outbreak of World War II. The development and success of these meetings helped to cement the inclusion of women athletes at the Olympic Games for the first time, in Amsterdam in 1928. The previous year she had married Frederick Norman Littlefair (b. 1901), a Cumbrian long-distance athlete.

The 1924 Women’s Olympiad, held at Stamford Bridge, Fulham, on 4 August in front of 25,000 spectators, was organised in co-operation with the News of the World, Sporting Life and the Daily Mirror, in co-operation with the WAAA and the Fédération Sportive Feminine Internationale under the chairwoman, Alice Milliat. The games were attended by participants from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Switzerland and the UK competing in 12 disciplines, with athletes from Canada and USA participating in exhibition events. Almost all medals were won by athletes from France and the UK. During the Olympiad seven world records were set: Mary Lines in the 120 yards Hurdles and 250 metres, Edith Trickey in the 1,000 metres, Albertine Regel in 1,000 metres Walking, Elise van Truyen in High Jump, Violett Morris in Discus and Louise Groslimond in Javelin. However, poorly performed measuring meant that only two of these records, by Trickey and Regel, were later ratified.

Edith Trickey is pictured on these pages breaking the world record in the 880 Yards Walk on 21 June 1924, with a time of 4 minutes 17.4 seconds, and (third from left) with a team of fellow athletes at Liverpool Street station prior to departure for a meeting in Berlin, 1927 (image by H.F. Davis, Hulton Archive/Getty Images)