A rare 113-year-old football programme which cost just 1p when new has become one of the most expensive ever sold after fetching nearly £20,000 at auction.
The booklet, described as ‘a good, clean copy’, was produced for the Sheffield United versus Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup final at the Crystal Palace in London on April 20, 1901.
Sheffield United were in the first division – now the Premier League – when they met Spurs, then a non league club, so were favourites to win.
But they were held to a 2-2 draw in the final, watched by crowd of 110,820. Spurs then went on to win the replay 3-1 at Burnden Park, Bolton, to become
The first non league team to lift the cup.
Before the sale, at Graham Budd Auctions in London, the programme had been expected to sell for between £18,000 and £22,000 – and eventually went for
£19,000. It has become the third highest price ever paid for a footie programme – in 2013 one from the 1882 FA Cup final sold at auction for a new world record of £35,250.
In 2012 a 1909 FA Cup Final document detailing the tie between Manchester United and Bristol City sold for £23,500.
