THE TROPHIES
The culmination of each of the five main Championships at Wimbledon comes with the final and the presentation (on court for the singles events) of the trophies to the winners. The Championship trophies are displayed for several months of the year in the Museum.
Gentlemen's Singles Championship
The Gentlemen's Singles Trophy was first presented by the All England Club in 1887. It replaced the Field Cup (1877-1883) and the Challenge Cup (1884-1886) which were both won by William Renshaw after twice winning gentlemen's title three times in succession. The All England Lawn Tennis Club spent 100 guineas from the profits of the 1886 Championships to purchase a trophy. The Club was not prepared to risk losing a third Cup to a future three-times Champion so the decision was taken that the new trophy would 'never become the property of the winner'.
The Cup, which is made of silver gilt, stands 18 inches high and has a diameter of 7 1/2 inches. The hallmark indicates a date of 1883. The Cup has a classical style with two handles and raised foot. The lid is formed with a pienapple on the top and there is a head wearing a wingled helmet beneath each handle. There are two decorative borders with foral work and ovolo mouldings on the bowl of the Cup and the handles.
The inscription on the Cup reads: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World".
Around the bowl are engraved the dates and names of the Champions. Although H.F. Lawford was the first Champion to win the Cup in 1887 the decision was taken to engrave all the Champions' names from 1877. In 2009, there being no space left to engrave the names of the Champions, a black plinth with an oranamented silver band was designed to accompany the Cup.
From 1949 to 2006 all Champions received a miniature replica of the Cup (height 8 1/2 inches). From 2007 all Champions have received a three-quarter size replica of the Cup bearing the names of all past Champions (height 13 1/2 inches).
Ladies' Singles Championship
The Ladies' Singles Trophy is a silver salver, sometimes referred to as the 'Rosewater Dish' or 'Venus Rosewater Dish' which was first presented to the Champion when the challenge round was introduced in 1886.
The 50 guineas trophy was made in 1864 by Messrs Elkington and Co. Ltd of Birmingham and is a copy of an electrotype by Caspar Enderlein from a pewter original in the Louvre.
The salver, which is made of sterling silver, partly gilded, is 18 3/4 inches in diameter. There is a central boss surrounded by four reserves. The remainder of the surface is decorated with gilt renaissance strapwork and foliate motifs in relief against a rigid silver ground.
The theme of the decoration is mythological. The central boss has a figure of Temperance, seated on a chest with a lamp in her right hand and a jug in her left, with various attributes such as a sickle, fork and caduceus around her. The four reserves on the boss of the dish each contain a classical god, together with elements. The reserves around the rim show Minerva presiding over the seven liberal arts: astrology, geometry, arithmetic, music, rhetoric, dialectic and grammar, each with relevant attribute. The rim of the salver has an ovolo moulding.
From 1949 to 2006 all Champions have received a miniature replica of the trophy (diameter 8 inches). From 2007 all Champions have received a three-quarter replica of the trophy, bearing the names of all past Champions (diameter 14 inches).
Over the years the Club have received many enquiries from people who possess salvers made to a design identical to that of the Ladies' Singles Plater. Some have been made in silver and others in copper or tin. Sinces these salvers are 'electrotypes created by electric deposition of copper on a mould, it is reasonable to assume that Elkingtons made many. However, only one salver has been used since 1886 as the trophy for the Ladies' Singles Championship. There is no truth in the story that Queen Victoria donated the trophy to the Club.
Gentlemen's Doubles Championship
The Gentlemen's Doubles Trophy is a silver challenge cup for the Gentlemen's Pairs' competition. The Gentlemen's Doubles was played at Oxford from 1879 to 1883 but when it moved to Wimbledon the Oxford University Lawn Tennis Club presented the trophy to the All England Club in 1884.
Ladies' Doubles Championship
The Ladies' Doubles Trophy is an elegant silver cup and cover, known as The Duchess of Kent Challenge Cup, presented to the Club in 1949 by HRH The Princess Marina, President of the All England Club.
Mixed Doubles Championship
The Mixed Doubles Trophy is a silver challenge cup and cover presented to the All England Club by the family of the late S.H. Smith. S.H. Smith won the doubles title in 1902 and 1906, in partnership with the late F.L. Riseley.
