A Fine Collection of Racing Tickets and Passes, the Property of a North Country Collector

ABERDEENSHIRE, Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Forfar, Kincardine & Banff Meeting, a white metal Subscription & Admission Ticket to [the] Stand, 1817, unsigned, two horses racing past winning-post, rev. legend, not transfble, 29mm, 9.83g (W –; D & W –). Rim damage at 9 o’clock on obverse, other minor marks and scuffing, otherwise very fine, extremely rare £200-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Racing Tickets and Passes, the Property of a North Country Collector.

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Provenance: W.J. Noble Collection, Part II, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 61B (Melbourne), 3-4 August 1999, lot 1087 [from Baldwin 1992]; Baldwin FPL 2000 (186).

There is evidence that racing took place spasmodically on the beaches around Aberdeen as far back as the 1660s, but the main prolonged period of racing on the kidney-shaped course between Footdee and the Old Battery began in 1793 with the first Aberdeen, Forfar, Kincardine and Banff meeting, initially run under the patronage of the 3rd Duke of Grafton, himself a noted racehorse owner. Between 1799 and 1814 the meeting did not run, but it was revived as a 4-day event in 1815 and the stand opened in 1817. The last meeting was held in October 1828 and racing ceased at Aberdeen in August 1876