1996 Preakness Stakes Winner's Trophy Presented to Owner Georgia Hofmann....

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A scaled-down replica of the fabled Woodlawn Vase!

1996 Preakness Stakes Winner's Trophy Presented to Owner Georgia Hofmann. Check our Permanent Auction Archives and you'll see a pair of Preakness Stakes winner's trophies, but those jockey models are rather simple, spartan affairs, enormous in athletic significance but not so much in silversmithing artistry. Only the owners receive the far more elaborate format we find here, a scaled-down replica of the permanent Woodlawn Trophy that made its public debut one hundred sixty years ago. It was described by a period newspaper thusly:

"Messrs. Tiffany & Co., the celebrated jewelers, on Tuesday last, sent to Louisville, KY a massive silver vase, for the Woodlawn Race Course Association, the most elegant of its kind ever made anywhere in the world. Its entire height is 36 inches, its weight is four hundred ounces, and its value $1,500. The base of this piece is a circle thirteen inches in diameter, supported upon a cross, then four projections of which are faced each with a race shoe; and on the top of each projection is a racing saddle, whip, jockey cap, etc. The upper part of the base represents a lawn, divided into fields by a rustic fence. In one field is seen a stallion and in the other a mare and foal. On either side of the pillar is a bulletin, on which the rules to be observed in contending for the prize are distinctly engraved. The centerpiece, or bowl, is fourteen inches above the base, and fourteen inches in diameter, and has four shields. On one of these is engraved the picture of a race horse, on another a representation of the Woodlawn Race Course, on another is a blank for the history of the winning of the prize, and the other also blank for a portrait of the winner. Between the shields are four figures of Victory, in frosted silver, each holding a wreath in either hand. Seven inches above the bowl is a circular ornament nine inches in diameter, having engraved on it the portraits of eight officers of the Woodlawn Race Course Association. The whole is surmounted by a full figure of the horse "Lexington" mounted by a jockey in costume."

It was in 1917 that the masterful creation became the symbol of victory at the second leg of the Triple Crown, and in those early days the winning owner took that original home, similar to the temporary ownership of the Stanley Cup. After the winning owner in the 1953 edition, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, Jr., declined to take annual possession due to the trophy's enormous value both sentimentally and monetarily (it is appraised at over $4M today), that tradition was permanently ended, leading to the creation of smaller solid sterling silver reproductions like this one, valued at $40,000 in the absence of any historical context.

It comes to us from the niece of Georgia Hofmann, owner of Louis Quatorze, who galloped to victory in the 1996 edition, along with her letter of provenance. Obverse of cup is engraved, "The Preakness, Pimlico, May 18, 1996," while verso reads, "Won by Louis Quatorze, Owner, W.J. Condren & G.E. Hoffmann (sic) & J.M. Cornacchia."

Pat Day was the winning jockey, riding the regal beast to a time of 1:53 2/5, thought to equal Secretariat's race record until that legendary steed's time was belatedly lowered to an even 1:53. We believe this to be just the second Preakness Stakes owner's trophy to see the public auction block in the past two decades. Fine condition with only light tarnishing to report.

1996 Preakness