World Cup, Stanley Cup, America’s Cup, Apple Cup, Ryder Cup… Some time way back, someone gussied up a two-handed drinking cup and made it into a sports trophy. What was that first Cup trophy?
[Since when do thread titles have to be at least 10 characters? Silly Discourse.]
Of the ones you list, I think the America’s Cup is the oldest, originally awarded in 1851.
The British Open in golf has a trophy known as the Claret Jug. It could hold liquid, but it’s more of a serving container than one you’d drink from. The jug only goes back to 1872.
Wikipedia said that in the 1600s there was a “two-handled sterling cup” called the Kyp Cup.
In the ancient Greek era, there were silver cups given out to winners, but those probably weren’t customized/trophy-ized in that sense.
The Royal Musselburgh Old Club Cup has been awarded continuously since 1774.
One of the traditional prizes in the ancient Olympics was the athlete’s weight in olive oil. I’m guessing that it was delivered in a container that looked something like that.
No, the oil prize was contained in amphorae.
I dunno, amphorae don’t look so very different from trophy cups, to me.
Amphorae have pointed bottoms, rather than the flat bottoms of trophy cups.
As far as the Kyp Cup, I have a suspicion that that wasn’t the first cup trophy. Massachusetts in 1699 was just kind of an out-of-the-way place for starting such a tradition.
Most trophy cups have pointed bottoms, too (plus some sort of base they’re mounted on so they’ll stand up). Compare these trophies:
with these amphorae:
Now, of course, there are also plenty of both that don’t look as much like the other. But that just shows that designs have changed over time. It still looks consistent with a gradual evolution from one to the other.
The first Queen’s/King’s Plate ( “a plate to the value of 50 guineas”) was presented in 1860 to the winner of that named horse race in Toronto. Despite the name, the winning owner is presented with a gold cup, rather than a plate.
It has been held every year ever since (war or no war). King’s Plate - Wikipedia