Lot 204
204
THE PREAKNESS TROPHY: AN IMPORTANT SILVER TROPHY WON BY PERSONALITY
IMAGE CAPTION: Presentation of trophy, 1970, Courtesy of Jacobs Family
THE PREAKNESS TROPHY: AN IMPORTANT SILVER TROPHY WON BY PERSONALITY

MARK OF STIEFF, BALTIMORE, CIRCA 1970

Details
THE PREAKNESS TROPHY: AN IMPORTANT SILVER TROPHY WON BY PERSONALITY
MARK OF STIEFF, BALTIMORE, CIRCA 1970
Set on four tack-trunk formed feet with applied horseshoes, jockey caps, saddles, and crops, supporting a circular domed base with three standing horse figures with fences on a realistically modelled grass ground, with a baluster stem, the upper section with applied figures of Victory holding laurel leaves, with cartouches engraved The Preakness, Pimlico, 1970, Won by Personality, Owner Ethel D. Jacobs, the finial formed as a horse and jockey, marked under base; together with a silver-plated tray, 1970, circular, on three bracket feet, gadrooned rim, center engraved with coat-of-arms, reverse engraved with inscription The Wood Memorial, Aqueduct, 1970, Won by Personality; silver octagonal trophy bowl, Ensko, New York, 1970, center engraved with inscription The Jim Dandy, Saratoga, 1970, Won by Personality, marked on reverse; silver two-handled cup, Ensko, vase form on sloping circular pedestal foot, leaf-capped handles, baluster-form removable cover with finial, body with foliage decoration and engraved inscription The Woodward Stakes, 1970, Won by Personality, marked on base; silver six-paneled bowl in the Dutch style, Carrington & Co., London, 1964, on marble plinth with two silver bands, stem engraved with inscription The Jersey Derby, Garden State Park, 1970, Won by Personality, marked on bowl, stem and two silver bands on plinth
The Preakness trophy 21¼ in. (54 cm.) high; 93 oz. 10 dwt.; 248 oz. 10 dwt. total weighable silver (5)

Lot Essay

Personality, son of Hail to Reason and Affectionately, won the 1970 Preakness, the 95th and richest Stakes, earning $151,300 of the $203,800 purse for Ethel D. Jacobs. Aside from Personality, the top quartet of the race was Dust Commander, My Dad George and Silent Screen. It was said that Personality won because of his good response to the jockey Belmonte's "righthanded whipping", finishing the 1 3/16 mile race in 1:56.
The original "Preakness Trophy", now kept in the Maryland Historical Society, was designed by James H. Whitehouse & Eugene J. Soligny at Tiffany & Co. It was originally commissioned in 1860 by R. Aitcheson Alexander for the Woodlawn Race Course near Louisville, KY. It passed through various hands until 1917 when it became known as the 'perpetual' trophy for the Preakness Stakes. The original trophy is illustrated in John Loring, Magnificent Tiffany Silver, pp. 76-77.

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