£5,000 hope on cup medal
A 1920 Football League championship medal awarded to West Bromwich Albion trainer Bill Barber may fetch up to £5,000.
The nine carat gold medal is engraved: "The Football League Champions, Division 1, West Bromwich Albion, W.Barber,1919-1920."
It will be auctioned at Sotheby's, London, next Wednesday afternoon.
The medal is rare because 1919-20 was the only time Albion won the Football League title. It was also the first year back for the league after it was suspended in 1916 because of the First World War. Bill Barber was the club's trainer for at least 15 years.
Auctioneer Graham Budd said: "This is unique because it is the only time West Bromwich Albion won this title. It came to us from a private collector and we are expecting it to fetch quite a lot."
In the 1919-20 season when Albion, trained by Mr Barber, won the Football League, they scored 104 league goals, which included 37 from prolific Tipton-born striker, Fred Morris, who in 1922 became the first player to score a total of one hundred league goals for the club.
In 1920 there were only two divisions, the first and second division, each comprising 22 teams. Albion were champions with 60 points and lost only four of their 42 league matches.
That season Bradford Park Avenue finished above Manchester United in the first division and Wolves finished 19th in the second division.
Also on sale at the auction will be three copies of the 1935 West Bromwich Albion versus Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup Final programme.
Each programme cost sixpence new, but now two of these programmes are expected to fetch up to £250 each, while the third copy, which is in better condition and also contains the Wembley community songsheet, is valued at between £300 and £400.
