Rare match programme from abandoned Wolves match sells for more than £11,000
Two of the world's rarest football programmes, including one from a match involving Wolverhampton Wanderers, have sold at auction for more than £23,000.
The two Manchester United programmes went under the hammer in Shropshire last week.
One of the fixtures was against Wolverhampton Wanderers on February 8, 1958, which was abandoned following the Munich air disaster.
The Division One match was postponed when the Busby's Babes plane crash occurred two days before it was due to be played at Old Trafford.
Only a handful of the 12-page magazines survived as it was taken off the production line and most of the copies were destroyed following the tragedy.
One scarce copy which remained has now sold at Mullock Jones Auctioneers, in Shropshire, for £11,400, including buyers premium.
Another ultra-rare programme from Man United's game against Estudiantes de la Plata from September 25, 1968 fetched a total of £12,000.
The Intercontinental Cup final first leg match was won by the South American team 1-0 at at Boca Juniors' La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires.
The Argentinians took home the trophy that year after the Red Devils drew the second leg at Old Trafford 1-1.
The programme from the first fixture was only made available for club directors and officials and the auctioneers said "only a mere handful have survived."
The UEFA/CONMEBOL competition was played between South American and European champions to establish a world club ranking between 1960 and 2004.
Only one English club ever won the trophy - which was Manchester United in 1999, their famous treble-winning year.
Both programmes were purchased by a private UK bidder for a total of £23,400 on Thursday, April 25.
Ben Jones, from the auctioneers, said: "The Estudiantes programme was not available for the public to purchase and only distributed to the directors, officials and VIPs.
"The limited number known for sale in this country are likely ones brought back here by those who attended the game.
"The postponed programme is scarce because they were destroyed after the disaster, with very few copies most likely being taken by staff etc as a souvenir.
"The two programmes were entered into auction via two separate private collections containing over 1,500 football lots, many of which were Manchester United related.
"We are delighted to achieve the results on behalf of the vendors, especially with a price of £11,400 which exceeded a previous known example for the postponed Wolves programme."
