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Ferrari Prancing Horse Trophy (Mike Hawthorn)


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#1 tonyb

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Posted 15 May 2009 - 19:58

The owner and myself are trying to find out a bit more about the origins of the beautiful trophy shown below - this particular one was presented to Mike Hawthorn back in 1958 after his World Championship win and later sold at auction from his estate:

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Another was sold last year by RM Auctions for $28,000 :drunk: - the original recipient was Jacques Swaters who had received eight of them between 1953-1962 in recognition of his efforts in motor racing as a Ferrari privateer, both as a driver and as an entrant (according to the auction listing).

We believe that many of the drivers and other "friends of Ferrari" from the '50s through to maybe the '80s received them. Possibly they were part of the annual convention/press day sessions which were also used to present the yearbooks and new race cars? Franco Gozzi's new book (link is in Italian) about Sergio Scaglietti features a photo of Enzo presenting Scaglietti with one of these trophies.

If any TNF members have more information on the when/where/why etc of these trophies I'd be very pleased to see it.

Thanks. And here are some more pics of the JMH one:

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Edited by tonyb, 21 May 2009 - 07:03.


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#2 tonyb

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Posted 18 May 2009 - 07:52

Just bumping this - can it be that nobody on TNF knows anything about these trophies? :confused:

#3 B Squared

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Posted 18 May 2009 - 13:18

tonyb - All I know is that it is a beautiful piece of history that I'd love to have in my case! Thanks for sharing it with us, I too am surprised that some of our more respected contributors are not able to assist you.

Brian

#4 tonyb

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Posted 19 May 2009 - 07:36

tonyb - All I know is that it is a beautiful piece of history that I'd love to have in my case! Thanks for sharing it with us, I too am surprised that some of our more respected contributors are not able to assist you.
Brian

Yes surprising that no one knows anything considering their origin! I had a suggestion from Nev Hay that Graham Gauld might have attended these dinners if he spots this...

Since I first posted we have some more info from other sources. Apparently, they were presented by Enzo Ferrari at dinner parties held at the end of the racing season. The convegno annuale event was a separate function held in January for the press and yearbook presentation.

There are also a few photos (who they belong to I do not know I'm afraid). John Surtees is pictured with a similar trophy on the front cover of the 31 December 1964 issue of the Italian motorsport magazine Autosprint. Wolfgang von Trips' trophy is currently on display on the right-hand side of his old desk at the Villa Trips museum in Kerpen. Finally, Phil Hill's trophy made an appearance in "Phil Hill: America's Champion", a 1975 ABC television show narrated by Brock Yates. It was sitting on the mantle as the camera moved across the living room in his Santa Monica home...

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Again, if anyone knows more ... :wave:


#5 Arjan de Roos

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Posted 19 May 2009 - 12:27

Tony,

I can confirm what you have found. Indeed it is a trophy as handed out by Enzo to Mike Hawthorn in an end-of-season meeting. I believe another one was for auction at Christies around 1991, I have to check.
A similar trophy was handed out to a journalist every year, this was called the Dino Memorial Trophy.
Also I have to check, but I do recall seeing a pic of Gilles (Villeneuve) being presented a trophy like this by Enzo as well. So I guess they were handed out until around 1980.

#6 tonyb

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Posted 20 May 2009 - 06:12

Tony,
I can confirm what you have found. Indeed it is a trophy as handed out by Enzo to Mike Hawthorn in an end-of-season meeting. I believe another one was for auction at Christies around 1991, I have to check.
A similar trophy was handed out to a journalist every year, this was called the Dino Memorial Trophy.
Also I have to check, but I do recall seeing a pic of Gilles (Villeneuve) being presented a trophy like this by Enzo as well. So I guess they were handed out until around 1980.

Thanks for that Arjan. Looks like these are pretty mysterious objects to everyone else which is a bit surprising. Maybe there weren't really that many looking at the value they have now so few people have seen them? Do you know if the Dino Memorial Trophy looked the same and what was it awarded for - or does anyone have a photo of one perhaps?


#7 Arjan de Roos

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Posted 25 May 2009 - 07:11

Tony,

From a Christie's catalogue I scanned the following page. It is the catalogue for the 1989 Monaco auction, a two day event (one italian, one british oriented) and I think one that set the trend for Monaco Automobilia Auctions.
Sorry for the poor scan, but I think it is readible. The trophy went (according to Cavallino #52) for USD 55.698. To set this in perspective: two Ferrari 288 GTO's went for 1.2m and 1.3m USD and a 308 GT4 for just 78k.
TNF was there already.

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#8 tonyb

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Posted 25 May 2009 - 07:52

Nice! Thanks Arjan for that one :up: I'm sure Pete's followers will be very pleased to see it! By comparison with the others found so far, this one seems to have lost most of the applied black finish over the bronze of the horse though.

In other investigations, there was finally an answer from the "definitive" parties contacted about Mike's 1958 trophy. Both Franco Gozzi, Ferrari's press officer at the time, and Romolo Tavoni, the team manager, recognized the trophy as being that which was given to Mike Hawthorn in November of 1958 at a combination driver award ceremony and press event so that part is correct.



#9 Arjan de Roos

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Posted 25 May 2009 - 12:07

Do you know if the Dino Memorial Trophy looked the same and what was it awarded for - or does anyone have a photo of one perhaps?

In fact on page 210 of Franco Gozzi's book "Memoirs of Enzo Ferrari's lieutenant" you can see a picture of Ferruccio Bernabo (La Stampa) receiving the "Dino Ferrari Journalist Award". Earlier I called it a Memorial trophy and hereby want to correct it. It seems to be smaller than the ones presented to the drivers.
Ferrari was known to organise good end of year parties in order to motivate (private) drivers, journalists and co-workers. In fact he also celebrated all results of the past year in the Ferrari Yearbooks. In all current managers can learn a great deal from what the Old Man did in Maranello.