Rangers programme regarded ‘one of rarest in existence’ set to fetch four figure sum at auction

Rangers programme regarded ‘one of rarest in existence’ set to fetch four figure sum at auction

A 76-year-old match programme from one of Rangers’ earliest post-war abroad meetings is anticipated to fetch a four-figure sum when it is auctioned off next month.

The 16-page publication created for the Ibrox club’s friendly against this week’s Europa League last-16 opponents Benfica in Lisbon on February 10, 1948, will have a guide price of between £800 and £1,200 when details go live online this Friday ahead of its auction at Glasgow’s Trades Hall on April 10.

David Convery, an auctioneer and sporting memorabilia specialist, characterized it as “one of the rarest Rangers and indeed Scottish post-WWII match programmes in existence.”

 

Even with the spine taped, Scottish football memorabilia specialists predict that the programme, issued during a period of global paper rationing, will appeal to many Gers collectors and cost substantially more than the reserve price.

It came into the possession of emerging Edinburgh collector Neil Brown after being given to him by his Sunday school teacher as part of a random batch of programmes in the early 1960s.

The now 70-year-old Hearts supporter has no idea how such a unique artifact made its way back to Scotland following a match – some two and a half years after the conclusion of the war – in which few Rangers persuasions beyond team and officials were in attendance.

“When I was 11 years old, my Sunday school teacher found out I’d started collecting programmes and brought in a bag of about 15 old programmes for me,” Brown said. “I had no idea at the time that it would be worth anything in the future because I was only collecting as a pastime.

“It was probably not until the 1980s, when people began to take a genuine interest in the value of such things, that I realized the significance of this particular programme and how rare it might be.”

“I’ve accumulated a variety of sports and music memorabilia over the years, including comics, magazines, vinyl, and football programmes, and it’s all gotten a little out of hand! It’s been great to having such a rare thing for so long, but I’ve been trying to downsize for a while, so now is the time to let it go and let someone else enjoy it.”

Brown contacted the auctioneers in January, and by pure coincidence, his precious programme – with a cover price of 1 Escudo – will be auctioned just weeks after Benfica and Rangers rejoin in the Europa League. The two teams are poised 2-2 ahead of Thursday’s second leg at Ibrox.

Their game at Lisbon’s Estadio Nacional 76 years ago was the clubs’ first ever meeting, and it marked Rangers’ second post-war fixture abroad, after their first versus the Combined Services in Hannover in October 1945.

Bill Struth’s Gers trounced the Portuguese 3-0 in front of an estimated 60,000 fans, with Jimmy Duncanson scoring twice and Willie Thornton also on target. As a romantic aside, former Rangers player and manager Willie Waddell met his wife Hilda while she worked as an air hostess on the aircraft to Lisbon for the match.

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