Victorian Gold Stickpin Fashioned from the ‘Spurs’ of Lord Lonsdale and Lord Yarborois Cockfighting Birds
A Victorian Gold Stickpin Fashioned from the ‘Spurs’ of Lord Lonsdale and Lord Yarborois Cockfighting Birds
The gold pin terminating in a ‘buckle’ collar separating the two ‘spurs’
An old label reading: ‘Original Spur. Taken from the Champion Fighting Cock, After the last Main. Fighting the Grand National Between Lord Lonsdale’s + Lord Yarboros Birds. Before the fixing of Steel Spurs.’
note: ‘Main’ refers to matched cock fights based on weights
Size: 6cm long - 2³⁄₈ ins long
The gold pin terminating in a ‘buckle’ collar separating the two ‘spurs’
An old label reading: ‘Original Spur. Taken from the Champion Fighting Cock, After the last Main. Fighting the Grand National Between Lord Lonsdale’s + Lord Yarboros Birds. Before the fixing of Steel Spurs.’
note: ‘Main’ refers to matched cock fights based on weights
Size: 6cm long - 2³⁄₈ ins long
A Victorian Gold Stickpin Fashioned from the ‘Spurs’ of Lord Lonsdale and Lord Yarborois Cockfighting Birds
The gold pin terminating in a ‘buckle’ collar separating the two ‘spurs’
An old label reading: ‘Original Spur. Taken from the Champion Fighting Cock, After the last Main. Fighting the Grand National Between Lord Lonsdale’s + Lord Yarboros Birds. Before the fixing of Steel Spurs.’
note: ‘Main’ refers to matched cock fights based on weights
Size: 6cm long - 2³⁄₈ ins long
The gold pin terminating in a ‘buckle’ collar separating the two ‘spurs’
An old label reading: ‘Original Spur. Taken from the Champion Fighting Cock, After the last Main. Fighting the Grand National Between Lord Lonsdale’s + Lord Yarboros Birds. Before the fixing of Steel Spurs.’
note: ‘Main’ refers to matched cock fights based on weights
Size: 6cm long - 2³⁄₈ ins long
Cockfighting was popular in ancient Greece, Rome and Persia, but probably originated from India. In Renaissance England it was a Royal sport and a ‘cockpit’ was built in Whitehall Palace by Henry VIII. Royal patronage continued into the 17th century until it was banned by Cromwell. The sport was revived at the Restoration by King Charles II, but was finally prohibited by law in 1849. It is still legal in Louisiana, Mexico and Latin America, the Philippines, South East Asia and the Middle East, where it is usually accompanied by frenzied gambling.
Cockfighting jousts took place in a small circular pit into which the specially bred fighting gamecocks are placed beak to beak by their handlers and then released. A combatant wins when its opponent is unable or unwilling to fight or is killed. Metal spurs attached to the birds natural spurs make the action deadlier.
The earliest known British book on the sport of cockfighting was published in 1607 ‘The Commendation of Cocks and Cockfighting’ by George Wilson. He was the first to use the term ‘Cock of the game’ after which fighting cockerels were known as ‘gamecocks’. On Magellan’s voyage around the Philippines in 1521 it was documented as a major sport in the Kingdom of Taytay by the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. It is therefore possible that the game’s origins lie in South East Asia.
Cockfighting jousts took place in a small circular pit into which the specially bred fighting gamecocks are placed beak to beak by their handlers and then released. A combatant wins when its opponent is unable or unwilling to fight or is killed. Metal spurs attached to the birds natural spurs make the action deadlier.
The earliest known British book on the sport of cockfighting was published in 1607 ‘The Commendation of Cocks and Cockfighting’ by George Wilson. He was the first to use the term ‘Cock of the game’ after which fighting cockerels were known as ‘gamecocks’. On Magellan’s voyage around the Philippines in 1521 it was documented as a major sport in the Kingdom of Taytay by the chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. It is therefore possible that the game’s origins lie in South East Asia.
Lord Lonsdale and Lord Yarborois
Victorian Gold Stickpin Fashioned from the ‘Spurs’ of Lord Lonsdale and Lord Yarborois Cockfighting Birds
