This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2014
The Vince Lombardi Trophy is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi. During lunch with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1966, Tiffany & Co. vice president Oscar Riedner made a sketch on a cocktail napkin of what would become the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The original trophy was produced by Tiffany & Co. in Newark, New Jersey. This lot includes a pair of Tiffany blueprints – one measures 18” x 24” while the other is 23” x 30” – dated January 1967 that were used to design and create the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy. Even though it is awarded following a national playoff system, the trophy was initially inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship.” It was officially renamed in 1970 in memory of legendary NFL head coach Vince Lombardi, after his death from cancer, to commemorate his leading the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowls.
Includes Letter of Provenance from collector Robert Zweigle.
The Robert Zweigle collection represents 40 years of assembling sports memorabilia items from college and professional football, professional golf and NCAA basketball. Bob Zweigle was a major supplier of promotional products to the NFL who personally attended 38 Super Bowls, working closely with NFL personnel and establishing unique connections that helped grow his collection. He designed/produced Super Bowl press pins from XXV through XXXIX (the final year the NFL produced its own pins). He also designed/produced the Player Participation Trophy and Player of the Game Trophy for the Pro Bowl, as well as the Arena Bowl Championship Trophy. He made it a personal quest to obtain in-person autographs on important memorabilia items at many sporting events wherein he had rare and unusual access.