As some of you will know, these darts were given out to the winners (or very special players).

Sadly I only have one!

Seemed people would give them away separately. (1 to their mate, 1 to the pub trophy cabinet etc...)
So I have no idea where the other 2 are.

Still, a nice piece of history to own.

I will check out the Hallmark later to see when they were made.

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Very nice stuart, good luck on hunting down the other two!

Shame you don't have the whole set, but still a very nice dart to have

mc1958 wrote:

Shame you don't have the whole set, but still a very nice dart to have

Would have loved to have got the set (I do have a different version - http://www.dartsnutz.com/t1833-solid-silver-unicorn-darts )

Not sure without looking at the hallmarks which is newer (although I'm thinking probably the Unicorns are the newer sort).

Thefox180 wrote:

Very nice stuart, good luck on hunting down the other two!

More chance of winning the lotto I think ! lol

I have seen a full set on Ebay twice I think, but each time they went £100+ bit too much for me.

I'm not an Expert in Hallmarks at all, But have done some basic research and this is what I've got.

Here's the best I could get for a close up (using my phone and a special little eye glass)

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The "B's" is a makers mark, these indicate the darts were made by - "Bravingtons Ltd"
Now they used this style of hallmark between 1927 & 1945 only (as per - http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-B.html )

The Anchor indicates its "Birmingham Silver"

The Lion means its "Sterling Silver"

The "P" is a date mark and this indicates (if im reading it correctly from here - http://www.buy-jewellery-online.com/images-01/Hallmark-Date-Mark-Letter-Table.png )
That the piece was made in 1939, the news of the world champion that year was -

Quote :

Marmaduke Breckon (Jolly Sailor, Hanworth) beat Jim Pike (Windmill Club, Southwark) 2-1. (info from patrick chaplins page - http://www.patrickchaplin.com/NOWWinners.htm

Now, there were a few reginal winners that year so I'm making an educated guess that these went to Marmaduke because of the London makers mark (and these were the finalist of the london one)


I'm also making the educated guess because war broke out and 1938/39 was the final year until 1947 that the comp started running properly again (I think, that's right?).

What do you guys think ?

Stuart180 wrote:

I'm not an Expert in Hallmarks at all, But have done some basic research and this is what I've got.

Here's the best I could get for a close up (using my phone and a special little eye glass)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

The "B's" is a makers mark, these indicate the darts were made by - "Bravingtons Ltd"
Now they used this style of hallmark between 1927 & 1945 only (as per - http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-B.html)

The Anchor indicates its "Birmingham Silver"

The Lion means its "Sterling Silver"

The "P" is a date mark and this indicates (if im reading it correctly from here - http://www.buy-jewellery-online.com/images-01/Hallmark-Date-Mark-Letter-Table.png)
That the piece was made in 1939, the news of the world champion that year was -

Quote :

Marmaduke Breckon (Jolly Sailor, Hanworth) beat Jim Pike (Windmill Club, Southwark) 2-1. (info from patrick chaplins page - http://www.patrickchaplin.com/NOWWinners.htm

Now, there were a few reginal winner that year so I'm making an educated guess that these went to Marmaduke because of the London makers mark (and these were the finalist of the london one)


I also making the educated guess because war broke out and 1938/39 was the final year until 1947 that the comp started running properly again (I think, that's right?).

What do you guys think ?

I think i've got some good news and some bad news for you.

Good news is i lived in hanworth for nearly 15 years and im moving back that way in december, i'll do some asking around for you.

Bad news is the Jolly sailor is now a block of flats.

LOL thats usually the case, knock em down and build flights.

Some great detective work there once again Stuart, very impressive.

I have recognised the anchor mark from watching some antiques programmes, but why did they use an anchor for Birmingham?

The only thing I am not sure of is if they would have made a number of sets in that year then give them out over the years or did they just make them as required?

have a + 1 all the same!

Thanks chaps, not sure about the anchor, i have emailed the Dr to see what he thinks, will be interesting to hear his thoughts on them.
no idea if they made the in bulk, wonder if any of the members have a set ? We could see what marks they have on them.

they probably did not make lots in one go I would have thought, not if they are solid silver?

But maybe more than one set?

getagrip wrote:

LOL thats usually the case, knock em down and build flights.

Always got darts on the mind eh Darren

I must have, I meant flats lol!

You're right about the 'award' of the silver darts which were given in the early days not only for winning an Area or even a House NoW championship (and later a Divisional title) but also for 'achievements' such as hitting a 180 (fairly scarce pre-WW2) or achieving the highest outshot (although the latter had to be good and usually a 100+ outshot). It's always difficult to date when the darts were awarded because the NoW would have had them produced in bulk so the Hallmark isn't a very good indicator.

Thanks Patrick, we did suspect they may have been made in bulk, shame there is no way of knowing who's these were then, still, nice to know these were given out during Jim Pikes time.

surely they must have been costly though if they are solid silver?

getagrip wrote:

surely they must have been costly though if they are solid silver?

That's what i was thinking.

This was around war time as well. Silver was a high commodity.

Certainly there couldn't of been any mass producing.

These are solid silver right?

Must of been only handed out on very rare occurance.

What a small world. I only joined this forum less than an hour ago and come across a dart I used to own and only parted with a couple of months ago,

I collect vintage darts with a particular interest in N.O.T.W and this was an early addition to my collection. The story presented to me when I purchased it was from a bloke who claimed to be a grandson of the winner of the darts, he told me that when his grandfather passed away he had three children who split the set to keep one each.

I have two complete solid silver sets now (1939 and 1997) so it was surplus to my collection.

I parted with it after a guy appealed through Patrick's newsletter for a couple of 1980's N.O.W programme's, thinking I was helping a fellow collector get going I agreed to sell him a programme and this dart for £20. Two weeks later I saw it on Ebay and he was trying to get £50 for it (cheeky Sod). Still you live and learn.

The box it is in is if I remember correctly a spoon box with gold embossing on the lid.
Here is a pic when it was in my collection. I will have to get some pics of more of my collection here. Hope this is of some help.

Unfortunately im no computer expert and I am having problems uploading the image

Thanks for that post Shafted.

Here is a thread about posting pics. Please feel free to ask if you have any other questions. We're here to help.

http://www.dartsnutz.com/t2970-posting-images-forum-guide

Hi Shafted,
Welcome to darts nutz!

What a small world!

If it makes you feel better, I actually only paid £10 for it from an antiques dealer (I'm guessing who ever you sold it too just scrapped it off for peanuts) and trust me, it's safe and well in my collection and wont be going to scrap !

Do you happen to know the Chap who won them originally ??

If you need any help posting pics, let me know, would be fantastic to see your collection.

When Bobby George was on one of those antique programmes, he auctioned off a set of three silver darts, think the went cheap too. Cash in the attic I think it was.

Hi Stuart,
sorry it was in my early days of collecting and I didn't think to ask his grandfathers name, as a more experienced collector now it would be the first thing I would ask, but saying that both the complete sets that I own I inquired as to the winner, but unfortunately neither seller could tell me.

Im glad its stayed in safe hands and valued by you.

Iv'e downloaded photobucket, but think I need to play around with it a bit, Im not very technical. Me and the missus only had kids so they could set the video for us!

Best wishes Neil

Downloaded?

I thought you just had to sign up and begin uploading?

You did follow this guide Neil?

http://www.dartsnutz.com/t2970-posting-images-forum-guide

any problems just ask

I'm guessing he means he downloaded the app for his iphone or android

shafted wrote:

Hi Stuart,
sorry it was in my early days of collecting and I didn't think to ask his grandfathers name, as a more experienced collector now it would be the first thing I would ask, but saying that both the complete sets that I own I inquired as to the winner, but unfortunately neither seller could tell me.

Im glad its stayed in safe hands and valued by you.

Iv'e downloaded photobucket, but think I need to play around with it a bit, Im not very technical. Me and the missus only had kids so they could set the video for us!

Best wishes Neil

Excellent Neil,

As said, if you get stuck, give us a shout and we can help you out.

This is interesting - http://www.salfordonline.com/salfordvideos_page/28531-rare_darts_memorabilia_points_to_salford.html

Notice they are totally different to the one I have.

Nice find Stuart, they look more like the Schofield type of darts!

Hi Stuart. I own a set of these as well and the matching certificate, and have seen this story on the net before. But there are a few inaccuracies with this story, although a superb set of darts they are not solid silver.

When I acquired mine I had never seen a set like them before, so I sent the pictures to Patrick Chaplain who did some research for me, and I finished up with an email from the archivist at news international, who authenticated them and said they had an identical set in there archives.
The lettering News Of the World House Champion Darts is stamped the opposite way to mine.
These are stamped from the top of the barrel to the bottom, which would show correct in a left handed player, mine are stamped bottom to top, which would show correctly in a right handed player. though i imagine it was just chance which way they got stamped.

Another discrepancy is that the holder of the darts claims that his grandfather Herbert Wild from Salford went on to win the Lancs area title in 1939 just before WW2, this was prior to the National finals starting in 1947.

The record books for 1939 state the Lancashire and Cheshire champion to have been a Peter Birchal (St Peters liberal club Oldham) who defeated (Jack Kirk Sandon arms Heswell) by a score of 2_1

Wonder if something is a amiss then, as that article shows the certificate that is dated 1939 and has the area details on.

http://www.salfordonline.com/popupimage.php?image=NOTW%20dartssmall131956.jpg&folder=npics2

Another mystery to solve !