Vanderbilt Cup Races

Two weeks before the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race, driver George Robertson won the 200-mile Fairmont Park Motor Race with Irving Morse's 40 HP Locomobile. Robertson was rewarded with $2,500 while Morse (related to the Samuel "Morse Code" Morse) received a 31-pound, 3-foot sterling silver trophy "The Founders' Week Cup".

On Sunday, this magnificent trophy was purchased for $128,700 by an unknown buyer at a Detroit auction. The purchase price was over five times higher that the $15,000-$25,000 catalog estimate listed by auction house DuMochelles. Last month, Hemmings published an excellent article on the trophy.