The tennis theme can be found across many product categories and of course autographs are highly sought after. There are so many items with tennis themes and here are some examples.

Wonderful Tennis Ball cleaner called “Kleenball” c 1905. Two indentical halves twist together around the ball to remove dirt.
Another larger model includes cavities carrying white chalk to bring the whiteness back.
The balls were smaller then and modern balls don’t fit.

Circa 1960’s or maybe 1970’s, Ken Rosewall signature tennis shoes

In 1957, Queen Elizabeth attended Wimbledon for the first time as patron and to commemorate this historic occasion the AELTC produced and presented only 12, or at most 19 to the organising committee members and lawn tennis association representatives. The ball as you can see is very real and true to size.  A beautiful memento engraved with the message 
“To mark the visit of her Majesty the Queen”.
Very rare and one is held by the Wimbledon Museum.

Tennis cigarette cases were a popular item also as trophies and awards. This example was awarded to an umpire at Wimbledon in 1912.  A great year with Anthony Wilding winning his 3rd of 4 Singles Titles in a row.

Other examples of umpire awards are these letter opener and tape measure (Wimbledon 1904 & 1914)

This wonderful plate was made in the UK circa 1891-1907 by Wood & Son. The design shows a young lass with three gents with the tag line “Love All”  which undoubtedly carries the double entendre.  A lovely piece depicting the fashion of the day.

A very nice 1900’s tennis bowl with an Australian theme.

One of 4000 made by Royal Worcester to celebrate Wimbledon.

Only 1977 100 Years of Wimbledon plates were made by Spode.

A quite tiny 40mm copper trinket by Halcyon Enamels, this practice has been undertaken since the 1740’s.
The collector piece honours the 100 years of the Lawn Tennis Assocation of Great Britain 1888-1988.

A very famous tennis image used on a variety of different items over the years.

This photo album is quite lovely due to the vibrant colours and if you were looking at storing old
tennis photos or postcards you can’t really go past this.

This Fred Perry tennis heritage design is very uncommon. As you can see it is an all over pattern
front & back depicting early racquet sports scenes.

Some famous Autographs which come up regularly. Obviously many are genuine but you are generally buying on a leap of faith so just don’t go buying one for hundreds of dollars. Signatures on photos are more desirable than normal unless, like some below, they are together marking an important occasion.

1933 – 1934 Davis Cup Players (UK)

A who’s who list of 1920’s Australian players supporting the 1946 Davis Cup Team. A rare and wonderful memento.

Quite a nice Davis Cup Challenge paddle racquet from 1962, played in Brisbane between Australia and Mexico (5-0). Here we have Neale Fraser, Ken Fletcher, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Cliff Sproule and key Mexican players and 3 year US Open Doubles grand finalists, Rafael Osuna and Antonio Palafox with the third member of the squad, veteran Mario Llamas. The final signature belongs to the Mexican Davis Cup Captain, Francisco “Pancho” Contreras. This was Rod Laver’s Grand Slam year and in the next weeks he became a professional which precluded him from the Davis Cup team until 1973. The page above comes from the same 1962 event at the Davis Cup Dinner where some other famous players attended.

Jack Crawford was the 1933 Wimbledon champion and his wife Marjorie (Cox)
was also an excellent player having competed in the Australian Championships on many occasions.

Some top notch Australian Men and Ladies from the 1940’s playing in the Tasmanian Championships.

Joyce Fitch (upside down) Colin Long, Pat Jones, Lionel Brodie, Nancye Bolton, Jack Crawford and Clare Proctor.

Australian Dinny Pails turned professional with Jack Kramer and played many matches overseas
and in Australia with Pancho Segura and Bobby Riggs.

A wonderful postcard by G B Stevens Photography circa 1900’s and most likely in Australia (acquired locally)
What makes this card unique is that the description below on the back comes from a participant on
the day as her note, below explains.

Cigarette Cards & other cards.
These cards were collected from cigarette packs from the early 1900’s to late 30’s.
Of course other cards have been produced since, but these sets include some of the great players in the 1920’s and 1930’s.These are John Player cards c 1938. Australians are well represented.
Joan Hartigan, Jack Crawford, Adrian Quist, Harry Hopman,Viv McGrath

This is a piece of factory memorabilia ex Slazenger UK. Somewhere on the production line hanging on a nail this decal display board probably reminded workers of the selections required. On the reverse are Cricket bat decals.

Tennis Racquet & Ball Store Displays and Selling Aids

Umpiring Badges/ Event Badges & Pins

                                      Signed Tennis balls are a little more interesting than pieces of paper on
                                                 display  L to R Connors, Newcombe, McEnroe, Borg

Vintage tennis balls are even more valuable with well preserved boxes & wrappings.

This very intricate teaspsoon design comes from the USA c1890’s.  It is stirling silver and if you look at the tennis set and racquet it seems to be the Wingfield style launched in 1874.  Simply a lovely piece rarely seen.


A quite stunning desk tidy.  Similar styled dinner gongs also exist. This sold for UK 400 pounds.



Avon perfumes are often themed with many different bottle designs and are a very popular collectors item. particularly in the USA. This is an unopened bottle of after shave and the ball design features a fuzzy yellow finish.
Ball size wise it is close to correct.



This small bottle of scotch is a novelty product circa 1980’s. The ball is smaller
than a real tennis ball but has a felt finish. It is a plastic cover that clips over a small glass bottle
and was part of a series which included a golf ball.



Very rare, is an actual Wimbledon entry form for 1934 which would display well with a 1934 Progamme.