CAMBRIDGE VS OXFORD SPORTS MATCHES / PRINCES SANDWICH / MARCH 28

Description: We have questions about this. We bought this at an antiques auction in the Kansai area of Japan. It's an original photo. Some silver can still be seen from the developing process. It shows 24 individuals, they look to be in their 20's. Some look older. They come from both rival universities, Cambridge and Oxford. We know this because at the bottom are their names and under their names are the college they attended at one of the two universities. At the center top are the crests for both universities. All the writing was done by hand in blue, purple and white, by some calligraphic artist. On the left is written "Cambridge 8 matches" On the right "Oxford 7 matches". At the lower left corner "Soame" is written very small in black ink. At the lower right corner "Oxford" is written in the same way. And that is all we know from this. Our questions: Our research indicated that "Matches" are some kind of sports activities these two rival universities engaged in. But what were the sports activities? What is "Prince Sandwich"? Why would two rival universities take a photo together? What / Who / Where is "Soame"? How did this end up in Japan? Here's some history we know about this time period: Japan and Great Britain had a very close relationship at this time. As of 1902 they were even military allies. (Your enemy is my enemy and we'll fight them together) This alliance was to Japan's advantage because they wanted to fight Russia (But not Russia's ally France) in the 1904 Russo - Japanese War, but their alliance continued up to WW1 when Japan joined the allies and declared war against Germany. In this time period, it was common for upper class Japanese to go to Britain for travel and to learn English. In 1921, while Hirohito was still only a prince (He eventually became emperor) he took a trip to Britain, had meals with the royal family and stopped at Cambridge where he was given an honorary doctorate degree. Another point is the apparent age of the people in the photo. World War 1 had ended less than 3 1/2 years before this photo was taken. In that time period, going to these universities was an upper class endeavor. During WW1 this class of individuals would have been expected to enlist and according to their class, be a part of the officer corps during the war. And possibly further officers in the Second World War. Do any of these unknown (As of when this photo was taken) individuals have an interesting history, either before or after this photo was taken? As we said, we have questions about this. We bought it at an antiques auction in Japan because it was unusual, mysterious and we think historical. We welcome any comments or questions. It's printed on a thin cardboard 18 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches. The photo itself is 14 1/2 x 11 1/4 inches. We have been selling Japanese antiques for 26 years and are shipping from Los AngelesWe have other antique/vintage Japanese items on ebay. Please see our "Other" items. We will combine items for shipping. If you are satisfied with our service please leave positive feedback with a five star rating.Contact us first if you are not satisfied with our service. We are easy to contact.You will receive your feedback after leaving feedback for us.Thank you!.

Price: 450 USD

Location: Alhambra, California

End Time: 2024-12-08T00:50:41.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD