Boston Cat Show Trophy (1883)

MUSEUMFACTFILE
ClassificationAwards
CategoryTrophy
ArtifactNut Bowl, Boston Cat Show Award
DateNovember, 1883
ConnectionBoston Cat Show
Mr. A.M. Robinson, Jr.
CollectionThe CFA Foundation's Feline Historical Museum
DescriptionA pewter nut bowl, 12" high x 12" long x 8" wide;
Engraved on front, "1st Prize, Boston Cat Show, Nov 1883, Awarded to A.M. Robinson, Jr for Best Specimen of Angora Cat"
Brief HistoryThe pewter nut bowl was presented to Mr. A.M. Robinson at the November, 1883, cat show held in Boston, MA, for "Best Angora" i.e. "Best Persian".
AcquisitonPurchased by the CFA Foundation, October 2014

1st Prize, Boston Cat Show, November, 1883
Photos: Karen Lawrence, courtesy of The CFA Foundation, Inc.

An existing show catalog provides historical documentation indicating that the first organized cat show in North America opened at the Boston Music Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, on March 1, 1878. Subsequent news reports in the Boston Daily Globe provide documentation that cat shows were held on a regular schedule in Boston.

The February 19, 1880 edition of the Boston Daily Globe reported that "in a few days, entries will close on the [second] cat show in Music Hall..." Entries closed on February 27 and the show began on March 1, 1880.

Cat shows held in Boston tended to take place over several weeks, each week having its own show and individual catalog. The 1883 show opened on October 15 and was held at the Horticultural Hall in Boston. A pewter trophy, a large nut bowl, was First Prize during the third week of the show. According to an article titled "The Feline Congress" printed in the November 4, 1883, Boston Daily Globe:

"The third week of the great cat show at the Horticultural Hall closed last night, and judging from the crowded attendance during the day and evening, the fourth week, which begins tomorrow, will be as great a success as the past weeks have been.

The principal prize of last week's exhibition was awarded to Mr. A.M. Robinson, Jr. Bangor, Me, for a magnificent specimen of Angora cat. This cat attracted much attention during the week."

The same Boston Daily Globe article reports that A.M. Robinson's entry was a cat named 'Dick'1.

An obituary in the Boston Daily Globe shows that A.M. Robinson, Jr. was the son of the Hon. A.M. Robinson, a well-known Maine figure who passed away on October 15, 1898. Mr. Robinson Sr. had been one of the prime movers in the building of the Bangor & Picataquis railroad, as well as serving as a member of the legislature as representative and senator2.

REFERENCES:

  1. Boston Daily Globe, November 4, 1883, pg 3.
  2. Boston Daily Globe, October 15, 1898, pg 3.

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