Perpetual Trophy Ideas

[SenorEquis]

We are considering creating a perpetual trophy for one of our local events. We would certainly want something like that to be both impressive and memorable. I know other events have done similar things; care to share your creativity? Any ideas or examples (especially with cool photos) would be greatly appreciated. And as we hope to have one of our own, any tips on where you all got your trophies (bought at a trophy store, custom-made, hand-made, etc.) would be lovely. Thanks!

[piste off]

We are considering creating a perpetual trophy for one of our local events. We would certainly want something like that to be both impressive and memorable. I know other events have done similar things; care to share your creativity? Any ideas or examples (especially with cool photos) would be greatly appreciated. And as we hope to have one of our own, any tips on where you all got your trophies (bought at a trophy store, custom-made, hand-made, etc.) would be lovely. Thanks!

Get Tim Moorehouse to donate a pair of old fencing shoes. He seems like a cool guy and would probably not have an issue with it.

Have them bronzed at a place that does bronzing for baby shoes, and go for the option of silver color (or gold) with a platform base.

Attach a plaque with the appropriate verbiage (can be done at any trophy place, or the same company doing the bronzing).

Then you have a perpetual trophy that is based of an Olympic medalist's personal fencing effects. Pretty impressive.

R-

[whtouche]

Piste Off has the right idea, but the specificity may be a miss, depending on your location. Perpetual trophies should commemorate something meaningful in regards to the scope of the tournament. As such, a Tim Morehouse trophy in the middle of oklahoma, for example, may not be the best choice.

One great example I can think of from my section is the Albert Axelrod trophy (I'm sure it has a more official name) that is given to the winner of the men's foil senior sectional championship each year, I believe. Mr. Axelrod won one of the few olympic medals in fencing in US history, taking bronze in foil in 1960. This trophy wouldn't make much sense, however, if he fenced in a different section during his career.

(as a side note, his grandson used to fence at the same club as me, and one day he brought the olympic medal in. Only time I've ever seen an olympic medal in person, and it was awesome. I don't mean that in the colloquial "awesome dude" sense. I mean awe-inspiring, awesome)

To continue this diatribe a bit further, I want to emphasize the importance of scope. Not every trophy has to be so grandiose - commemoration for local opens, for example, can be more quaint and small-scale. Hope at least some of this helped.

[tchwojko]

Odd suggestion:

Make a "trophy" out of blade(s) broken from the tournaments. Each year the trophy gets a bit bigger. Winners can harmlessly keep a bit of it, possibly keeping it manageable in size.

[occasionalfencer]

A trophy is impressive mainly by what it represents. It becomes impressive over the years, as impressive people win it. Make it big, leave room to engrave the names on it, wait 25 years for the child, or 50 years for the grandchild of one of the early winners to say "I wanted to have my name right there next to my gramps."

Think of the impressiveness of the trophy as something like an acorn.

[KD5MDK]

The Division I MF Team trophy is pretty nice.

The PCC trophies are pretty cool.

The Yorick Open in San Marcos has a trophy with a glass skull mounted on it.

[erooMynohtnA]

You need to find a metalsmith or glassblower (or some other type of 3D artist) and just sit down with them. They'll make you something real nice.