1895 Cup Final ticket auctioned

The ticket cost half a crown but could fetch £3,000

A ticket for the 1895 FA Cup Final - the last ever fought for the original trophy - has been sold for £2,100.

The ticket was found in a scrap album at a junk shop in the south of England and was auctioned in Shropshire.

Aston Villa beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Crystal Palace with a goal after just 30 seconds in the game.

The victors then brought the trophy back to Birmingham where it was famously stolen from a local shop and it has never been seen since.

The ticket originally cost half a crown - about 12.5p in today's money - and was sold at Ludlow Racecourse.

'Fine condition'

"Original tickets from such early FA Cup finals rarely appear on the market for obvious reasons," auctioneer John Mullock said.

"This one is in particularly fine condition, having been put in the album all those years ago and probably never seeing the light of day until our client found it a few weeks ago.

"He didn't realise its rarity but thankfully he came to us and we knew immediately that he had found something which was very special."

The original trophy is rumoured to have survived in a private collection somewhere in the world, but its whereabouts remain a mystery.

Mystery also surrounds the identity of the game's winning goalscorer.

Some reports credited it to Bob Chatt but many fans believe the captain John Devey in fact applied the final touch.