International Gordon Bennett Race - 1912 dated Aviation Membership Certificate - Aeroplane Contest - Mentions Charles Terres Weymann, Glenn H. Curtiss & Claude Grahame-White

Membership Certificate of the International Gordon Bennett Race, under the auspices of The Aero Club of America and The Aero Club of Illinois. This exquisite, unissued certificate is by the Western Division of American Bank Note. - Chicago. Charles Dawes’ signature (Dawes was Vice President under Coolidge) adorns the certificate. The superb graphics feature a prominent bi-plane monument at the center and portraits of Curtiss, Weymann, and Grahame-White. A blank space was left for the later addition of a portrait of the race winner. Mint Condition and Very Rare!

The Gordon Bennett Aviation Trophy, an international airplane racing trophy, was awarded by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the American owner and publisher of the New York Herald newspaper. It is one of three Gordon Bennett awards, alongside an automobile race and a ballooning competition. The terms of the trophy competition were similar to those of the Schneider Trophy: each race was hosted by the nation that had won the preceding race, and the trophy would be won outright by the nation whose team secured the victory three consecutive times. Consequently, after Joseph Sadi-Lecointe’s triumph in 1920, the Trophy became the permanent possession of the Aéro-Club de France.

Following the immense success of the Gordon Bennett balloon competition, which had emerged as the most significant competition in the sport, Gordon Bennett announced a competition for powered aircraft in December 1908. To commission the trophy, André Auroc, the sculptor responsible for creating the trophies for both the balloon and automobile competitions, was appointed. The formulation of the competition rules was entrusted to the Aéro-Club de France. It was decided that each competing nation would be permitted to field a team of three competitors.