What is the origin of the term ‘selling plate’?

In horse racing, the term ‘selling plate’ is used to describe a low-grade contest, following which the winner must be sold, or at least offered for sale, at public auction. The ‘selling’ portion of the term is self-explanatory, but the ‘plate’ portion requires a little further investigation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first documentary evidence of ‘selling plate’, formed by compounding the component etymons, appeared in ‘The Times’ in 1888. Indeed, on April 6, 1901, ‘The Sphere – An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home’ featured a photograph of the start of the ‘Sudbrooke Selling Plate’ which, at that time, marked the start of the British Flat racing season at Lincoln Racecourse.

Again, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun ‘plate’, used in the modern sense to describe a flat, thin sheet, typically of metal, was first recorded in the second half of the thirteenth century and derives from the Old French ‘plat’, meaning ‘flat’. As far as sporting trophies are concerned, in many modern sports, a ‘plate’ competition is typically a secondary, consolation title, contested by participants who have been eliminated from a main competition a at an early stage. The suggestion that the term ‘selling plate’, to describe a ‘second-rate’ horse race, may have come into being in similar fashion seems plausible, up to a point, but we have been unable to find any definitive evidence, one way or the other.

However, it is worth noting that ‘Royal Plate’ races – notably the Twelve-Stone Plate, a.k.a. the King’s Plate, inaugurated by King Charles II in 1666 and still run today, as the Nemarket Town Plate – were anything but ‘second-rate’. Similar comments apply to modern races, such as the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle, which is worth £150,000 in total prize money, making it the most valuable race of its kind in Europe. Of course, horse racing trophies originated as practical items, in terms of manufacture, shape and use, such as cups, plates, bowls and vases, so it is conceivable the term ‘selling plate’ evolved purely by coincidence.

Last, but by no means least, many thanks to Bob Chadwick, Captain of the British Golf Collectors’ Society, for submitting this question and providing some helpful suggestions to give us a head-start on our scholarly search.