International Gordon Bennett Race - 1912 dated Aviation Membership Certificate - For Sale

Membership Certificate of the International Gordon Bennett Race under the auspices of The Aero Club of America and The Aero Club of Illinois. This gorgeous unissued certificate is by the Western Division of American Bank Note.-Chicago. Charles Dawes printed signature (Dawes was Vice President under Coolidge). Suberb graphics include large bi-plane monument at center and portraits of Curtiss, Weymann, and Grahame-White. A blank space was left open for later addition of a portrait of the winner of the race. Mint Condition and Very Scarce! The Gordon Bennett Aviation Trophy is an international airplane racing trophy that was awarded by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the American owner and publisher of the New York Herald newspaper. The trophy is one of three Gordon Bennett awards: Bennett was also the sponsor of an automobile race and a ballooning competition. The terms of the trophy competition were the same as those of the Schneider Trophy: each race was hosted by the nation which had won the preceding race, and the trophy would be won outright by the nation whose team won the race three times in succession. Accordingly, after Joseph Sadi-Lecointe's victory in 1920 the Trophy became the permanent possession of the Aro-Club de France. Following the success of the Gordon Bennett balloon competition, which had become the most important competition for the sport, Gordon Bennett announced a competition for powered aircraft in December 1908, commissioning a trophy from Andr Auroc, the sculptor who had created the trophies for both the balloon and automobile competitions. Formulation of the competition rules was entrusted to the Aro-Club de France. It was decided that each competing nation would be allowed to field a team of three competitors. Read more at Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.