1907-09 MacDonald & Campbell Perpetual Endurance Trophy of the Quaker City Motor Club. The inexorable tide of technology has long since dug a vast gulf between racing cars and standard consumer models, but the shared early evolution of the former and latter is very much a matter of public record. Far more battles of dueling engineers and mechanics than skilled drivers, the auto races of the early twentieth century served as the testing and proving grounds for the vehicles that would come to populate the American landscape, and later the world's. Chief among those early contests was an annual endurance race described as follows in a 1908 edition of the periodical, "Automobile Topics."

"Former Perpetual Trophy to be Awarded this Time.

The third annual endurance run of the Quaker City Motor Club will be held as usual on January 1 and 2. This year's event gives promise of being more successful than usual, and a big entry list is confidently expected. This partly arises from the new conditions governing the prize, the handsome McDonald and Campbell Cup, which was formerly a perpetual trophy, but this year will become the permanent property of the winner. Following an exhaustive search for a clean score eliminating route, and to avoid, if possible, the confusion of last year's run caused by numerous ties, the Contest Committee has decided on a course leading from Philadelphia to Wilkes-Barre and return. The run will test the cars to the limit."

Presented is that elite early auto racing prize, a massive sterling silver masterpiece for which the chosen adjective of "handsome" is hardly sufficient. Nearly two feet in height, inclusive of the heavy wooden base, the stunningly ornate three-handled cup boldly identifies itself as, "MacDonald and Campbell Perpetual Endurance Trophy of the Quaker City Motor Club" between two handles, while another section supplies a remarkably detailed image of an early automobile and its four passengers. The final segment is profusely engraved with the results of the three races for which it was awarded, with most text relating to the third and final event that supplied the prize to winner "H.O. Smith" in perpetuity. Smith was the president of The Premier Motor Manufacturing Co., one of the top three passenger car manufacturers of the day along with Packard and Pierce-Arrow, commonly called "The Three P's" in those days.

The trophy carries 196 ounces of sterling weight and presents remarkably well after over a century of proud existence, with most of the apparent wear evident in scuffing of the black wooden base. Standard tarnishing is apparent upon the sterling itself. With supermodel good looks and elite significance in the history of both auto racing and automotive history in a macro sense, this is a relic certain to command the bulk of viewer attention in even the most significant of private collections.