Very Rare Original "Coupe Internationale Des Alpes" (Alpine Rally) Car Badge. 1931 (Chris Balm Early Aviation & Motoring Items)

Very Rare Original "Coupe Internationale Des Alpes" (Alpine Rally) Car Badge. 1931

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Very high quality, multi-coloured, gilt brass and enamel car badge, awarded for taking part in the famous "Coupe Internationale Des Alpes" (Alpine Rally) in 1931.

This rare badge is beautifully made from gilt brass and is decorated in enamel with no less than 12 colours. The background of the badge bears an image of the Alps and the foreground has the badges of the following national car clubs: The Automobile Club of France, The Automobile Club of Switzerland, The Automobile Club of of Italy, The Austrian Automobile Club and The Automobile Club of Germany. The rim of the badge has the inscription, "Coupe Internationale Des Alpes 1931 - Plaquette Souvenir - Concurrent" (International Cup Of the Alps 1931 - Souvenir plaque - Concurrent). The reverse bears the maker's mark, "Rob. Neff - Berlin W30". Length : 102mm. Very good condition (light surface wear and one small surface flake to enamel).

A very rare and desirable item from an important, historical motoring event.

The Coupe Internationale des Alpes was an important international motor rally which travelled through the Alpine region. It was held between 1928 and 1936 and its stages followed routes through Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and from 1931, France too. The original course covered 1095 miles, starting in Milan and finishing in Munich. The rally operated a penalty point system, where according to the engine capacities of the entrants, minimum and maximum speeds were set. Failing to achieve the minimum speed incurred penalties, whereas entrants exceeding this speed were awarded bonuses.

The 3rd ‘Coupe Internationale des Alpes’ was held between 30^th July and 6^th August 1931 (there was no contest held in 1930). This was the first year a French stage was added to the rally, increasing the route to a total of 1468 miles. Manufacturers competed for ‘Alpine Cups’, while individual entrants battled for ‘Glacier Cups’. There were a total of 72 entries, 62 of which started the race and 44 managed to finish. Of these 44, only 8 (all individual entrants) managed to finish without penalty, thereby winning Glacier Cups. These were: Donald Healey (Invicta), Walter Delmár (Mercedes) and Desiderius von Bitzy (Austro-Daimler Bergmeister) in the unlimited class and Count Felix Spiegel-Diesenberg (Austro-Daimler ADR), Humfrey E. Symonds (Clément-Talbot), E A H Scholten (Lancia) and Carlo Adorno (OM) in the 3000cc class. Even though they incurred minor penalties three other individual entrants were also awarded Glacier Cups, tieing to win in the 1100cc class. These were: Helmuth Butenuth, Carl Pollich and Frau Lilianne Roehrs (all driving Hanomag cars). No team entrants managed to finish without penalties, however, the Greman Wanderer works team (Alexander Graumuller, Bernhard Bau and Hans Hinterleitner) won the 3000cc class and the Czech Praga-Piccolo works team (Jaroslav Heussler, S Pavlovsky and Anton Suldowsky) won the 1100cc class. Both these teams were awarded Alpine Cups.

For a list of the results for the 1931 Coupe Internationale des Alpes, please click on the link below:

1931 Coupe Internationale des Alpes

Inventory No. M-389

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