Tynecastle historians doubt Walker stained glass is real

Published on Saturday 14 April 2012 03:09

DOUBTS have been cast over the authenticity of a stained glass window purporting to display the image of Hearts legend Bobby Walker, which is to be offered for sale by an Edinburgh auction house.

The item will be included in a sale of decorative arts by Lyon & Turnbull at their salerooms on 18 April and is expected to fetch a price of between £800 and £1200.

The window, measuring 60cm wide by 109cm high, is described by Lyon & Turnbull as a "stained and painted glass window, circa 1900, depicting Bobby Walker, playing football".

Leading Hearts historians and memorabilia experts, however, have expressed serious reservations over the identity of the figure represented in the glass and believe it "unlikely" that Walker is the player in question.

Historian Steve Oliver, who has a special interest in Walker, and has conducted extensive research on the player, is in no doubt that it is not Walker.

Said Edinburgh-born Oliver, who now lives in Shropshire: "The first thing that struck me is that, facially, he looks nothing like Bobby Walker. The real clue, however, is the playing kit which is very disctinctive, but of a different time to the period when Walker played. The maroon top, long white pants with buttons and blue socks were worn by Hearts from 1885 until 1889, when Walker (born 1879) was just ten years old. He didn't join the club until 1895 and made his first-team debut the following year, so he would never have worn the gear shown in the stained glass.

"During the four-year period when this kit was worn, Hearts had four big-name players who may have been chosen to be immortalised in this way – Jake Reid, Isaac Begbie, Davie Baird and Willie Taylor. In build and facial appearance, Baird bore most resemblance to the figure in the window, but he was a goalkeeper, so it's unlikely it would have been him. I'm more inclined to believe that this is not an actual player but a nondescript figure wearing a Hearts kit of the time." Oliver is the owner of the most iconic item of Bobby Walker memorabilia – the original 1911 painting by W McGhie, of Walker surrounded by his Scotland caps, a 1913 copy of which hung for many years in the Tynecastle boardroom. Oliver unearthed it five years ago in the storeroom of a mock-English pub in Kansas, USA, where it had lain undisturbed for more than 20 years, the owners believing that it was a piece of cricket memorabilia. He has since given it to the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden on indefinite loan.

Meanwhile, Gary Cowen, a fellow historian and foremost collector of Hearts memorabilia, also expressed doubts. London-based Cowen, editor of "1874" magazine and regular contributor to the club's matchday programme, said: "I've never heard of a stained glass window which contains an image of Bobby Walker.

"You never know what unusual items of memorabilia are out there. But this seems a particularly odd item to have been lying around somebody's house for years, and I'd be very surprised if this was intended to be a genuine representation of Walker."

Hearts' official historian, David Speed, was equally sceptical. He said: "I've never been aware of any stained glass window depicting Bobby Walker, and I'm certain that such a thing has never existed at Tynecatle. If there was, I'm sure I would have known about it."

Meanwhile, the owner of the window, who has asked to remain anonymous, says it was handed down to him by his late father. Lyon & Turnbull are insistent that the window is genuine. Philip Gregory, a spokesman for the auction house, said: "It's been lying in his loft possibly since the 1950s. The family have always maintained that the footballer depicted is Bobby Walker."

Walker was the first player to score more than 100 league goals for the club and was their most capped Scottish footballer with 29 caps, until that record was broken in 2006 by Steven Pressley. He also held the Scotland national team caps record at various points from 1905 to 1931.When Walker died at the early age of 51 in August 1930, huge crowds lined the funeral route and thousands stood round his graveside.

Taken from the Scotsman