Sports fans will gather around this Sunday for Super Bowl LVI.
The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will square off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, each team vying for the coveted title of Super Bowl champion. Ahead of the big game, we’re taking a look at the Vince Lombardi Trophy and its interesting connection to the jewelry world.
Here are five things to know about this weekend’s top prize.
1. One Super Debut
The first trophy was awarded to the world champion Green Bay Packers on January 15, 1967; the Packers captured the trophy again the following year.
2. Name Game
Between 1967 and 1970 the trophy was engraved with “World Professional Football Championship.” In 1971 it was rechristened the Vince Lombardi Trophy to honor the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, who had passed away the previous September. Fittingly, among Lombardi’s most famous quotes is, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”
3. Playing for Keeps
Unlike hockey’s Stanley Cup, which is passed to the winning team each season, each winning Super Bowl team gets to keep its own Vince Lombardi trophy.
4. Trophy Facts
The coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy has been designed by Tiffany & Co. since the first Super Bowl in 1967. The Super Bowl trophies have been crafted in Tiffany’s hollowware workshop in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The trophy is made of sterling silver and the top part is designed to look like a regulation-size football. It weighs seven pounds and stands 22 inches tall.
5. Handcrafting
The trophy is a testament to Tiffany’s highly skilled artisans. Its workers used a variety of techniques to create the trophy, including spinning, silversmithing, hand engraving, and polishing. The trophy is created over the course of four months and requires a total of 72 hours of labor, said Tiffany & Co.
6. It Started With a Sketch
The design of the first Super Bowl trophy was sketched out on a napkin. In 1966, Oscar Riedener, a former vice president at Tiffany & Co., sketched the basic design on a napkin during a meeting with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. Riedener’s design featured a regulation-size football in the kicking position. The finished design was meant to symbolize “the pinnacle of gridiron glory,” said Tiffany.
7. Trophy Record
The record for consecutive wins is two and is shared by seven franchises: the Green Bay Packers (1966–1967), the Miami Dolphins (1972–1973), the Pittsburgh Steelers (1974–1975 and 1978–1979), the only team to accomplish this feat twice), the San Francisco 49ers (1988–1989), the Dallas Cowboys (1992–1993), the Denver Broncos (1997–1998), and the New England Patriots (2003–2004).
The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will square off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, each team vying for the coveted title of Super Bowl champion. Ahead of the big game, we’re taking a look at the Vince Lombardi Trophy and its interesting connection to the jewelry world.
Here are five things to know about this weekend’s top prize.
1. One Super Debut
The first trophy was awarded to the world champion Green Bay Packers on January 15, 1967; the Packers captured the trophy again the following year.
2. Name Game
Between 1967 and 1970 the trophy was engraved with “World Professional Football Championship.” In 1971 it was rechristened the Vince Lombardi Trophy to honor the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, who had passed away the previous September. Fittingly, among Lombardi’s most famous quotes is, “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”
3. Playing for Keeps
Unlike hockey’s Stanley Cup, which is passed to the winning team each season, each winning Super Bowl team gets to keep its own Vince Lombardi trophy.
4. Trophy Facts
The coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy has been designed by Tiffany & Co. since the first Super Bowl in 1967. The Super Bowl trophies have been crafted in Tiffany’s hollowware workshop in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The trophy is made of sterling silver and the top part is designed to look like a regulation-size football. It weighs seven pounds and stands 22 inches tall.
5. Handcrafting
The trophy is a testament to Tiffany’s highly skilled artisans. Its workers used a variety of techniques to create the trophy, including spinning, silversmithing, hand engraving, and polishing. The trophy is created over the course of four months and requires a total of 72 hours of labor, said Tiffany & Co.
6. It Started With a Sketch
The design of the first Super Bowl trophy was sketched out on a napkin. In 1966, Oscar Riedener, a former vice president at Tiffany & Co., sketched the basic design on a napkin during a meeting with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. Riedener’s design featured a regulation-size football in the kicking position. The finished design was meant to symbolize “the pinnacle of gridiron glory,” said Tiffany.
7. Trophy Record
The record for consecutive wins is two and is shared by seven franchises: the Green Bay Packers (1966–1967), the Miami Dolphins (1972–1973), the Pittsburgh Steelers (1974–1975 and 1978–1979), the only team to accomplish this feat twice), the San Francisco 49ers (1988–1989), the Dallas Cowboys (1992–1993), the Denver Broncos (1997–1998), and the New England Patriots (2003–2004).