Hibs charity planning open evening to unveil Lawrie Reilly medals

The Hibernian Historic Trust is planning to host an open evening at Easter Road Stadium to thank the Hibs’ fans who donated money to enable the charity to purchase medals won by the late Lawrie Reilly.

Lawrie Reilly and Tom Wright

The medals which date from the club’s last top-flight title
wins in 1951 and 1952, will be displayed alongside other artefacts from
Reilly’s decorated career including match worn Hibernian and Scotland strips
and his boots.

The nine carat gold medals, originally valued at between £1,000 and £2,000, eventually sold for £12,000 after a flurry of offers from anonymous bidders at the Thomson Roddick auction in Edinburgh on Thursday 22 August 2019.

Club historian and trust curator Tom Wright said: “The final
price was more than we were expecting, but it was worth it in the end.

“We knew going in that the valuation was always likely to be
much lower than the actual price, but we never expected it to go that high but
I am delighted that the medals will return ‘home’ to Easter Road and I’d like
to thank everyone who donated to the cause.”

The centre-forward, who died in 2013 aged 84, scored 238
goals in 333 games for Hibs and won 38 caps for his country, netting 22 times.