Page 8 - Flip Book Demo Top 20 Invitational

8 G.R.C.A. TOP TWENTY INVITATIONAL

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The Stonehill Trophy was first awarded at the 1989 Top 20 compe-
tition sponsored by “The Golden Retriever Review”. Our dog Ch.
Laurell’s Jiminy Crickett, BIS, BISS, OS won the very first Top 20
in 1987. He was awarded $500 and a beautiful participation
ribbon, but nothing that memorialized the win. Bob and Linda
Stebbins, Ray and I, and a group of friends thought there should be
something that would be a permanent record of the Top 20
winner. Thus, the Stonehill Trophy was born. Originally it was
going to be the Ch. Laurell’s Jiminy Crickett trophy, but because
he was still very much alive we decided to name it the Stonehill
Trophy which is our kennel name.

The trophy itself was designed by me and a huge Jiminy fan and
good friend Digger O’Day. Digger found and hired Gary Wade, a
master maidenhead carver. To execute our design. Jiminy was hand
carved, a mold of the carving was then made and finally the mold
was used to cold cast in bronze the final product. The base was pro-
duced using 100 year old wood that was hand finished to what it is
today. Mr. Wade also fashioned the traveling case that has protect-
ed the trophy for 24 years. The
total cost of the trophy was
$500. It took two years to complete,
and at the 1988 Top 20 an artist’s
rendition was pre- sented to the
winner.