Clan Hay crest
SOUDOG'S CURLING HISTORY SITE
HOME OF THE HISTORY & RICH TRADITION OF "THE ROARIN' GAME".
"You've gotta have STONES to play this game!"
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BRIER TROPHIES

The MacDonald Trophy, circa 1969

The Labatt Trophy, circa 1994

The MacDonald Trophy as it looks today
First presented by the Macdonald Tobacco Company in 1927, the Macdonald Brier Trophy was awarded annually to the winner of the Macdonald Brier until 1979.
Macdonald Tobacco withdrew its sponsorship that year after 50 years and the Macdonald Brier Tankard was retired.
When Labatt Breweries became the Brier sponsor in 1980, it introduced a gold Labatt Tankard, which became the icon of the Brier and was awarded 21 times.  When Labatt decided to end its title sponsorship, the Labatt Tankard was retired.
When Nokia Products Ltd. became the Brier’s new sponsor, it decided in consultation with the Canadian Curling Association to reactivate the original trophy beginning with the 2001 Nokia Brier.
The trophy was restored and the base expanded by Clarkes Recognition Products of Vancouver.
For its first 27 years, the Tankard was presented with a sterling silver heart plaque attached to it on which the names of each team member had been hand-engraved.  After 27 years no space was left, so a single plaque was attached to the back, where the names of all the winners from 1955 to 1979 were engraved.
Clarkes increased the size of the base so that a silver heart crest could be attached for every Brier-winning team.
The Nokia Tankard now proudly displays a hand-engraved silver heart for each of the 72 Brier winners.
The original cup on the trophy was hand-tooled in Great Britain and is a work of art that could be re-created only in Europe.  The replacement value of the original trophy has been estimated at $17,000.  The CCA invested $10,000 to complete the restoration.
Text from CCA's website: http://www.curling.ca