First Crufts Best in Show champion

The debut Crufts Dog Show – founded by British showman Charles Cruft – took place in 1891 at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington, London, UK, with many different trophies and cups handed out for various breeds. However the canine competition’s coveted Best in Show (BIS) title was not instigated until February 1928. The inaugural BIS champion was Primley Sceptre, a fawn greyhound owned by Herbert Whitley (UK), who was the founder of Paignton Zoo in Devon, UK.

A precursor to the Best in Show award was a title known as "Best Champion" which was awarded at Crufts events between 1905 and 1914. The inaugural winner of that prize in 1905 was a Pomeranian called The Sable Mite, owned by Mrs Vale Nicholas (UK); Sable Mite was named Best Champion again in 1907. With the outbreak of World War I, the Crufts show was put on hiatus and, when it returned in 1928, the competition's structure and prizing hierarchy had been overhauled, with Best in Show now representing the contest's highest accolade.

When the BIS winner title was instigated at Crufts in 1928, the winning owner/breeder received a sterling silver, gold gilt, 10-inch repoussé rose bowl, decorated in flowers on a circular base.