By Terrence Dehring
What does QuickTrophy do to be more ecologically minded and responsible? We recycle cardboard, paper, glass, and plastic. We reuse cardboard, use newsprint in packaging, use cornstarch packing peanuts.
Category: Trophies
The Real Musketeers Cup
The real Musketeers Cup or La Coupe des Mousquetaires is the trophy awarded to the Men’s Singles winner of the French Open. No one will ever victory-dive into a pool with this beauty, however. The winner is granted the singular honor of gently handling the real trophy for only a few moments before returning it to protective custody.
Once a year, on the day of the final match, the original cup leaves the office of the President of the Federation for just few hours. The cup is displayed at the meet and the winner can hold it for photos, but not keep it. The winner takes only a replica home with him. But it is a beauty of a replica!
Every year silversmiths devote over a hundred hours of work to making the Musketeers Cup replica. The replica is slightly smaller than the original. Working their craft, the silversmiths transform a simple sheet of solid silver into a work of art. The metal tamers take a month in the workshop to perform this task – and create a thing of beauty.
QuickTrophy does not offer Musketeers Cup replicas for your tennis tournament, but we do offer lots of tennis trophies and many different metal cup trophies as well. Our trophy crafters transform pieces of plastic, metal, marble, and wood into things of beauty as well. They make every single trophy to order – completely custom to fit customer.
And best of all, the recipient of the trophy can take it home with them after the photo op.
A QuickTrophy Upgrade
We recently performed a QuickTrophy Upgrade. We gave the place a coat of paint, some new carpeting in the assembly area, and some re-branding – a new logo, a new look on our QuickNameTags web site, and new tape for sealing our shipments.
It seems like re-painting and re-carpeting would be easy. And technically, it was not really hard, but there were logistical problems to account for. Before the carpet can be put in, we need to paint – you don’t want to drip paint on the new carpet, of course. But before we can paint, we need to decide on the colors to use. This was somewhat decided by the website re-branded look that was suggested by The Marketing Department: A slight off white background, with a dark red star for QuickNameTags and a dark 
blue star for QuickTrophy. Well, we tried about a dozen off-whites before we decided on the one that seemed to work the best under most lighting conditions. Most of the off-whites turned light purple or light blue-grey when they dried – which seemed strange, but it was a good lesson in how much the type of light will affect a color: Sunlight, florescent, incandescent, lcd, or a combination of light types. So the majority of the walls were painted the white color with a couple of wall painted in contrasting blue or red to match the new logo colors. In the end, it turned out to be a patriotic red, white, and blue decor.
Selecting the carpet for the QuickTrophy upgrade was a little easier. We picked up some carpet samples recommended by the local carpet shop and tried them out next to the newly painted walls. One sample was chosen uniformly by all the staff. Whew!
But installing the carpet was a logistic nightmare. The building is 49 feet wide. Carpet comes in 12 foot rolls. So far, no problem. But the installers needed to have the entire area compl
etely clear to remove the old carpet and install the new. How do we do that while still running a daily production schedule? We chose the slowest time of the year to start. Then we moved everything out of the room that could be moved. Then, on the day of the installation we moved the remaining shelves and furniture from the center of the room to the outside edges. This was so the installers could put in the carpet from the center of the room to the outside edges. The room was 1 foot wider than 4 rolls of carpet, so we had 6″ of non carpeted floor along the outside walls – no problem because there are hot water radiators along the wall sticking out 6″. So the first day the carpet installers started at noon, removed the carpet from the center of the room and installed the new carpet, finishing up around 10 pm. The next day we moved the equipment and shelvin 
g back to the center area to continue production. The next day, after we filled the orders for the day, we moved the equipment and shelves from the outside walls to the newly carpeted center section of the room so the installers could remove the old carpet and install the new. Finally on Friday we were able to move things back to where they needed to be. What a production!
But the QuickTrophy Upgrade was successful and the place looks great! It feels like a new place. And the look ties in with our re-branded image so we are living the brand as they say!
Trophy Packing Secrets
By Terrence Dehring
How do we pack your order so it is not broken during the shipping process?
Over the years, with lots of trial and error, and with the help of packaging professionals, at QuickTrophy, we have developed a trophy packing system that seems to work pretty good. It is not 100% fail safe, but it works way better than anything else we’ve tried. And it is a system that is flexible, and adaptable to different sizes, shapes, and numbers of trophies and awards.
What makes packing trophies difficult in the first place, is that a trophy has an odd balance. It is has a piece of marble on the bottom, basically a rock, and the other end has a lightweight figurine. So when you lay a trophy in a box, it automatically wants to fall to one end, the end with the marble in it. This is difficulty number 1.
What is Pinewood Derby, anyway?
By Terrence Dehring
Pinewood Derby is a Cub Scout racing event. Cub scouts create small cars, usually from kits that contain a piece of pine (hence the name, pinewood), 4 plastic tires, and 4 nails to use as the axles. The size of the wood is regulated to be no larger than 7 inches long and 2 3/4 inches wide. The finished car can weigh no more than 5 ounces. Local troops may have variations on these specifications.
The Value of a Birthday Cake
By Terrence Dehring
What is a Birthday Cake for? Why celebrate the day someone was born? When you stop to think about it, celebrating a birthday is a strange ritual. Everyone loves to celebrate birthdays and everyone loves to have a birthday no matter what your age. You feel special on your birthday, like a celebrity. It is “your” day. And everyone you know and meet acknowledges you on your special day with a “Happy Birthday!” wish. We all enjoy birthdays and joyfully participate in them. We buy personalized gifts, have a party, go out to dinner, give a birthday card, sing the birthday song, and have a cake to celebrate the fact that they are a year older. It seems like birthdays are a happy holiday.
When you stop to think about it, doesn’t it seem strange that we celebrate the day someone was born? Why make a big deal about the fact that someone is a year older? Maybe it dates back to times of higher youth mortality rates when it was a big deal just to survive – making it another year was an event worth celebrating. Maybe celebrating birthdays stem from our need to have special days throughout the year. Holidays, whether religious or civil, punctuate the year with special days, events to remember, time to share with family and friends. No matter the reason, celebrations are always welcome.
Reusing Old Trophies
By Terrence Dehring
What can be done with old trophies? When the kids who received them have grown and moved away and somehow, unbelievably, they “forgot” to take their trophies with them. Who can blame them? They are probably living in an apartment without much extra space. But even when they do have extra space, they are likely collecting the next generation of trophies for their children. So what do you do with all the old trophies getting dusty in the rec room? It’s hard to toss them – there are too many memories attached to them. Well here are a few ideas:
Take them to the local Goodwill or St. Vincent’s store. Boy scouts and other groups looking for projects will collect the parts and make the trophies they can use for their annual events. Some dusting and new engraved plates and they will be good as new!
Use them as garden decorations. Kind of like gnomes, only more “sporty”.
Take them apart and use the components in craft projects. It’s amazing what some people can create!
Black Star Trophies
We just introduced Black Star Trophies to the QuickTrophy lineup. They feature the same design found on our Black Star medals but the design is expanded and built into a 5″ black and gold figurine. We currently offer the Bla
ck Star Trophy design for Cheer Leading, Soccer, Softball, and Baseball. Football and Academic themes will be introduced next week. We will then expand the line based on customer demand.
The figurine is mounted on a black marble base and looks pretty sharp. The black star trophies can be found on the QuickTrophy web site under the sport (baseball, soccer, etc.) and listed within the Economy Section. The construction of these trophies makes them very affordable. They are perfect for tight budgets or for participation trophies for youth athletes. Present your sports athletes with something a little different and exciting. Check them out on our web site and let us know what you think.
Football Acrylic Awards
What is the lifespan of a trophy or award style? It seems like bobble-heads came and went during a 2-3 year period around 2005 or so. Some resin awards were impossible to keep in stock for a while and now you can’t give them away. At the same time the old standby – the figurine on a marble base – has been around for decades and is still one of the most sought after trophies. What evolutionary law of popularity determines what’s hot and what’s not and for how long?
We used to sell hundreds of simple black acrylic awards with a matching black and gold holographic decal depicting various sport themes. Shown in the picture is one of the football acrylic awards. The awards came in two sizes. Their popularity waxed and waned with the collective preferences of the coaches and team mom’s across the country. Well, rather than try to figure out the laws of pop culture, it is best to just ride the waves and know when it is time to pull the plug. Time to discount and make room for new stuff. So get the football acrylic awards while we still have them!
Bocce Ball Awards
Bocce Ball has been popular in Europe for millennia, dating back to ancient Roman Empire times. It is especially popular in Italy and around the world where people of Italian ancestry have relocated. In the United States some urban areas have bocce ball courts that are maintained and used quite heavily. In recent years it seems to have become increasingly popular among the population at large. At weekend gatherings, picnics, and family reunions, bocce ball is a popular pastime.
We have noticed an increase in the use of bocce ball awards and trophies for family events as well as larger organized tournaments. Anytime there is a recurring event, people like to commemorate it with a trophy – and what better way to commemorate a bocce ball tournament than with a perpetual trophy to keep accurate records on past winners and give future winners something to strive for!
For smaller events, like family reunions, summer picnic outings, or city leagues, smaller bocce ball awards may be more appropriate. At QuickTrophy we have a pretty nice selection of trophies. And if you don’t see something you like, just call us and maybe we can put something special together for you.