A “FINE quality” silver cigarette case presented to England international and Saints legend Edgar “Hooky” Chadwick, just a few weeks before he joined Southampton in the summer of 1900, is set to fetch at least £2,000 at an auction.

The cigarette case, with an engraved enamel decoration of a football match, was made in Austria in 1900 and is engraved: “Presented to Mr Edgar Chadwick as a memento of friendship, gratitude and high esteem from the Deutscher Fussball Club May 1900.”

A few weeks later, in August 1900, Edgar Chadwick joined Southampton, then a non league club.

He had previously played 300 times for Everton and had signed for Saints from Burnley.

In his first season at The Dell, in 1900-1901, he helped Saints win the Southern League title, finishing top scorer with 14 goals.

He even scored on his debut – a victory over Luton Town in the Southern League.

In 1901-1902, his second season at Southampton, England international Chadwick helped Saints reach the 1902 FA Cup final, which was the second of Saints’ four FA Cup finals (the others being in 1900, 1976 and 2003) by scoring three of Saints’ goals en route to the final, against Sheffield United at the Crystal Palace in London on April 26, 1902.

The 5ft 7in Edgar Wallace Chadwick was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and was Saints’ inside-left (midfield) in that 1902 FA Cup final. He was affectionately nicknamed ‘Hooky’ because his favourite trick was to run with the ball parallel with the goal line, drawing the goalkeeper in the direction of the post and then hooking the ball into the opposite corner of the net.

He went to play for Liverpool, Blackpool, and Glossop.

In their book, The Alphabet Of The Saints, A Complete Who’s Who of Southampton FC, authors Duncan Holley and Gary Chalk say of Hooky Chadwick: “His left wing partnership with Alf Milward (renewed from their Everton days) was an outstanding feature of the club’s success story during the first two seasons of the (20th) century.”

After he quit playing football, Chadwick was appointed manager of the Dutch national team, a job he held for five years, from 1908 until 1912.

He managed them in the London Olympics where they lost 4-0 to Great Britain.

He later managed Dutch clubs Vitesse Arnhem and Sparta Rotterdam.

He returned to his native Blackburn and became a baker, his job prior to his involvement in football.

In 1923 he was on a shortlist of two for the vacant manager’s job at Blackburn but lost out to former England international major Frank Buckley, who spent 32 years as a manager in the Football League.

He was 72 when he died in Blackburn on February 14, 1942.

His cigarette case is expected to fetch between £2,000 and £2,500 at Graham Budd Auctions in London on May 16.