The latter
had a guide price of Ir£40-Ir£50 on all these programmes, they could
have expected between Stg£4000-Stg5000 if the they
were sold separately. The Portrush programme is a particularly
rare programme for a collector of Open Championship memorabilia and
you are unlikely to see another for some time unless the high bidder
in the above auction puts them back up for auction. If you decided you
wanted to get your hands on Fred Daly's open programme from Hoylake
1947 again you can expect to pay Stg£500-Stg£600.
One of the
oldest Irish programmes to come to market is an Irish Amateur Open programme
from 1900 which was played over the Newcastle Royal County Down links
and won by Harold Hilton. This programme was reportedly professionally
appraised at between US$1000-US$2000 and is probably the rarest Irish
golf programme to come up for auction, it eventually sold for EUR650.
In July 1995
Sotheby's listed Max Faulkner's Open Championship medal for sale but
it was withdrawn with a Guide Price of Stg20,000-Stg30,000.
"An Open
Championship Cased Medal hallmarked Sheffield 1950 Walker and Hall in
original case, won by Max Faulkner with a score of 285 in the Open Championship
at the Royal Portrush Golf Club Co Antrim Northern Ireland - the only
time in history that the Open Championship has been played off the mainland.
Max was known as the 'Clown Prince' of golfers and one of the first
players to wear exotic colours, his favourite being Canary yellow. 1
5/8ths ins (4cm)"
Sotheby's
1995
When Bobby
Locke's collection was sold off by Christies in 1993 one of the lots
contained his 1938 Irish Open Championship medal which eventually sold
for Stg£2,070.
The Golfing
Union of Ireland Open Championship 1938, gold and enamel winner's medal
, 1 5/8in (3cm) wide in original blue leather fitted case. The Irish
Open of 1938 was played at Portmarnock, in difficult conditions, with
the final round to play, Henry Cotton was leading by five strokes from
Locke but a finish by Locke of four consecutive birdies gave him a final
round of 70 and a total of 292 to win from Cotton by two strokes.
Golf Art is
also much sought after and early pictures of the Irish Golf courses
are no less treasured. One of the main exponents of this in the early
years was James Michael Brown (1853-1947) a land and seascape artist
whose passion for Golf was transposed to his art.
J Michael
Brown Original Artwork for the LIFE ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND Calender
1914, ROYAL COUNTY DOWN G.C. 1913 signed Michael Brown , watercolour
and pencil 12.5"x19.5" (32x50cm). It shows the Rt Hon The
Earl Ormealey, Col. Robert H Wallace CBE. Mr Lionel C Munn and Mr Harold
Reader driving with the town of Newcastle Co Down and the Mourne Mountains
in the background.
Sotheby's
1995
Early Golf
Balls and clubs were made in Ireland however there are very few examples
of these today. Fred Smyth who operated out of the Royal Dublin Golf
Club engraved some of his hickory shafted golf clubs but there have
been very few significant finds relating to Irish Golf. Similarily with
Golf Balls the rarest of which is probably the 'Portrush Lily' which
was made by John Veitch Aitken, the Portrush golfer who named his golf
ball after his daughter.
Irish autographs
are not generally as sought after by collectors and can sometimes be
difficult to assess authenticity although they do enhance the value
of any piece of memorabilia. Obviously Fred Daly would be one of our
more sought after autographs but this would obviously not be as rare
as the earlier golfers which would command even higher prices. Gilchrist's
guide to golf collectibles [1998 edition] estimates the value of
autographs and included in this very extensive list are Rhona Adair
($75), Fred Daly ($50), Harry Bradshaw ($20), Jimmy Bruen ($45), Joe
Carr ($25), Philomena Garvey ($10), May Hezlet ($100) and Himself ($20).
These prices would increase if the signature was on a item of significance
e.g. programme, book etc which would make it more historically significant.
The most unusual piece of Irish autographed golfiana came up for auction
in 2000, it was a menu from the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast, Northern
Ireland signed by Walter Hagen, Joe Kirkwood and Walter Smith (Hagen's
caddie). These signatures were obtained in person on 14th September
1937 by a Mrs Denning, an employee of the Hotel. Mrs Denning collected
autographs of all the noteable personalities of the 1930s, both in sport
and entertainment, who stayed at the Grand Central in Belfast. It sold
for $138 at auction.
The earlier
Irish Golf Magazines are also rare finds and do not often appear under
the auctioneers gavel. The earliest of these magazines is 'The Irish
Golfer' which began publication in September 1898? (the Rev John Kerr
aka The Sporting Padre assembled a collection of Golfiana for a Glasgow
exhibition and the catalogue suggests the Irish Golfer began in 1898)
and another magazine 'Irish Golf' which began in 1927.
Just bear
in mind everything has a value in the world of golf memorabilia and
there will always be some individual who will thinks there a a big void
in their life unless they have got that particular item which commemorates
an event, golfer, course etc. although you may have to be patient to
find out who it is. Whether it be a photograph, marker, badge, scorecard
just think twice about discarding it as it might pay part of your next
green fee or all of your next holiday. Alternatively your first instincts
may have been correct and it is in fact worthless.
