From sporting sales to dedicated dealers there is a variety of places around the UK (and beyond) to pick up choice objects including clubs, balls, scorecards, trophies and more.
Thomas R Callan in Ayr
Contemporary artist Kenneth Reed specialises in golf pictures. Famous players such as Bob Charles and Greg Norman have commissioned works by him to hang in their homes and his clients include the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the United State Golf Association.
This gilt framed watercolour of Royal Troon Golf Course in Scotland is offered at the nearby auction house Thomas R Callan on May 25. It has an estimate of £700-900, as do several other works by Reed in the same sale.
Rhod McEwan in Ballater
A c.1934 Spalding Blue Triangle wrapped ball with a triangle pattern is offered for £425 at Rhod McEwan. The rubber-core ball is mint with its original – though split – wrapper.
McEwan is an expert in golf memorabilia offering anything from clubs, balls and bags to posters and books. The business includes a publishing arm which issues golf titles, new and old, and other services such as advice on clubs and building collections.
John Bull in London
This solid silver vintage golf trophy features Wilfred the rabbit from the Daily Mirror cartoon strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, which launched in 1887. In 1927, the comic sparked a new club named the Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs, which had a secret greeting: “Ick ick par boo,” to which the appropriate response was “Goo goo par nunc”. The club organised many competitions for its thousands of members.
Made in 1929, the trophy includes two golf clubs and the words ICK! ICK! Made by Edward Barnard and Sons, it is offered in good condition for £400 by John Bull Antiques & Silver Giftware.
The dealership operates out of the London Silver Vaults and features a number of golf-related objects, including a silver golf ball box holder from 1980.
Mallams in Oxford
Golf Clubs (1969) by Frederick Clifford Harrison (1901-84), is available from Mallams in Oxford at its British Art Sale on May 23-24. Harrison specialised in tromp l’oeil paintings, and this example, which bears a monogram to the lower left, has an estimate of £500-700.
Hansons in Derbyshire
Hansons’ May 23 sale of football and sporting memorabilia includes this lot of assorted silver and silver-plated trophies. It includes a late Victorian silver salver inscribed George Gibson from The Ryder Cup Team 1955 in appreciation made by Charles Stuart Harris in London, 1898. There is also a George VI hole-in-one miniature trophy, two silver-plated Dunlop Golfing Society trophies and a Dunlop Golfing Society silver-plated salver. It has an estimate of £300-500.
International Autograph Auctions in Spain
Probably the best-known name in golf, Tiger Woods made history recently by winning his fifth Masters over three decades. Despite scandal in his personal life, he remains a celebrated figure. On May 23, International Autograph Auctions in Spain offers a signed and inscribed colour promotional photo of Woods, showing him posing with a club. The picture is estimated at €110-170.
