What’s believed to be the oldest golf scorecard in the world is coming to public auction. The European-based auction house Bonhams is selling the card in an auction set to open May 1.
The card, which has been framed and mounted, dates from December 2, 1820. It shows that a “Mr. Cundell” played the five holes within the Musselburgh Race Track twice, a total of ten holes in 84 strokes. The golfer provided his own commentary in a handwritten note at the bottom of the card, ‘Dreadful storm of wind and rain – atmosphere quite yellow – just like the lurid regions of Pandemonium.’
“Mr. Cundell” is almost certainly James Cundell, who was closely involved with the Thistle Golf Club since its founding in 1815 and who published one of the first golf rule books in 1824.
“This original scorecard is in remarkable condition considering its age and the atrocious weather conditions at the time Mr Cundell played his round,” said Bonhams golf memorabilia consultant Kevin McGimpsey, “It has an excellent provenance, having once belonged to the well-known golfer Sir Henry Cotton who kept it in his renowned Black Tin Box with other rare examples of historical golfing memorabilia. The scorecard predates the oldest cards owned by the international golf museums.”
The scorecard is expected to sell for somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000.
He’s battling a groin injury but that’s not stopping bidders from jumping all over some of Mike Trout’s most valuable cards.
A 2009 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor Autograph numbered to 25 and graded BGS 9.5 was poised to sell for a six-figure price tag on eBay Sunday night. A Gold version numbered to 50 and also rated 9.5 is set to close Monday. A Blue version, numbered to 150 and graded BGS 9 was pushing toward $20,000 as of early Sunday with more than 24 hours of bidding left.
The best of three known copies of the 1887 Kalamazoo Bats (N690) Jim O’Rourke sold for $92,252 through Love of the Game Auctions late Saturday night.
Kalamazoo Bats are CdV-sized photographic cards mounted on heavy cardboard. The O’Rourke card was a blank back version and graded SGC 5.
A rare Type 1 news photo of Joe Jackson used during coverage of the Black Sox scandal nearly 100 years ago sold for $11,685 in the same auction.
MeiGray Auctions is selling Boston Bruins game-worn helmets from last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs. A total of 22 helmets are on the block, including those worn during regular season and playoff games by David Pastrkak, Brad Marchand and others.
Each helmet is registered into the Boston Bruins-MeiGray Game-Worn Jersey Authentication Program.
Bidding starts at $150 for each helmet with the auction set to run through April 30.
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