By JOHN STEINBREDER
Senior Writer NEW YORK – The auction is over, and the financial results are not what the folks at Sotheby’s had expected.
They had talked about the sale of the Jeffrey B. Ellis collection of antique golf clubs exceeding $4 million. But when the final gavel came down late Friday afternoon Sept. 28, the two-day total was $2.17 million, including buyers’ premiums.
Still, organizers claimed things had gone well.
“It has been an honor to have the opportunity to offer a collection of this caliber, and we were gratified that the most advanced collectors in the world also recognized the importance of this sale,” says Leila Dunbar, the director of Sotheby’s Collectibles Department. “With such highlights as the Long-Nosed Putter Attributed to Andrew Dickson, sold for $181,000, and the Bromley & Bickley Trophy Club, sold for $43,000, the sale of the Jeffrey B. Ellis Collection has secured its place as a groundbreaking moment for the field.”
A Sotheby’s spokesperson added that the sale achieved the highest total ever for an auction of golf memorabilia and pointed out that another club, a square toe light iron from the 1600s – lot #548 - topped the $150,000 mark as well.
Still, the auction had its shortcomings. For example, the putter attributed to Dickson fetched considerably less than the pre-auction estimation of $200,000 to $300,000. Another featured item, the square-toe heavy iron identified as lot #346 and estimated to go between $125,000 and $175,000, did not sell at all.
The final sales figure was about half of what organizers had hoped to realize.
• • •
John Steinbreder is a
Golfweek senior writer. To reach him email
jsteinbreder@golfweek.com.
Posted: 9/28/2007
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