Christie's have described it as the most important collection of golf art and memorabilia ever assembled. PHILIP REIDreports
A PAINTING by the Irish artist Sir John Lavery is expected to be the most sought-after item in an upcoming auction which Christie’s of London claim will be “the most important private collection of golf art and memorabilia ever assembled”.
Over 400 items collected by Jamie Ortiz-Patino, a Bolivian-born tin mining billionaire and founder of Valderrama Golf Club in the south of Spain, are due to go to the highest bidders at the London auction house on May 30th with Lavery’s painting The Golf Course, North Berwick to be offered with an estimated value of £200,000 to £300,000 (€235,000 to €353,000).
The oil painting by Lavery, who was born in Belfast and died in Kilkenny, is from a series of works the artist painted at the famed North Berwick links, one of the oldest in the world, in 1921 and 1922.
Christie’s describe Lavery’s golf paintings as “most valuable and desirable modern depictions of the game”.
The collection of paintings, golf balls and memorabilia, including a Chinese porcelain punch bowl, is named as The Origins of Golf: The Jaime Ortiz-Patino Collection and was assembled over a 25-year period by Senor Patino and housed at the Valderrama club near Sotogrande, southern Spain.
According to the auction house, “this historic collection includes some of the rarest and most valuable treasures representing the history of the sport and its most notable personalities, from its earlier references in the 15th century to a programme for the inaugural Masters Tournament in 1934”.
It also claims to present an “unprecedented” selection of clubs, balls, paintings and books.
Highlights from the collection will be put on view in New York (in March) and also in Hong Kong and Dubai (in April) ahead of the auction in London in May.
The Lavery painting is expected to create great interest.
Another painting from the North Berwick series was sold for £456,000 (€537,000) when it was auctioned in 2005.
The collection also includes the preparatory oil sketch for the most famous painting in the history of the sport. The Golfers by Charles Lee is the preparatory oil study for the painting which is now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
The preparatory sketch depicts a game played over the Old Course in 1847 and is expected to realise £120,000 to £180,000 (€141,000 to €218,000).
One item which is expected to attract a lot of interest is the “Morris Putter” (left), a club owned and used by Old Tom Morris and his son Young Tom Morris, who between them won eight British Open championships.
The putter, which has an estimate of £40,000 to £70,000 (€47,000 to €82,000), was crafted by Hugh Philp, a master clubmaker based in St Andrews and whose thorn, apple and pear wood putters were revered by players.
A highlight in the golf club section is expected to be a square toe iron dating from the late-17th or early-18th century.
One of the rarest and most valuable early clubs in private hands, comparable to the two irons in the Royal Clubs of Troon (the oldest set of golf clubs in existence and housed in the British Golf Museum in St Andrews), the club is believed to be one of only 20 recorded to exist and is anticipated to fetch between £80,000 and £120,000 (€94,200 and €141,000).
Among the other items to be auctioned are a Chinese export porcelain punch bowl from the late 18th century with a depiction of a golfer (taken from a drawing by David Allan which formed part of the letterhead of the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers) which is expected to realise £40,000 to £60,000 (€47,000 to €70,500).
An early Gutty ball made by Allan Roberston in 1849 has an estimated sale price of £12,000 to £18,000 (€14,142 to €21,213).
