Significant 1852 Golf Photograph
with Old Tom Morris

        Simply put, this is one of the most significant golf photographs ever offered for sale. This is one of the earliest group golf photos known to exist, and is believed to be one of the first known photographs of Old Tom Morris.

        This is an original photograph attributed to 1852 - just a few years after the invention of modern photography. Incredibly, the trees and building in the background of this photograph have been hand-painted to give them definition. This leads us to believe that this photo was meant for publication, although that publication, if it even exists, has never been found.

        Like most 160+ year old group photos, the golfers in this photo are the subject of debate and speculation. So while we have not yet identified all of the subjects of this photograph, most historians, including the British Golf Museum in St. Andrews, have positively identified the most important golfer of the day - Old Tom Morris (and by “Old” Tom Morris, keep in mind that that moniker had not yet been used at the time of this photo; Old Tom was only 31 years old in 1952, and Young Tom Morris was only 1 year old). Also included in this photo is believed to be Sir Hugh Playfair (addressing the ball) and Old Tom Morris' Caddie, "Daw" (far left). Many also identify Tom Morris' mentor, Alan Robertson (left of center, facing camera, no hat) in the photo.

        A version of this photo appears on Page 30 of David Joy's impressive book, sive book, The Scrapbook of Old Tom Morris, which attributes this photo to 1852 at Scotscraig (Tayport) and mentions Old Tom Morris and Sir High Playfair as being in the photo. Page 30 of the book has been added in the 3rd photo below.

        When Graham Budd Auctions sold a print of this photo in 2012, it listed the golfers as Old Tom Morris, George Whyte Melville, George Glennie, Captain Maitland Dougal and Sir Hugh Dalrymple (Alan Robertson not listed). Quite amazingly, the Bruntsfield Golfing Society also stakes claim to this photo as being a photograph of their own members (and, quite amazingly, does not list Tom Morris among the subjects) from 1855, though a survey of historians doesn't seem to put much credence to Bruntsfield's claim.

        This original 1852 photograph predates almost every known group golf photo of Old Tom Morris, including the oldest similar golf photo that the British Golf Museum in St. Andrews has in its collection - a glass negative believed to be from 1855 also including Tom Morris. This photo also appears to pre-date other known early Tom Morris photos, such as the 1855 George Glennie putt photo, 1857 group photo in front of R&A clubhouse, 1858 group photo with Wemyss addressing ball, 1859 group photo with Allan Robertson swinging, the 1860 studio portrait (Morris standing next to chair) and the 1860 photo from the first Open Championship, not to mention being far earlier than other popular early golf photos, such as the group photo from Leith in 1867.

        It should also be noted that the first time this photograph was offered publicly it came with the story that this exact photo was brought to this country from Scotland in the early 1900's by early club maker James Govan, who famously went on to work at Pine Valley.

        This exceptional 1852 photograph measures 7 1/2" x 9 1/2".