Golf balls are perhaps the hottest golf memorabilia in the world right now. To longtime collectors, this will not be a surprise, as golf balls were once the crème de la crème of the golf world. Finally, after years of being overlooked, golf balls seem poised for their rightful return to prominence. And rightful it is. Most historians agree – it was the ball, not the club, that most influenced the game of golf. Our last auction saw 2 individual balls sell for over $30,000 each, as well as other golf balls sell for $14,000 and $8,000, respectively. And there are reports that a scarce “Paterson’s Composite” golf ball recently traded hands privately for a whopping $200,000 – the highest price ever paid for a golf ball.

Offered in this auction is one of the finest groupings of rare golf balls ever assembled for a single sale. Many of these balls were the centerpieces of the most important golf ball book ever written, The Story of the Golf Ball (2003) by Kevin McGimpsey. McGimpsey’s book is the Bible for golf ball collectors, and rightfully so.

Scarce Dunn’s Record Golf Ball

Presented here is the scarce circa 1895 "Dunn's Record" golf ball. While we knew about the existence of this ball after seeing it pictured in Antique Golf Collectibles (2003) by Chuck Furjanic, and The Story of the Golf Ball (2003) by Kevin McGimpsey, we'd never actually seen this ball in person until receiving this consignment. This is the exact golf ball pictured in both of those well-known books, so it's technically still the only one we've seen! The Willie Dunn "Stars & Stripes" ball gets all the attention (sold for $36,695 in our Summer 2016 Auction), but this Dunn's Record ball was produced by Willie Dunn before the Stars & Stripes and could possibly be rarer.

The ball is in very good condition, and is stamped "DUNN'S RECORD BALL 27." This exact ball is pictured on page 229 of Antique Golf Collectibles (2003) by Chuck Furjanic, and on plate XIII in The Story of the Golf Ball (2003) by Kevin McGimpsey.