Old Tom Morris Family Collection

In this auction, we have the extreme privilege of offering items from Old Tom Morris' personal collection that have been passed down in his family since his death in 1908. The offered items are being consigned to Golden Age by an heir of Old Tom Morris, and are being seen publicly for the very first time in this auction. 

Old Tom Morris'Personal Watch Chain w/ Exotic Tooth

Offered here is dream piece - something we could never expect to actually exist - Old Tom Morris' actual watch chain. If you're familiar with photographs of Old Tom Morris, he always had a visible chain that connected his jacket/vest and his pocket watch. This is one of his actual watch chains - passed down through his daughter Lizzie's family. During a recent trip to dig through the personal effects of one of Tom Morris' heirs, we found this chain sealed in an album page with handwritten "Tom Morris' Watch Chain" on the seal. 

The watch chain contains some sort of large exotic animal tooth. This tooth would have almost certainly not come from any animal in Scotland, as there are no large predators in Great Britain after being hunted to extinction centuries ago. After asking around, our best guess is that it's the tooth of a Tiger or other big cat! Could this have been obtained because of Old Tom's dealings with India for the purchase of gutta percha? We don't know for sure, but it is a truly stunning find. 

Letter of Provenance from the Old Tom Morris Family