Clifford Roberts' Personally Owned

1932 Augusta National Golf Club

Stock Certificate

        If we're good at one thing here at Green Jacket Auctions, it is our ability to locate and secure the rarest and most desirable pieces of Masters Tournament memorabilia.

        But every once in a while we stumble upon a piece of Masters memorabilia that even we are shocked still exists at all - at least outside the secretive confines of Augusta National. Well, this is one such item.

        Offered here is Clifford Roberts' personal stock certificate (Certificate #3) that he received upon the formation of Augusta National Golf Club in May 1932 (Augusta National would not actually open until January 13, 1933). We can only presume that stock certificate #1 was issued to Bobby Jones, but are unaware of who would've received stock certificate #2 ahead of Clifford Roberts, other than to speculate that it may have been Fielding Wallace who received either certificate #1 or 2 and was the signatory of this original stock certificate as Secretary of Augusta National Golf Club.

        While there are numerous replicas and fake Augusta National certificates floating around, this auction marks only the 2nd original Augusta National stock certificate that we believe has ever been offered for sale (the other was a later 1940's stock issue and brought over $9,100 in our January 2014 auction: http://tinyurl.com/ANGCstock).

        But this is not just any Augusta National stock certificate. From the very first stock issuance by Augusta National Golf Club, this is stock certificate #3 issued to Augusta National Founder & President Clifford Roberts.

        Astute collectors and Masters historians will note that the mere existence of this stock certificate is extraordinary. Though Augusta National prefers to keep this part quiet, the original Augusta National entity went into foreclosure after the 1935 Masters Tournament rendering this certificate worthless. So this is a rare pre-foreclosure stock certificate.

        To our knowledge, this is the only original pre-foreclosure 1932 Augusta National stock certificate that exists. Maybe - just maybe - Augusta National itself owns one of these original (and worthless as of 1935!) stock certificates, but we can't say for sure. Regardless, it is without question the first time that an original 1932 Augusta National stock certificate has ever been offered for public auction.

        This original 1932 Augusta National stock certificate is dated May 5, 1932 and was issued to ANGC co-founder Clifford Roberts. The certificate is signed by Augusta National secretary and founding ANGC member Fielding Wallace. The certificate measures approximately 11" x 9".