Scarce Cabinet Card Photograph of

1883 British Open Champion Willie Fernie

THE AUCHTERLONIE COLLECTION

    Next to Old Tom Morris, no name is more synonymous with St Andrews Golf than the Auchterlonie family. Boasting one British Open Champion, one U.S. Open Champion and two honorary professionals to the R&A, the family’s name still resonates to this day due to the shop that bears their name situated just yards away from the home hole of the legendary Old Course at St. Andrews.

    David and Willie Auchterlonie both served apprenticeships as clubmakers with Robert Forgan in the 1880s. David set up his own business around 1893 in North Street. Two years after winning the 1893 Open Championship at Prestwick, Willie joined his brother David to form D&W Auchterlonie in nearby Albany Place. Less than a decade later, the other brother Lawrence (“Laurie”) helped spread the family name by winning the 1902 U.S. Open at Garden City, New York. Combining a reputation for quality clubmaking with Willie’s and Laurie’s fame, it helped establish a business that would last for well over a century.

    Much to the surprise of golf historians, very little is actually known about the very-private Auchterlonie family. The National Library of Scotland has a folder on their clubmaking business, but it contains little more than empty envelopes, pre-printed clubmaking acknowledgements and largely irrelevant newspaper cuttings with nothing earlier than 1944.

    That is why this remarkable collection of mostly pre-1910 photographs should be considered one of the great finds of golf collecting history. Believed lost for decades, this historically significant photography collection was unearthed by two collectors in 1998 at the home of one of the last remaining Auchterlonie family members. Containing many never-before-seen photographs of legendary clubmakers from the 1800s or shortly after the turn of the century, the collection includes not only historic images of the Auchterlonies but also Robert Forgan, Tom Stewart, Tom Morris and many more.

    No longer “lost”, it has been decided to split the Auchterlonie Collection into individual lots so that a greater number of collectors will have the opportunity to purchase at least one item from this incredible collection.

Wonderful Cabinet Card Photograph of 1883 British Open Champion Willie Fernie

    Offered here is a scarce – likely one-of-a-kind - original cabinet card photograph of 1883 Open Champion Willie Fernie. Fernie was born in St. Andrews in 1858. One of five golfing brothers, he won his first professional competition just age 15. In 1882 he finished second to Bob Ferguson in the British Open. Going one better the following year he finished in a tie with Ferguson at Musselburgh, eventually winning a play-off by a stroke and preventing Ferguson from equaling Tommy Morris’s record of four consecutive championships. Fernie worked for the Auchterlonie family in their golf shop, and this circa 1880s cabinet card was obtained directly from the Auchterlonie Family. Though we’ll never know for certain, this cabinet card almost certainly originated from Willie Fernie himself as a gift to the Auchterlonies.