Ben Hogan
1932 Spalding Bobby Jones
Grand Slam Advertising Sign
THE BOBBY JONES COLLECTION
In 2005, the
World Golf Hall of Fame held arguably its most famous exhibition in history
when it celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Grand Slam with
the exhibit Bobby Jones: A Salute to the Grand Slam. That exhibit
featured memorabilia from the expected places: the USGA, the Royal &
Ancient, Augusta National Golf Club, Merion Golf Club, as well as items
owned by the Hall of Fame itself. But the golf world was abuzz with chatter
about another source of much of the rare and one-of-a-kind Bobby Jones
memorabilia on display – a previously unknown private collector.
We have the
great privilege of offering that famed, yet mysterious, Bobby Jones
collection in this auction. The collection was assembled by a very private
Midwest collector over the past three decades. In the golf collecting
community, and with today’s internet world, it is virtually impossible to
keep collections quiet; but this is an extreme exception. When the World
Golf Hall of Fame sent out its press release announcing the Bobby Jones
exhibit in 2005, it specifically highlighted the fact that many of the items
in this private collection “will be on display to the public for the first
time.” And aside from that brief loan to the Hall of Fame, almost all of
this memorabilia was obtained in private transactions and has never been
seen publicly – until now.
1932 Spalding
Bobby Jones Grand Slam Advertising Sign
This is a great sign from 1932 which advertises the fantastic results of
Spalding golf clubs and balls in 1930 and 1931. Those four Major Championships
in 1930, of course, refer to each of Bobby Jones' Grand Slam victories. If you
read this sign closely, however, you will notice that Spalding is really only
taking claim for Bobby Jones using Spalding's golf ball during the 1930 Grand
Slam events. While this fact was no doubt lost on the casual observer (and I'm
sure that was the point!), Bobby Jones indeed used a Spalding Dot golf ball in
1930, but used a set of Tom Stewart irons, not Spalding. Jones then signed a
deal with Spalding as soon as he retired at the end of 1930. This advertising
sign is made of heavy cardboard and likely hung inside golf shops when Spalding
released their 1932 line of golf clubs.