Historic Willie Park Sr.
Circa 1850s Ambrotype Photograph

Among the most desirable pieces of golf memorabilia are early photographs. The offered piece is one of the finest such examples in existence. This is an original circa 1850s ambrotype photograph believed to be of Willie Park, Sr. - the winner of the first Open Championship in 1860 and four Open Championships total.

We briefly listed this photograph in a 2014 Auction but quickly pulled it. After getting bombarded with inquiries and learning that this may be the earliest known Willie Park, Sr. photograph, we determined that more research needed to be done before we could confidently stand behind this photograph as being Willie Park, Sr. Now having spent the last few months consulting with noted golf photograph collectors around the world, this is what we have found:

Provenance: The ambrotype was purchased by the present owner as part of a small but important collection belonging to George Colville, DCM, the eminent historian from Musselburgh. Bought over 30 years ago, the items had been gifted to him by a member of the Park family shortly after the publication of his 1980 book: “5 Open Champions and the Musselburgh Golf Story.”

A longtime friend to the Park family, other items in the Colville collection included a long nose club made by “Auld Wullie,” two early gutta percha balls, a signed copy of the Art of Putting by Wm, Park Junior and the cabinet card image of Mungo Park Jnr.

Attempting to determine the photo’s subject centered on the youthful looking man depicted in the offered circa 1850s ambrotype photograph. Comparing with later images of Willie Park Senior was helpful, but unreliable as there was a significant age difference between the two men. It was only when the simple technique of laying tracing paper – one over the other – that the image proved most convincing with many of the features like mouth and nose spacing matching perfectly.

While nobody can definitively say this is the earliest known image of Willie Park, Sr., the same applies to the reverse. On this basis we are happy to offer this item for sale. We believe this to be the earliest Willie Park, Sr. photograph in existence – from at least a few years before Willie’s victory at the inaugural Open Championship in 1860. It has been speculated that the photograph dates to mid 1850s when Willie Park made his famous £100 challenge to the world, which he promoted via Bells Magazine; but until this image surfaces in print, that is purely an idea that needs further research.

The photo measures approximately 2 1/2" x 3" and is housed in its original Victorian gilded gold frame.