1932 British Open Contestant's Badge

        According to the 2004 GilChrist's Guide to Golf Collectibles, this is the earliest-known British Open contestant's badge in existence - an amazing badge from the 1932 Open Championship. While U.S. Open contestant's badges from this era were made of metal, those from the Open Championship were made of paper, which obviously makes them that much less likely to exist several decades later.  Since only 100 or so of these badges were made for the tournament's competitors, it's no wonder that only a handful contestant's badges from the 1930's still exist. And this badge may be the finest of them all - a badge from Gene Sarazen's first and only Open Championship title.  This exact badge is pictured on page 97 of the 2004 edition of GilChrist's Guide to Golf Collectibles.

        Many remember this tournament for Gene for Gene Sarazen's debut of his newly-invented sand iron - now known as the sand wedge and a staple in every golf bag in the world. To this day, Gene Sarazen's original sand iron remains on display at Prince's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Prince's is one of only two courses to only host the Open Championship once. Therefore, after Sarazen's sand iron and winner's medal, this may be the most significant piece of memorabilia in existence from that historic tournament.