Early 1840's/1850's Golf Photo with Old Tom Morris

        Simply put, this is one of the earliest golf photos known to exist, and may very well be the first known photograph of Old Tom Morris.

        This original vintage photograph dates to 1845-1855 - just a few years after the invention of modern photography. Incredibly, the trees and building in the background of this photograph have been hand-painted to give them definition. This leads us to believe that this photo was meant for publication, although that publication, if it even exists, has never been found.

        The subjects of this photo are up for debate, but two things appear certain to almost every collector and historian shown a copy of this great photograph: (1) a "young" Old Tom Morris is the 2nd person from the left (standing), and (2) the men in the top hats may be noblemen posing with the caddies such as Morris. Very significantly, most collectors and historians have also identified Tom Morris' mentor Allan Robertson in this photograph as well. A consensus of Allan Robertson experts may take some time, but the hat-less gentleman standing a little left of the photograph's center certainly bears a striking resemblance to Allan. The addition of Allan Robertson would be highly significant to the value of this photograph; since he passed away in 1859 (before the first Open Championship was even contested) only a handful of known photographs of the great ballmaker exist.

        The British Golf Museum in St. Andrews has searched their archives and do not have a copy of this photo in their collection and could not turn one up in their research archives. This photo appears to pre-date the oldest similar golf photo in the Museum's collection - a glass negative believed to be from 1855 also including Tom Morris. This photo also appears to pre-date other known early Tom Morris photos, such as the 1855 George Glennie putt photo, 1857 group photo in front of R&A clubhouse, 1858 group photo with Wemyss addressing ball, 1859 group photo with Allan Robertson swinging, the 1860 studio portrait (Morris standing next to chair) and the 1860 photo from the first Open Championship, not to mention being far earlier than other popular early golf photos, such as the group photo from Leith in 1867.

        Even though this very early golf photograph may not be "known" to the British Golf Museum and does not show up in Morris well-regarded biography by W.W. Tulloch or in the well-regarded book on early golf photography A Focus on Golf, St. Andrews and Photography 1845 to 1859, it should be mentioned that this photo has, in fact, been "known" to the collector community for quite some time. The original glass negative of this photograph is known to be in a well-regarded private golf collection, and the photograph offered here has been in a private Tom Morris collection for several years. It should also be noted that the first time this photograph was offered publicly it came with the story that this photo was brought to this country from Scotland in the early 1900's by early club maker James Govan.

        This exceptional 1840's/1850's photograph measures 7 1/2" x 9 1/2".