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slug: Hal Gevertz Collection Hit The Auction Block December 16

#614664

TG

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. — On December 16, PBA Galleries sold rare books on golf and an array of unusual golf collectibles from the Golf Library of Hal Gevertz. The collection, gathered over the past 50 years by the veteran golf writer, featured everything from important books on the architecture of golf courses to a metal tie clip from the 1951 Bing Crosby Pro-Am. Golf enthusiasts from across the United States attended the auction, along with virtual attendees bidding from the United States, Britain, Europe, and across the Pacific.

One of the more sought-after lots in the auction was a 1920 first edition of Alister Mackenzie’s Golf Architecture: Economy in Course Construction and Green-Keeping, with original dust jacket. Estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, the book hammered down at $4,313. This was followed by another copy of the same book, without the dust jacket but inscribed by the author to Roger Lapham, bringing $3,162.

Bobby Jones, with the dozen lots by or relating to him, engendered intense competition. One of the most unusual and sought-after of these lots was a rare booklet he co-authored with six other members of the Golf Club Bird Sanctuary Committee. The small wrapper-bound tome was written to inform the public and private golf clubs how to protect birds living on and around golf courses, illustrated from photographs and with humorous cartoons, the scarce 1920s work more than tripled the low estimate by selling for $1,840. Another Bobby Jones rarity was a 1931 Japanese first edition of Bobby Jones on Golf, published in Tokyo, selling for $1,150 despite being damp stained and somewhat worn.

Books on women golfers drew attention, and Samuel Peck’s The Golf Girl, 1899, had the added asset of being illustrated with chromolithographs after drawings by Maud Humphrey, a very popular illustrator in her day, and highly collected now; the book sold for a solid $1,610.

The most expensive lot in the auction was not, however, from the Gevertz collection; it was a group of first and early editions of classic golf books from the Nineteenth Century, which had been uniformly bound in three-quarters red morocco for the second Earl of Dudley. Consigned by a private East Coast collector, the 33-volume set sold to a phone bidder for $21,850.

Other books that met with enthusiastic response included H.S.C. Everard’s A History of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club: St Andrews from 1754–1900, 1907 first edition, selling for $3,450; The Chronicles of Golf: 1547–1857, by Alistair J. and James F. Johnston, a limited first edition of 900 copies, went for $2,300; John Kerr’s The Golf Book of East Lothian, one of 250 large paper copies of the 1896 first edition, signed by Kerr, bound in half morocco, brought $4,313; the limited edition of Scotland’s Gift: Golf, one of 260 copies of the 1928 first edition, was hammered down at $4,600; The Complete Golfer, 1905, signed by author Harry Vardon, sold for $3,162; and Wright & Ditson’s Guide to American Golf, Containing the Rules of Golf, published in Boston, 1897, a rare and early golfing guide to the United States, in the original wrappers, rose to $6,325 amid spirited bidding.

The selection of rare, unusual and somewhat odd non-literary golf collectibles also received competitive bidding: a die-cut advertising display for Lucky Strike cigarettes, circa 1925, featuring the golfer Gene Sarazen, went for $977; a replica of a 1920s mechanical “Birdie Putt” toy bank went at $207; a vintage metal stick pin in the shape of a driver sold for $115; and a whiskey hip flask from the 1982 British Open in Troon, Scotland, fashioned from 100 percent English Pewter, fetched $103.

All prices include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. PBA Galleries is at 133 Kearny Street. For information, 866-999-7224 or pbagalleries.com.

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FOR 12-24

BOATS, BOXES AND BUTTERFLIES OPEN DECEMBER 31 AT ARGAZZI w/2 cuts?

tg/lsb set 12-14 #613250

LAKEVILLE, CONN. —“Boats, Boxes and Butterflies” is on exhibit at Argazzi Art. Evocative of stillness, suspended time and mystery, Debra Bermingham’s paintings can be viewed both literally and metaphorically. Her sensitivity to objects and the ability to imbue them with weight, emotion and pathos reflect Bermingham’s admiration for the poetic boxes with objects created by the American visionary Joseph Cornell.

The exhibition runs through February 15. Argazzi Art is at 22 Millerton Road, Route 44. For information, 860-435-8222.