The Bonhams Golf sale held in Edinburgh to coincide with the 2007 Open Championship was a great success, achieving a healthy 72% sale rate and generating £175,000 ($355,000).

Kevin McGimpsey the Bonhams Golf Specialist: 'Presently the market is good for both buyers and sellers and it was great to be able to meet and talk with the 100 or so buyers or interested parties at the start of the auction.'

At times, four telephone lines were in operation and there was a real buzz when the Cotton medal opened at £17,000 ($34,200) and closed at £33,000 ($66,300) or with premiums £39,600 ($79,600).

Kevin McGimpsey: “I understand that this is a world record price for a 20^th Century Open medal sold at auction!”

Some of the top lots including premiums included:

Lot 32: A W. Claude Johnson club: £2,400 ($4,900)

Lot 43: A Thomas Johnson long nose club: £2,700 ($5,450)

Lot 122: An Allan Robertson feather golf ball: £7,800 ($15,750)

Lot 304: The Philp putter used by Young Tom Morris in 1872: £31,200 ($62,700)

Lot 332: A signed 1989 Ryder Cup Dinner Menu: £2,400 ($4,825)

Lot 525: A Douglas painting of North Berwick: £10,320 ($20,750)

The auction "sleeper" was Lot 70 containing various ephemera and two Darwin handbooks, one (The Churston Golf Club) of which had been an unknown title.  The estimate was a conservative £80-120 but it sold for £1,260 ($2,550).

Bonhams’ next sale will be held at the end of January 2008 in their Chester, England auction rooms. It will be followed by the annual sale in Brookline, USA a couple of months later, and in the meantime Bonhams will marketing and selling The Dr. Gary Wiren Collection...details of which will be available later this month.

Kevin McGimpsey will be holding a series of Golf Valuation Days in the UK over the next few months and will be representing Bonhams at the GCS Annual Meeting in N.C. in November. If interested in consigning your golf collection to a 2008 Bonhams Golf Sale, then please email Kevin.mcgimpsey@bonhams.com.