Jaime ortiz-patiño, 82, owner of 1997 ryder cup venue valderrama,
in spain, spent more than 25 years accumulating an impressive col-
lection of historic antique golf artifacts. on may 30, at an auction
at christie’s in london, most of it was disposed of in a few hours,
fetching £ 1,838,731 (roughly $2,850,000). the stars of the show
were the art, especially a classic charles lees oil painting called
“the golfers,” depicting a match at st. andrews in 1847, whose sale
price of £337,250 ($526,110) was the highest of the day. (lees’ final,
five-foot-by-four-foot version of the painting hangs in edinburgh’s
scottish national portrait gallery, which bought it 10 years ago for
more than £ 2 million.) “the good stuff sold, the rest didn’t,” said
british collector and trader rhod mcewan. “it’s a buyers’ market. i
feel rather sad for the owner—today was a case of people taking the
cream off the top.” —John Barton
eamonn mccormack
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