Horace Rawlins 1905 The President's Cup at Cranford CC Tiffany Lamp Trophy

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This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/17/2024

Horace Rawlins 1905 The President's Cup at Cranford CC Tiffany Lamp Trophy

For the last 119 years this incredible trophy has been in hiding and only recently has resurfaced in a Massachusetts decorative arts auction. Horace Rawlins is well known for winning the first U.S. Open golf champion which was held on October 4, 1895 at Newport C.C. in Rhode Island. The championship was played over the 9 hole layout four times. Some of the competitors were Willie Dunn, Willie Campbell, James Foulis and Newport's head professional William Davis. There were a total of 11 players and Rawlins at age 21 finished 2 strokes ahead of Willie Dunn to capture the championship. Over the next 15 years or so Rawlins played in many of the east coast tournaments. Many of these courses were nine holes layouts as golf in this country was still just taking hold. He also held club professional positions at several of these early courses. 15" x 15" x 22"

In 1905 Cranford Golf Club (founded in 1899 in New Jersey), a Willie Dunn design, held a series of team and individual competitions over several months which also included players from other golf clubs. Silas P. Wood, who was Cranford's club president from 1904 to 1906 along with other club officers, offered some special prizes in the form of trophies and this particular 'Class A' trophy was inscribed and presented to Horace Rawlins for what we believe was low net score by an individual player in one of the competitions. Right now and to the best of our knowledge, this is the only other existing trophy that Horace Rawlins won besides his 1895 U.S. Open trophy. Incidentally that original 1895 trophy was destroyed in a fire when 1946 U.S. Open winner Lloyd Mangrum had the trophy displayed in the clubhouse of his home course and the clubhouse and the trophy were destroyed by fire.

The lamp is in good condition, however during transit the original glass shade was unfortunately damaged and has since been restored. It is now solid and displays well. The table lamp trophy is a Tiffany Studios Custard Shade and Bronze Acorn Base. Tiffany Studios regularly made trophies with their Metalware but rarely with lamps. Oxidizing was performed on the 'Horace Rawlins' name to the engraving to stand out, a practice common in trophy engraving. Upon close examination, you can see and feel how the lamp base runs smoothly through the letters top to bottom - furthering that this was the original name in that location of the trophy. Tiffany Studios New York 6818 Bronze Kerosene Acorn Lamp Base Base is electrified with period correct GE Padle and socket. Base Illustrated in Tiffany Studios Lamps and Metalware Fully revised and Extended Edition By Alastair Duncan, p 32, Plate 79. A certificate of authenticity with other details accompanies the sale of this trophy. We are extremely proud to offer this extremely rare Horace Rawlins piece of American golf history. "Tiffany Studios New York 6618. The final two reference photos are of young Horace Rawlins in 1905 (wearing his 1895 US Open Medal) and a snapshot of the March 25, 1905 New York Tribune article citing both Cranford Golf Club's hosting of the tournament in 1905 and the engraved then current club president Silas P. Wood as this prize's presenter.

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