1973 Leroy Neiman "Champions Of Golf" Poster Completely Signed w/extremely scarce Ben Hogan

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/18/2011

In the writing of auction lot descriptions it is important to not overuse the word scarce. So what does scarce mean? "Webster's New World Dictionary" defines scarce as "not plentiful; not sufficient to meet the demand; hard to get". Offered here is a 25" by 33 1/2" poster of the 1973 artist Leroy Neiman's work "Champions of Golf". This poster depicts Sam Snead (Deceased 2002), Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus each of whom has signed this poster in-person for our consignor in black sharpie with autographs presenting (7 to 9 strength of autograph). Each of these five are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Now comes where the extremely scarce part comes in. The sixth Champion of Golf depicted on Neiman's classic work was Ben Hogan. From the time this poster was issued in 1973, Hogan seldom left Texas and was legendary for not receiving strangers well. His last visit to the Augusta National for the Masters Tournament was 1978. This was the last he would make a public appearance outside Texas until 1988. Known as "the Wee Iceman" Hogan was talked into attending the 100th Anniversary of Golf in the United States Banquet. Hogan had been named as one of the four finalists (Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer,Jack Nicklaus)for Golf's Player of the Century, which would be named at the banquet. This event was attended by over 1,000 black tie guests, a virtual who's who of the Golf World. It was held on June 20,1988 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Our consignor, who lived in New York, attended with his treasured Leroy Neiman print and secured Hogan's autograph (Signature presenting a 9/10)in black sharpie. As an aside, that night the huge gathering was silent for 20 minutes as Hogan offered an impromptu lesson on the fundamentals of Harry Vardon. Jack Nicklaus was named the "Player of the Century" and Hogan retired back to Shady Oaks in Texas. His health would decline from that point as he was afflicted by dementia to the point that he seldom left his home in the early to mid 1990's prior to his passing in 1997. A check of internet listings for Neiman's "Golf Champions" lists two posters they are each signed by five of the champs and Hogan's signature is represented with a check framed along with the poster. Asking price on these two items is $2,500 and $3,100. Also of note on the "Champions of Golf" poster in this auction is that Neiman has also signed the piece in bold, black sharpie in lower left corner. Image remains in clean, near mint condition free from creases. Along lower left corner of print in white space is some creasing. This will easily mat out when the item is framed and placed as the centerpiece of a room. In summary, the difficult nature of obtaining any Hogan in-person signature during the life of this poster,much less, on a piece this size makes this an extremely tough six autographs plus artist Neiman to assemble. In talking with several advanced autograph collectors they concurred that they had never seen or heard of another of these posters completely signed.