Jones' green jacket still raising doubts
The mystery of how a green jacket that might have belonged to Masters Tournament co-founder Bobby Jones and wound up for sale in the sports memorabilia market remains to be solved.
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Bobby Jones' green jacket will go up for auction on Aug. 4.
According to the auction house, the two-button wool jacket dates to 1937 when Augusta National members first began to wear them. The thought was for club members to be easily identifiable so they could answer questions from tournament patrons. Winners of the Masters began receiving the jacket in 1949.
Green jackets rarely come up for sale because Augusta National forbids its members from taking their jackets off club grounds. The exception is that the Masters winner gets to keep his jacket for a year and returns it the following spring.
According to Heritage, Jones gave the jacket as a gift to an artist who painted a portrait of him that hangs in the Augusta National clubhouse. In 1999, the jacket was sold by Leland's auction house in New York for $94,909 to a collector.
However, old questions about this garment's authenticity have surfaced anew.
Sid Matthew, an expert on Jones' career and the author of several books on the celebrated amateur, said three key questions remain unanswered:
1) Why would Jones, known for his integrity, violate a club policy by giving away the jacket?
2) Would Cliff Roberts, Jones' co-founder of the club and known for his strict behavior, allow Jones to give it away?
3) Why doesn't the quality of the jacket match the standards befitting a club like Augusta National, whose membership is filled with prominent businessmen.
"You're asking me to believe that my hero violated the rules?" Matthew said. "No."
Matthew did offer a possible explanation. The jacket up for auction was made by Haskett but, according to Roberts' book on the club history, Augusta National's supply came from Brooks Uniform Company.
"It might have been a prototype that Cliff had someone in New York work up for him," said Matthew, who noted it contains no satin or silk lining and is "unfinished."
Chris Ivy, the director of sports collectibles for Heritage, says jacket features an early-style patch with the letters "ANGC" on the left breast, and the initials "RTJ" are also sewn onto the jacket.
"As far as it being a prototype I think that's accurate," Ivy said. "It's the first. It was Bobby's idea to create these jackets. As such he ordered the first one."
According to Augusta National, there are three original portraits of Jones that are displayed at the club. The one in the entry way of the clubhouse was painted by J.A.A. Berrie and is based off a painting Berrie did in 1930. Thomas Stephens painted portraits of Jones, Clifford Roberts and President Eisenhower that hang in the Trophy Room of the clubhouse. And, President Eisenhower painted the portrait of Jones that hangs in Chairman Billy Payne's office.
Of the three portraits, only the one by Stephens depicts Jones in a green jacket. Jones' green jacket has a more modern patch with the Augusta National logo, which is different than the one for auction.
The auction house said the artist sold the jacket, and it has a notarized letter that it says traces the chain of custody. A second letter of authenticity from former club photographer Frank Christian verifies the style of jacket as being the earliest of its kind, according to Heritage.
The notarized letter dated Oct. 31, 1991, comes from Anthony Akey, who wrote that his father John Akey received the green jacket as a gift from a wealthy friend in Connecticut. Anthony Akey wrote that his father's friend took possession of the jacket when the artist sold it in the late 1970s.
The letter from Christian is dated May 2, 2003, and is addressed to Dr. Barry L. Glaser, who is the current owner of the jacket. He says the jacket "may well be the greatest golfing collectible in America."
