Gold Medal, Silver Jug: Two Open Artifacts That Sold for More Than $545,000

 

 

 

Walter Hagen’s 1924 Open Championship gold medal, left, and John Daly’s 1995 player Claret Jug represent two distinct forms of championship recognition. Golden Age Auctions reported that the Hagen medal sold for $153,283.20 on July 28, 2024, while Daly’s half-scale sterling silver trophy sold for $392,181.60 on Nov. 17, 2024. Both prices included buyer’s premium. Photo credit: Courtesy of Golden Age Auctions.

 

At Royal Birkdale this week, one of golf’s most familiar ceremonies will unfold again. The Champion Golfer of the Year will be handed the Claret Jug, pose with it on the 18th green and begin a year in which the trophy becomes part of his public and private life.

Under the conditions for the 2026 championship, the winner will hold the Claret Jug for the year, receive the Championship Gold Medal and also receive a replica trophy to keep.

Those distinctions matter in collecting. The traveling trophy, a winner’s medal, a full-size replica and a smaller player trophy may all be connected to the same championship, but they are not interchangeable objects.

Two artifacts sold during 2024 make that point particularly well. One is a small gold medal attributed to Walter Hagen’s second Open victory. The other is a hallmarked silver Claret Jug made for John Daly after his playoff victory at St Andrews.

Together, they sold for $545,464.80, including buyer’s premium. Yet the more useful story is not the combined number. It is what the two objects tell us about champions, ceremony and the documentation serious collectors must examine.

Walter Hagen’s Medal Carried a Second Open Title

Walter Hagen arrived at Royal Liverpool in 1924 having already won The Open two years earlier at Royal St George’s. At Hoylake, however, he had to chase down Ernest Whitcombe.

Hagen and Whitcombe were tied after 54 holes. Whitcombe finished at 302, leaving Hagen as the only player capable of overtaking him. When Hagen reached the 12th tee, he learned that he needed to play his final seven holes in level fours.

He recovered from trouble at the 12th and 13th, then reached the final green needing a 6-foot putt for the championship. Hagen made it for a closing 77 and a one-stroke victory at 301.

A century later, Golden Age Auctions offered what it described as Hagen’s 1924 Open Championship gold medal. The sale closed July 28, 2024, after 39 bids. The reported realized price was $153,283.20, including buyer’s premium.

The auction catalog identified the medal as 18-karat gold, hallmarked by Walker & Hall of Sheffield in 1923. It measured 1 5/8 inches in diameter and weighed 2.19 ounces.

The medal was not engraved with Hagen’s name. Golden Age noted that winners were responsible for arranging their own engraving during that period and said an accompanying photograph showed the medal waiting on the awards table at Royal Liverpool.

The photograph, hallmark, date and physical specifications all help establish the attribution. They do not, however, constitute a publicly disclosed chain of ownership from Hagen to the 2024 consignor.

That is why the wording matters. It is safest to describe the artifact as the medal auctioned by Golden Age as Hagen’s 1924 Open Championship gold medal. The public catalog provides strong object-level details, but it does not present a complete ownership history.

 

Image credit: Golden Age Auctions. 

 

A Medal Connected to More Than One Victory

Hagen ultimately won four Open Championships and 11 professional major titles. His importance extends beyond the scores he posted.

The Open’s official history credits Hagen with helping elevate both the championship’s appeal and the standing of professional golfers. He played during a period when professionals were not always afforded the same social privileges as club members and prominent amateurs.

Hagen understood showmanship, but his influence was not simply theatrical. He helped change how the golf world viewed the touring professional and what a successful professional golfer could represent.

That larger context is part of the medal’s importance. It is not simply a piece of gold associated with a winning score. It belongs to a period when Hagen was helping reshape professional golf’s place within the game.

The medal is modest in size. Its historical reach is not.

John Daly’s Player Claret Jug Preserves a Wild St Andrews Finish

John Daly’s 1995 Open victory carried an entirely different story.

Daly closed with a 71 on the Old Course and appeared to have won when Costantino Rocca mishit his pitch into the Valley of Sin at the 18th. Rocca then holed a putt from approximately 65 feet to force a four-hole playoff.

Daly won the playoff by five strokes after Rocca encountered trouble in the Road Hole bunker.

In November 2024, Golden Age offered what it described as an official player Claret Jug made for Daly following that victory. The hallmarked sterling silver trophy stood 12 1/4 inches tall, approximately half the scale of the permanent traveling Claret Jug, and came in a silk-lined case bearing The R&A logo.

The auction closed Nov. 17 after 73 bids. The reported realized price was $392,181.60, including buyer’s premium.

Here, the publicly stated provenance was more direct than the documentation accompanying the Hagen medal. Golden Age reported that the consignor purchased the trophy directly from Daly in 2015 and that the lot included a signed letter of authenticity and provenance from Daly.

That does not mean an editor or collector should stop attributing the information to the auction record. It does mean the public documentation contains a named prior owner, a reported direct transaction and a signed player letter.

 

Image credit: Golden Age Auctions. 

Not Every Claret Jug Is the Claret Jug

The Daly trophy also provides an important lesson in terminology.

The original Golf Champion Trophy was withdrawn from annual presentation after the 1927 Open. The champion now holds the annual presentation trophy for 12 months before returning it. Open winners also receive a full-size replica to retain and may order smaller replicas.

Golden Age specifically described the Daly example as a 50% scale player Claret Jug. It was not the permanent traveling trophy seen on the 18th green each July.

That distinction does not weaken its connection to Daly’s victory. It identifies the object correctly.

In fact, specificity strengthens a collectible because it allows the buyer, historian and eventual reader to understand precisely what has survived.

A replica connected directly to a champion is materially different from the annual presentation trophy. It is also materially different from a commercial souvenir or later commemorative piece.

Those differences should never be blurred for the sake of a stronger headline or a larger perceived value.

What the Market Record Actually Shows

The two prices are historical auction results, not statements of present value.

Hagen’s medal sold for a reported $153,283.20 on July 28, 2024. Daly’s player Claret Jug sold for a reported $392,181.60 on Nov. 17, 2024. Golden Age stated that both figures included buyer’s premium.

Those numbers show that bidders were willing to pay six figures for clearly identified Open Championship awards associated with major champions.

They do not tell us what either artifact would sell for today. They also do not guarantee that another medal, replica jug or championship-related object would produce a similar result.

The players, years, physical forms and documentary records are too different for that kind of blanket conclusion.

The Daly jug carried a reported direct ownership trail from the player and an accompanying signed letter. The Hagen medal carried compelling object-level evidence but a less complete publicly disclosed chain of ownership.

Both sold for substantial sums. They did not reach those sums through identical forms of documentation.

Why Serious Collectors Look Beyond the Logo

A generic Claret Jug souvenir carries a recognizable shape. A tournament flag carries a championship logo. Neither necessarily carries a documented connection to the person who won.

The Hagen and Daly pieces operate at a different level because they require more exacting questions.

What type of award is it? Who made it? Is it hallmarked? Is it engraved? What scale is it? Which championship produced it? How did it leave the player’s possession? Is there a letter, photograph or documented transfer? What part of that history remains uncertain?

After nearly three decades inside golf, I have learned that the game’s most meaningful objects are rarely the ones that need the loudest introduction. They become important through specificity.

A leaderboard tells us that Hagen won at Hoylake and Daly won at St Andrews. These artifacts preserve something the scores cannot: the physical rituals through which golf recognizes its champions and the complicated journeys those awards sometimes take after the applause ends.