Golf Set Owned by Jackie Gleason

Appraised on: June 24, 2000

Appraised in: Charleston, North Carolina

Appraised by: Leila Dunbar

Category: Sports Memorabilia

Episode Info: Fame & Fortune (#1016)

Originally Aired: May 29, 2006

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (2:10)

APPRAISER: You know, George, this is the first time I've been able to get a tee time at the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. I may try to do this more in the future.

GUEST: It has been a real, real opportunity to come down and play with these clubs.

APPRAISER: Well, are these your clubs?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Did they belong to someone else before you?

GUEST: They did, to my son-in-law. And, uh, he was Jackie Gleason's doctor.

APPRAISER: Jackie Gleason's doctor.

GUEST: And Jackie gave these clubs to him.

APPRAISER: Was that in for a bill?

GUEST: No, no, that was for friendship, I think. When Jackie had a little problem, he would call Art. They became good friends and when he passed away, he left these to Art. And then Art passed away. He left these to me.

APPRAISER: The reason why we find them very interesting, of course, is that they did belong to the man known as "Great One" as they are marked right here. Jackie Gleason, known to a whole generation of fans as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. We've got this wonderful set of irons, this wonderful putter that I have in my hands. And also...

GUEST: And it has the name J.G. on top of it there.

APPRAISER: That's right, J.G. right here. And then we have two special golf balls right down here specially made for Jackie. One's called "The Great Gleason," and the other has a crown on it because not only, you know, was he a great TV star but he was also a fabulous golfer-- in his own mind.

GUEST: He loved it.

APPRAISER: And he loved it, participated for many years in Bing Crosby's Pebble Beach Classic, where they raised lots of money for charities. Also was a great lover of jazz and parapsychology. So the man had many facets.

GUEST: He did.

APPRAISER: But you know, believe it or not, these clubs themselves, after I looked them over, inherently don't have a lot of value for sports. But because they belong to a celebrity like Jackie Gleason, let me give you a couple of examples. The kitchen set from The Honeymooners last year sold for $63,000.

GUEST: Oh, boy!

APPRAISER: and a uniform went over $40,000.

GUEST: Great day!

APPRAISER: So if you're looking at these clubs just to be kind of on their own, they're really only worth a few hundred dollars at very best, but because they belonged to Jackie Gleason and they have such great provenance, we place them around $3,000 to $4,000. Now, just something else I want you to keep in mind. I think that these were actually given to Jackie. I don't think that he had them specially made, only because he had a line of his own called the Millionaire's Club with a Jackie Gleason signature in it.

GUEST: Oh, great.

APPRAISER: So I think someone passed these along to him and then they went down to your son-in-law and you. And we might as well get this out of the way because we're doing this segment. "How sweet it is." And knowing that they're $3,000 to $4,000, then you can now easily say, "And away we go."

GUEST: And away we go. (laughs)