Golf Set Owned by Jackie Gleason
Appraised Value:
$3,000 - $4,000
IMAGE: 1 of 1
Appraisal Video: (2:10)
Appraised By:
Leila Dunbar
Sports Memorabilia
Lee Dunbar, Inc
Appraisal Transcript:
APPRAISER: You know, George, this is the first time I've been able to get a tee time at the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. 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. And Jackie gave these clubs to him. 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 "The 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.
GUEST: And it has the name J.G. on top of it there.
APPRAISER: That's right, and then we have golf balls right down here specially made for Jackie with "The Great Gleason," and then the 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. 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)
