ROBERT E. HUNTER (1886-1971), AMERICAN AMATEUR GOLFER

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Robert Hunter was an American amateur golfer and was awarded this gold medal as part of the winning team at the 1904 Summer Olympics.The 1904 St. Louis games was the last time that golf was played in the Olympic Games. In 2016, the sport returns to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years. Robert Hunter, a 17-year-old from Illinois, was one of seventy-four amateur golfers competing at Glen Echo Country Cub, on the outskirts of St Louis. He qualified for the knockout stages in the individual event before being knocked out in the round of 16. Hunter's team was one of three teams representing the United States. The team event pitted three teams of ten players each in a thirty six-hole strokeplay competition. The medal was designed by Colonel George McGrew, founder and president of Glen Echo Country Cub. Only two other team gold medals are known to date.The 1904 St. Louis games was the first to award gold, silver and bronze medals, and one of only two Olympics in which the winners were presented with solid gold medals — when the Olympics returned from an eight-year hiatus in 1920, the European economies were so decimated the era of ‘true’ Olympic gold ended.Robert Hunter represented Yale University, and was the Intercollegiate United States Amateur Champion on three occasions, twice winning the team medal and once the individual title (1910). The Intercollegiate Championship was renamed the NCAA Division 1 Amateur Golf Championship in 1939, and is the top annual competition in U.S. men's college golf. Other individual winners include Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Hunter also won the coveted Chicago Cup twice, in 1903 and 1905, and competed in six U.S. Amateur Championships and four Western Championships. He remained an amateur and made his living from banking.

ROBERT E. HUNTER (1886-1971), AMERICAN AMATEUR GOLFER

A 1904 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL

Details

ROBERT E. HUNTER (1886-1971), AMERICAN AMATEUR GOLFER
A 1904 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL
Gold, the obverse cast in relief with a golf-bag, thistles and a banner inscribed 'GOLF', the bar inscribed '1904 UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION / OLYMPIC GAMES / ST. LOUIS', the reverse inscribed 'GLEN ECHO COUNTRY CLUB / Olympic team / Golf Champion / Robert E. Hunter' and impressed by the maker 'MERMOD & JACCARD. JEWELRY CO. ST. LOUIS'
1 ¼ in. (3.3 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Skip Domingos Auctions, Petaluma, California, Robert Hunter Estate Sale, 18 July 2015.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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