Horton Smith's Green Jacket Goes For $682,229!

Needless to say, it's the most anyone's ever paid for a piece of golf memorabilia. And perhaps for a sports coat.

Here was the backstory on the jacket going up for auction. Must be nice to have $700k to spend on a jacket.

For Immediate Release...

First Masters Tournament Champion’s Green Jacket Shatters Record Price Paid for Golf Memorabilia This Weekend by Fetching $682,229
 
1934 & 1936 Masters Champion Horton Smith’s Green Jacket was expected to sell for $100,000, then sets record price by selling for $682,229.

TAMPA, Florida, September 9, 2013 – Tear up the record books! The original Green Jacket awarded to the first-ever Masters Tournament Champion Horton Smith shocked the golf world by fetching almost $700,000 Sunday morning on GreenJacketAuctions.com. The $682,229 final bid is the highest price ever paid for a piece of golf memorabilia.
 
Background
 
Last month, golf memorabilia auction house Green Jacket Auctions received a call that immediately sent shockwaves throughout the golf community.
 
“I think my family has something that people have been looking for,” the caller said.
 
Hanging in the back of the caller’s closet outside of Atlanta, Georgia was one of golf’s Holy Grails: the original Green Jacket from 1934 & 1936 Masters Champion Horton Smith. As it turns out, a distant relative of Horton Smith owned the jacket, which his family kept tucked away for many years, never knowing that the golf world was searching for it until recently.
 
The Masters Tournament began awarding Green Jackets to its Champions at the 1949 Masters when newly minted Champ Sam Snead and the 9 previous Masters Winners were first given their jackets. These so-called “Original 10” Green Jackets are among the most coveted pieces of modern golf history, the bulk of which are owned by Augusta National Golf Club or the World Golf Hall of Fame. But the Green Jacket awarded to the first Masters Champion, Horton Smith, had been “lost” for decades.
 
About the Auction
 
The Summer Golf Auction hosted by Green Jacket Auctions concluded on Sunday September 8, 2013. The auction featured 378 lots of rare golf memorabilia, which eclipsed the $1 million mark for the first time in the auction house’s 7 year history.