The green jacket that is bestowed up winners of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia is one of the most iconic prizes in all of American sport.
It’s also one of the most desired pieces of sports memorabilia among collectors — even though there’s no way they should ever be able to get one under the rules of the club.
Per Augusta National, the club’s green jackets — which are also given to members — are not permitted to leave the club’s grounds, with the exception being the reigning champion’s blazer (it can go home with him until he returns it for safekeeping the next year).
But, despite that policy, jackets have occasionally made if off of the grounds of Augusta and onto the auction block, according to a New York Times piece.
Per The Times, “a company that was until recently known as Green Jacket Auctions sold more than a dozen over the years at an average price of nearly $78,000.”
The Times also caught up with a Connecticut collector named Christopher O’Brien who has one Augusta National’s green jackets at his home after purchasing it at an auction for less than $17,000.
“I took a chance because if you really think about it, it’s one of the most iconic pieces of sports memorabilia you could get,” he told the paper. “I have 400 or 500 pieces, and there are always three or four where people walk in and say, ‘What the heck is that?’ And that’s one of them.”
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