Gleneagles posters fetch thousands at New York auction

HERITAGE: Rare Caledonian Railway posters put up for sale following death of US collector

One of the rarest and earliest railway posters produced to promote golf at Gleneagles has sold for £7,282 at an auction in America.

The 39in x 59in poster, emblazoned with the words Gleneagles Golf Course, The “Howe O’Hope” – on the “King’s”, was produced by the Caledonian Railway in or around 1920 shortly after the King’s Course first opened in 1919.

Before the sale, at Swann Auction Galleries in New York, the poster had been expected to fetch between $5,000 and $7,500, but in the end it fetched $10,000 – £7,282.

Another Caledonian Railway poster, advertising the King’s Course at Gleneagles and featuring the words Gleneagles Golf Course, The “Heich O’Fash – on the King’s”, sold for $5,750 (£4,187) at the same auction.

Both posters were put up for sale following the death of their owner, New York poster collector and dealer Gail Chisholm.

Meanwhile, a Perth poster designed by artist William Miller Frazer went unsold.

Mr Frazer made history when he exhibited his work at the Royal Scottish Academy every year for 73 years.

His poster from 1925, titled Perth: The Fair City, was estimated at around $1,000.

The Gleneagles Hotel and Golf Resort was the brainchild of Donald A Matheson, the general manager of the Caledonian Railway, after he spent a holiday in the area in 1910.

Construction on the hotel began before the First World War but wasn’t completed until 1924.

The golf courses were opened in 1919, before the hotel was finished.

There were two courses designed by Scottish golf champion James Braid – the King’s and the Queen’s.

Gail Chisholm, who died in July last year aged 62, opened a gallery in New York’s West Village in 1975.

She left a collection of more than 130 posters depicting everything from adverts to wartime propaganda.

This poster sold for $10,000, £7,282, at the sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York.