The Masters gnomes: From passing fad to valuable collectibles with staying power
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These aren't pieces of memorabilia from The Masters signed by Tiger Woods or Bobby Jones, though. They're not programs or badges from the first Masters in 1934 either. These items stand 18 inches tall and are supposed to reside in and watch over someone's garden.
They're gnomes.
Yes, Masters-themed statues of small, white-bearded, mythical creatures who, according to Merriam-Webster, 'live in the earth and usually guard treasure.' Sounds like a sales idea Carl Spackler and Ty Webb from 'Caddyshack' concocted during a cannonball session while night putting at Bushwood Country Club.
Instead, Augusta National unearthed its own treasure when it began selling the themed figures in 2016 for less than $50 ($49.95 this year) for one week each year inside The Masters merchandise shop. The tournament only allows one gnome per customer and only sells a limited supply each day the shop is open. It's part of the reason why Masters patrons line up before dawn every year to enter.
The limited access and supply to The Masters gnomes, though, create a ripe resale opportunity.
According to eBay, the number of items sold including 'Masters Gnome' within the title or variations of the phrase increased nearly 3,750 percent during the 2023 Masters season (March through May) compared to the same time period on the platform in 2016. As demand increased, so did prices. The average sales price for items sold including 'Masters Gnome' or variations within the title increased more than 20 percent during the 2022 Masters season compared to the 2021 season. Sales then jumped more than 50 percent during the 2023 Masters season compared to the 2022 season.
The most expensive 2025 Masters gnomes, which first went on sale at Augusta on Saturday, so far have sold on eBay for at least six times as much as the retail cost.
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'I thought it was a passing fad several years ago when they started to get a little bit hot and I was wrong,' said Ryan Carey, founder and president of the golf-centric Golden Age Auctions. 'Every once in a while there are things that are sold at The Masters in the merchandise tent that sell for a lot more afterwards because they sold out quickly or they didn't make enough of them or something. Sometimes there's just a flash in the pan or it was a little fad. Something got popular or something got viral really quickly, but they don't last.
'Gnomes really flipped the script there.'
Throwback to Min Woo Lee and his Masters gnome leaving Augusta after his T22 finish last year 😂👏 pic.twitter.com/8G4xoXGAxK
— Golf Monthly (@GolfMonthly) April 1, 2025
Carey said the gnomes are easily the most surprisingly popular piece of Masters memorabilia in existence. The auction house has yielded seven-figure sales for items like the set of irons Woods used during the 'Tiger Slam' run in 2000 and 2001 as well as an Andy Warhol painting of Jack Nicklaus. He said he's heard way more from buyers interested in The Masters' gnomes than either of those two pieces of golf memorabilia.
'The gnomes have staying power because they're making a different gnome every year,' Carey said. ' It looks different. So if anybody starts to collect them this year, a certain portion of those people are going to want to go back and find ones from prior years. The only way to find them is to buy them on the secondary market. So by creating a new gnome every year, you are increasing the potential buyers for prior years on the secondary market.
'That's why you just see these stratospheric numbers for the 2016 gnomes. That's a $10,000 gnome right now. Those gnomes are $49 at the merch tents. An astronomical return that came out of nowhere!'
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This year's gnome dons a polo shirt highlighting the famous Masters peach ice cream sandwich, including one ready-to-eat sandwich in his left hand. It's one of the more exotic outfits since 2016, which will likely aid in full size polo shirts with the same design being sold on the grounds (and now on the secondary market). The outfits have varied from the understated caddy attire from 2024 to the Christmas sweater look from 2020, since The Masters took place in mid-November that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The secretive culture of The Masters even extends to gnomes. A tournament spokesman declined an interview request by The Athletic to discuss the history, popularity and creativity behind the yard ornament. Regardless of The Masters' rhyme or reason for the existence of the gnomes, there has been and likely will be no shortage in sales for the collectible. Currently, final sales of at least $300 for Masters gnomes span four pages deep on eBay, with the $10,250 price attached to a gnome from the original 2016 release.
The shrewd 2025 gnome hunter hit the Augusta grounds long before The Masters' opening round on Thursday. Onsite sales commenced Saturday during the Augusta National Women's Amateur, which is held on the course the week before professional men's golf's first major. The most expensive gnome so far sold on eBay from the 2025 event went for $699.99.
Those left arriving at merchandise tents with empty shelves for the signature full-size gnomes have other options. There's a smaller gnome without the yearly outfit that typically holds a resale value around or north of $100. And this year The Masters is offering gnome salt and pepper shakers with a similar look as the smaller gnomes. With a retail price of $38, those are selling for $120 and up on eBay.
It's the full-size gnomes that Masters attendees scratch and claw to buy, though. They're also the ones collectors are willing to pay a premium for outside the tournament gates.
'I don't know that anyone predicted the popularity of the gnomes,' Carey said. 'And that's how the best collectibles happen. If anybody knew that was going to be valuable, then they would've hoarded them and saved them in the original box and then they wouldn't be as valuable or as rare today and wouldn't be as valuable. They probably didn't make very many of them, and the people that bought them, they probably put them in their yard! They didn't save them as a collectible because they weren't supposed to be a collectible. That's been an absolute phenomenon.'
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