One of the golfers on the winning 1904 team. (Photo: Public domain)

Golf has only been an Olympic sport twice in history, most recently in 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri. And H. Chandler Egan, the World’s Amateur Champion of Golf, won both gold and silver—gold in the team competition, and silver in the individual. More than 100 years later, his grandchildren found his medals stashed away in their mother’s house.

“ It was in the back of a shelf with a door on it and it was behind a whole bunch of books and all these things, a box of medals and the letters and the scrapbooks. It was all hidden,” his grandson told USA Today.

Golf, in the early 20th century, was played only in a few places; the Olympics competitors were all American or Canadian. It didn’t stick as an Olympic sport, although this year, it’s coming back again. Olympic golf medals, though, are incredibly rare: the silver that Egan’s grandchildren found is the only one still known to exist.

H. Chandler Egan. (Photo: Public domain)

Every day, we highlight one newly found object, curiosity or wonder. Discover something amazing? Tell us about it! Send your finds to sarah.laskow@atlasobscura.com.