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EARLY FEATHER-FILLED GOLF BALLS
The first golf ball was probably made of beechwood. Its successor was a leather ball filled with wool flock or feathers, progressing to gutta and thence to composition gutty balls in the 19th Century.
In the famous golfing poem 'The Goff' by Thomas Mathison in 1743 (see lots 12 and 13), there is a description of the making of a golf ball and the first mention of feathers. The making of a feather golf ball was a long and slow process and a skilled craftsman could only make three or four in a day; the ball was therefore expensive.
A FINE FEATHER-FILLED GOLF BALL
BY JOHN SHARP OF PERTH, CIRCA 1830
Details
A FINE FEATHER-FILLED GOLF BALL
BY JOHN SHARP OF PERTH, CIRCA 1830
Stamped 'J Sharp' and inscribed '29'
BY JOHN SHARP OF PERTH, CIRCA 1830
Stamped 'J Sharp' and inscribed '29'
Provenance
Possibly Phillips Chester, 16 July 1991, lot 440, when sold by the Order of the Leamington and Country Golf Club with a display case bearing a plaque 'Presented by the Warwickshire County Golf Club'.
Brought to you by
Philip Harley