Golfball-Collection

CLASSIC BALL vs. MODERN BALL

There is no exact definition for a classic golf ball. Some classic golf balls are so mint that they look like a new and modern golf ball. On the other hand some modern balls look as if they have a certain age.
In the collector's world golf-balls made after 1950 are often considered as modern collectible balls. It is not unlikely that the collector will find golf balls from the 1960s or 1970s in their original wrapping and packaging. But some of these might already be rare and hard to find pieces.
And even though there are quite a number of English-language books covering the subject of golf ball collecting, there is no special book for past-1950 golf balls. Most books mainly cover the pre-1950 period, and among those books Kevin McGimpsey's "The Story of the Golf Ball" is undeniably the opus to be pointed out.

In the following I will try to point out all major historical time periods of golf-ball production before 1950.

Ca. 1400 to 1600
THE WOODEN GOLFBALL

Historical sources connote that golf balls around this period were made out of rigid wood. Regrettably examples from this period are wiped out.

Ca. 1500 to 1850
THE FEATHERY GOLFBALL

Bird feathers were pressed into an artistically stitched outside leather coating. Renowned Golf-Ball makers carried out this work and signing the golf ball the coating with their name. The production of such a golf ball was so time-consuming that the ball-maker would only be able to produce very few examples every day. At that time golf was not open to the general public because golf balls were so expensive.

Ca. 1850 to 1900
THE GUTTA-PERCHA GOLF-BALL

During the second part of the 19th century British colonialists found out that the extract of the Gutta-Percha tree in Southeast Asia was able to be formed bent in a continuous figure once the juice was heated. After being shaped in that way the gutta-percha material would keep its shape for ever. During time the golf ball makers experimented with the material several times. Gutta-Percha golf-ball variations exist due to different manufacturing processes:

• - Hand formed Ball
• - Smooth Surfaced Ball
• - Cut and processed by knife
• - Hand hammered surfaced Ball
• - Surface processed by machinery
• - Moulded by industrial machinery

FROM CA. 1900
THE RUBBER PERIOD

The chemical and industrial development permits warm press processing in any form and magnitude.

All Golf balls named above pass for classic collectable exemplars.

The shown time eras overlap each other.
The outer and inner characteristics of any golf ball can be placed to a specified era.

Ca. 1500 to 1850
FEATHERY
Outer surface very smooth, sewn leather.

Ca. 1850 to 1900
GUTTA PERCHA
Longitudinal and parallel grooves on the outer surface.

Ca. 1890 to 1920
BRAMBLE
Bumps on the outer surface similar to Blackberries.

Ca. 1915 to 1930
MESH
Deep square dimples in all variations.

From ca. 1925
ROUND DIMPLE
Round deep dimples.

WHERE TO FIND CLASSIC GOLF BALLS?

You can buy new and old golf balls, but also you can find them on your local golf course, where a more misfortunate golf player has lost it before. It has been going on like this ever since the game of golf was invented many hundred years ago.
Obviously the older the golf course is, the better are the chances to discover first-class vintage golf balls. Usually the collector has to dig about 20cm into the prolific soil in order to find exceptionally aged golf balls. Lastly depending on how fertile the soil is the golf balls either get shattered or simply dissolve during time. In water obstacles or lakes they do not get ruined, as I have been able to acknowledge by personal experience.

Lost and found golf-balls have surely set off a passion in many collectors' heart. The first and probably most well known golf collector was Harry B. Wood, who put together his collection around 1900 by acquiring golf balls which were rather worthless at that time. Regrettably the collection has been ripped apart, being worth a million's amount.
This might also proof, that you only have to keep golf balls for a very long time and they will most probably and automatically become a rare and expensive item.

This statement is still valid these days; the golf ball found today might soon be an antique memento of a manufactured golf ball brand in a couple of years.
Even though several million Gutta Percha balls were produced in former times, there are only a few surviving today and nowadays these balls are rare and highly-priced collector's items.

Today there are several firms in the U.K. making a good living from lost and found golf balls. In the beginning these companies were searching for modern golf balls in order to remake them and sell them for play.
One well known lake ball dealer likes to point out that in the beginning he and his colleagues threw away very old golf balls as they were unfit for modern golf. A short term later these dealers realised that there was a special collector market for these historic golf balls. Nowadays whole troops of golf ball divers are searching in lakes and swamps for collectable balls which are then to be sold commercially. Many of the golf balls found in ponds are even considered as satisfactory for the serious collector and occasionally some very rare pond balls are offered by high-class auction houses such as Sotheby's or Bonham's reaching extreme price bids.

Some very smart Englishmen have bought licences to dig for golf balls on land, which was formerly used as a golf course and were our ancestors have lost there golf balls. Golf mining on defunct golf courses!

Collectors and other obsessed individuals who cannot "claim" their individual piece of mainland have to wait until the treasured ball is put on the market. Commercial agencies are operating world wide in the historic golf ball retail business, but notably not all of them are truthful.
Business as usual!

ASSESSMENT

The price of a golf ball does not depend on its beauty, rarity or its age but consequently on its state.

• - MINT
• - LIKE MINT OR MINTLIKE
• - EXCELLENT
• - AVERAGE
• - FAIR
• - POOR

This existing classification though explains six major states of a golf ball.

There are a few exceptionally rare old golf balls worldwide which only exist in one or two known examples. Looking at the before-mentioned classification scheme these golf balls would be judged as FAIR or even POOR. Nevertheless these golf balls are rare and valuable because they only exist in one or two examples. This means that extremely rare and seldom examples are subject to a unique classification scheme which is lastly decided by the collectors market. Assessment criteria only make sense for golf balls which are still around in a sufficient number so that they fit into six scheme reference. But still this classification scheme is not exact enough to describe the precise condition of every golf ball.

Looking at the descriptive word "MINT" it is a very complicated subject. You can find the "MINT" and "MINTLIKE". MINT was the state of a ball 80 years ago, today this ball might show a small colour chipping or some loss of colouration. Nevertheless this golf ball is still considered as MINT. Consequently it would make sense to introduce a reference scheme MINT 1 (or MINT AAA) followed by MINT 2 (MINT AA) and MINT 3 (MINT A). MINT 1 would sensibly apply to the absolute top of the top state vintage golf ball. But still a MINT 3 Golf-ball would be alike a new golf ball and still better than a MINTLIKE Golf-ball.

The following scheme therefore presents a comprehensible and ideal categorization order.
With this proposal I am addressing all collectors, sellers and other passionates, who love collecting.