Until the late 1800s, golf was the game of the very wealthy, mainly because of the high cost of making balls. The "featherie" began replacing wooden balls in 1618. Featheries were made from three strips of treated leather sewn together, then packed tightly with goose feathers. A master craftsman could make only three or four a day, and they didn’t hold up well, especially in wet weather; one game could require a number of featheries.

In the 1840s, a Scottish missionary in Malaysia discovered gutta percha, the rubberlike substance from the sapodilla tree, and figured it would make a durable golf ball. Originally smooth, golfers discovered that a nicked-up gutta percha had a truer flight, which led to a rush to put patterns on the ball. Ball makers hand-hammered the designs into the gutta percha, so prices remained steep. At the turn of the 20th century, rubber balls and mass-production were introduced; today’s familiar dimple pattern first came about in 1908. These harder balls, in turn, led to ash clubs being replaced by clubs made of stronger hickory wood, so the shafts wouldn’t break so easily.

Collectors treasure featheries and balls with unusual patterns from the late 1800s. In April, a featherie (right photo) by an unknown maker sold for $3,600, just within the $3,500 to $5,000 estimate, at a Bonhams & Butterfields auction. Also at that auction, a hand-hammered gutta percha, circa 1870, went for $1,100, and a mesh gutty (left), circa 1892, sold for $840. As with clubs, provenance counts. On eBay, an Allan Robertson featherie was offered in the spring for a buy-it-now price of nearly $16,000. At a 2006 Bonhams & Butterfields auction, an 1898 ball made to commemorate the opening of the Minikahda Golf Club in Minneapolis sold for $10,516. The club bought it.

Photography by Bonhams & Butterfields.

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