Lot # 224: 1 of 3 Louis Berrien Cigar Head Putters, ex FX Fry

Starting Bid: $100.00

Bids: 7 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring 2021",
which ran from 3/3/2021 12:00 PM to
3/20/2021 8:00 PM



This putter is from the historic Fred X. Fry collection and bears his inventory label on the shaft. Fry's corresponding inventory sheet states that this club is one of only three putters that the inventor, Louis Berrien, ever made, and it was his personal putter. A copy of Fry's inventory sheet is included with this lot.

Berrien applied for a patent on this club, as it is twice stamped "Pat Pend," but never received one.  The club has a unique head shape with a thick ridge running across its back, the face much like a cigar in outline. With only three ever made, this its likely the only one that has survived.

Berrian was a golf professional at a number of courses in California, including the Santa Monica, Wilshire, Del Monte, Cloverdale, and Blackwood Country Club.  He was also the pro at the Salt lake City CC.  He died when he was 50 years old, in 1936.  Fry was gifted the putter in 1939 from Dan P. Young of Los Angeles.

Fred X. Fry, the dean of American golf club collectors, was busy building his collection forty years before the Golf Collectors Society (now The Golf Heritage Society) was formed in 1970. Collecting with great passion, Fry amassed approximately 450 clubs, mostly putters. He cataloged, displayed, and cherished his treasures. A copy of Fry's inventory page is included witht his lot.  A number of national magazines ran articles about his collection of putters between 1936 and 1963. For more on Fry and to view some of the articles, Click Here.

This club is shown to the far left in the bottom row of the accompanying group picture. 

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