The great early American golf pro who gave the world the Stars and Stripes golf ball, also created the more-than-meets-the-eye Magician iron.  On January 5, 1926, Willie Dunn Jr received a US patent that covered a hollow metalwood that could hold a liquid.  The amount of liquid inside the club could be increased or decreased through a threaded plug in the head.  According to an ad in Fraser's 1031 International directory, this metalwood was called the "Willie Dunn Magician," it could be purchased with matching "Pot Hollow" irons, and the liquid inside the heads was "quicksilver." 

Prior to this auction and as stated in TCA2 v1 p311, the auctioneer has handled two Willie Dunn Magician metal woods and two matching irons, and "none of those clubs, all of which had metal shafts, had a plug of any type, and liquid could not be detected in the head."

This Willie Dunn Magician pot hollow iron with its bore through steel shaft is different. On the sole, there are three holes that are now plugged/closed.  This Magician head was made hollow, and given the sealed holes in the sole, the auctioneer suspects that this head was once filled if not still filled with quicksilver. 

Quicksilver is actually mercury, which is a dense, silvery-white, poisonous metal with a mirror-like appearance. It is the only common metal that is liquid at room temperature. It is also quite heavy.  And this club is heavy. It measures D-5 on the swingweight scale, which is much heavier than a typical early twentieth century iron.   There is no way to readily open the club to inspect any contents, but its enough for the auctioneer to see the sealed holes on the sole and feel the heavy head when waggling this club to figure that it is likely filled with quicksilver as stated in his patent. If it was simply lead weights installed on the sole to provide the club with this heavy swingweight, one would expect such weights to be far more uniform that what is found on this sole.

In patenting his club, Dunn was trying to create club that would reduce hooking and slicing for the golfer by locating more weight directly behind the center of the face, not down on the sole. According to the patent, the face itself is thicker behind its center than it is across the rest of the head.  Dunn stated that liquid could be added to the club to make it still heavier behind the face, if that was desired. 

Willie Dunn Jr. was a highly creative man in the world of golf.  And this club fits his nature to a tee.