Lot # 150: c.1865 Lofter

Starting Bid: $300.00

Bids: 4 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring 2022",
which ran from 3/3/2022 12:00 PM to
3/19/2022 8:00 PM



This c. 1865 unmarked wrought iron lofter bears clear evidence of its hand-made creation. There is a thin hammer weld line visible on parts of the hosel. It’s a meandering line created when the blacksmith formed the hosel, pounding the sides of the hosel closed, around a mandrel, and one side overlapped the other.  There is also a hammer-weld line on the back of the head where the hosel was pounded flat to blend into the back of the blade just below the point where the top of the blade intersects the side of the hosel.  These lines are subtle, but they are there. By the end of the 1860s, most irons did not show any such evidences of the smithy’s hammer. (Of course there are much older irons with no hammer weld visible on the hosel or back of the head.  It just depended on how much time the blacksmith put into his work and how far he wanted to go when finishing the club.)

The 39 1/2” long shaft and sueded leather grip are original. The thick hosel is 4 3/4” in length and has distinctly angled sawtooth nicking. The club is much heavier than those irons produced in the 1880s and thereafter.  As lofting irons evolved, they became lighter.  

The golf ball shown in the images is not part of the lot.  It is shown only for perspective.

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