Lot # 119: 1906 Pneumatic Silk Golf Ball

Category: Golf Balls

Starting Bid: $50.00

Bids: 1 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall Golf Auction 2019",
which ran from 11/6/2019 12:00 PM to
11/23/2019 8:00 PM



This Ball is marked “Pneumatic Silk ” in a circle on one pole (a good magnifying glass used to decipher all the letters).   The auctioneer, however, is unable to make out enough of the letters in the circle on the opposite pole (due to the deterioration to the paint and surface of the ball) to report what it says. The ball does not have any significant strike marks but does have major paint loss.

Produced by Goodyear Tire & Rubber, the Silk Pneumatic golf ball was covered under a patent filed on Sept 11, 1900 by Addison T. Saunders who assigned half of it to Frank Seiberling, the man who founded Goodyear Tire &  Rubber in 1898.  

The making of this ball was a bit of a marvel in and of itself.  According to the a 1905 advertisement, the wall of wound thread between the cover and the pure Para Rubber “jacket” that held the compressed air consisted of a single thread of Sea Island cotton over one thousand feel long that was wound with perfect accuracy and uniformity.  The cover of the ball was also made from pure para rubber. In the center of the ball, inside the para rubber “jacket,” is compressed air. 

According to the August 1906 issue of Golf (NY), the Silk Pneumatic ball uses silk thread for winding in order to raise the air pressure inside the core from 800 to 1200 pounds and thus increase the resiliency of the ball and add to its flight!

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