This is a beautiful brass blade putter stamped "R. Johnstone, Golf Club Maker, Seattle."  Johnstone was once "the man" for golf in the Pacific Northwest. This clubhead was forged by Spalding, shafted by Johnstone, and stamped with the intials of the owner LKM.

Immigrating from North Berwick Scotland in 1900, Johnstone landed in Seattle in 1905 and began his 32 years as the head pro at the Seattle Golf Club.  Johnstone was a not only a skilled clubmaker, he could play the game.He won the Pacific Coast Golf Association Open in 1901 and 1903.  After he began working in Seattle, there was no better-known golfer in the Pacific Northwest than Robert Johnstone. Accordng to the Northwest PGA Section hall of fame comments about Johnstone, "He went on to win the Northwest Open in 1906-1908 and 1910 for a record total of six Northwest Open victories. In 1922, he was instrumental in the forming of the Pacific Northwest Section PGA and served as its first president."  Click Here for more about Robert Johnstone

This putter is from the Fred X Fry Collection, and bears his inventory label on its shaft.  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 around 450 clubs, mostly putters. He cataloged, displayed, and cherished his treasures.  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.