These putters have two different types of offset blades.  On one putter, which has a line scored face, the neck has a dramatic bend that positions the blade well behind the hosel. On the other putter, which has a smooth face, the blade is bent to create the offset while the neck is straight from the top of the hosel down to the ground.

The bent neck putter was made by Spalding for the Professional Golf Association.  The back of the blade is marked with with Spalding's Kro-Flite trademark and the mark of the Professional Golfers Association.  The PGA acted as a buying co-op. They made volume purchases from a few manufactures in order to get better pricing, so they couild supply these clubs to many of its members working in smaller shops, to help their margins.

The thing that is really neat about the Spalding-made PGA putter is the off-set is far greater than it is on the typical Spalding wry-neck putters.  The auctioneer suspects it was a design feature to differentiate the PGA clubs from Spalding's own retail clubs.

The bent blade putter is marked "The Spalding" in small letters across the back along with "Hand Forged" in tiny letters.  This mark was in us between 1897 and 1900.

The bent blade putter has is original 32 1/2" shaft and sheepskin grip.  The bent neck putter has its original 34 1/2" shaft and leather wrap grip.  Both putters are in wonderful original condition.

Both of these putters are from the Fred X. Fry Collection, and their shafts bear his inventory labels.  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.