Both of these putters are from the Fred X. Fry Collection, and their shafts bear his
inventory labels.
The club with the yellow pyratone-covered steel shaft is an end-shafted croquet-style putter. When set upright on a smooth floor, as if it were addressing a ball, it will balance in place and stand on its own. This extremely rare club is marked "Cup Cuddler. Pat. Pending" on the sole and "Dewey Longworth" across the top of the blade.
According to the Fred X Fry inventory page that accompanies this putter, in 1935 this club was given to Fry by Dewey Longworth, whom Fry identifies as the inventor, and that it was made by Spalding. The putter, however, does not bear a Spalding mark of any kind.
The second club in this lot is a center-shafted croquet-style club. It's brass head has two faces so it can be used as either a putter or a chipper. It bears owner's initials "TOH" on the head. It has an early steel seamed steel shaft, with the vertical welded seam visible in places up near the grip.
Fred X 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.