The earliest irons Karsten Solheim made—the PING 69, 68, and Anser irons—were forged, produced in exceptionally small quantities, and absolutely groundbreaking in the history of golf.  Karsten believed in perimeter weighting, which was unheard of when these irons were made. The 68, 69, and Anser irons were his hand-made/assembled "prototype" irons, with their cavities milled out entirely by hand. They led the way to the mass-produced perimeter-weighted PING Model I irons which exploded into the golf world in 1969. The rest is history.

It is believed that only 100 sets of Model 68 irons were built.  Fernquist & Johnson provided the heads which Karsten milled out.  This set still has the "Tuned" shaft band (or remnants of it) on the original shafts, along with a few that still have the "True Tempered Dynamic" band. They have been regripped a while back with Avon grips (which could use a cleaning). The 2-iron in this set measures 39 5/8". The irons are still in excellent condition and the hand-milled cavities on the back of the heads still retain much of their original white paint.  The Model 68, made in 1963, is the rarest of the early Ping Forged Iron models.