Due to their smooth surface, the earliest gutty balls had difficulties flying. Golfers figured out that a cut-up ball flew better than a smooth ball, so ballmakers began to mark up the surface of the gutta percha balls they produced.

In the December 27, 1907 issue of Golf Illustrated, Robert Forgan is credited with being the one who (at some point in the 1860s) was the first to form a regular pattern on hand-hammered balls, "and the same pattern has now continued ever since (13)."

This unused ball offered here is made to Forgan's hammering pattern and marked with unique identification. "The Loud House" is stamped along the inner perimeter of a circle stamped on this ball.  "Yorks", the abbreviation for Yorkshire, is stamped in the middle of the circle.

In years past in England and Scotland, it was a common practice to name a building and use both the building name and the name of the county in the address.  "The Loud House" was likely the name given to the Yorkshire home of the original owner or possibly even the maker of this ball, which would make this the only remaining 19th century golf ball known to be marked with an address. It should be noted that most hand-hammered gutty balls are not marked with a name of any kind, which makes this beautiful ball even better.

TCA2 V2 p 763-764