Recently I received a 'phone call from someone saying they had a Forgan long nose antique golf club. I asked them to send me some photos. The owner had seen pictures of a similar putter in an antique value guide and was very excited as the ones in the book had been valued at about 3000 GBP. Here's the pics ( and very good quality they are too compared to some I receive! )

forgan antique golf putter 1

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forgan antique golf club 2
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antique golf club 3 putter forgan
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antique putter forgan 4
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antique golf forgan 8
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So what is this putter? Is it worth 3000 GBP, is it fake? Well, sadly it isn't worth 3000 GBP but I could forgive any laymen and plenty of novice collectors for thinking it is more valuable than it actually is. When I started collecting I would have thought I'd hit the jackpot if I'd come across this and I do remember considering a similar sort of purchase in an antique shop in Scotland...thankfully I didn't complete the deal or I would have been distinctly out of pocket. Firstly, it is genuinely old with a distinct patina of age. It has those small, or sometimes not so small dings, chips and general surface wear patterns that are extremly difficult to fake. Secondly, it is stamped with the name FORGAN across the top of the head. The head itself is approximately 4 and a half inches long. It has a horn "slip" along the leading edge. Note also the lead backweight is not all flush with the back edge of the head...in that some of the lead has been sculped out to make the swingweight slightly lighter. Thirdly, it does have a spliced join ( scarf or scared join to give it its proper name ) between the shaft and the head. Most of the black whipping has come off...but this can quite easily be replaced. The first thing that caught my attention when I opened the photos was the metal sole plate. Although brass sole plates were added to long range clubs from the mid 1800's they weren't added to putters at the time of making until about 1900. Also the horn slip is held in with screws and not wooden dowels...again something which tells me this club dates from 1900. Another thing is that the striking face has visible horizontal lines scored into it, albeit very lightly. So although this putter is technically a "long-nose" club it dates about twenty five years after the long-nose period really ended...about 1900 to 1905. By this time nearly all golfers were using metal blade putters and only a very few of them were clinging to the wooden headed putters of old. So, is this puter collectable. Yes, definately ( although it needs a little TLC ). Is it valuable? Well it depends what you mean by valuable. With some restoration I would expect it to be fetch a couple of hundred pounds ...so about 10% of those putters made in 1880.

regards
Gavin Bottrell
info@timewarpgolf.com