George Nicoll putters hand forged in Scotland

[BobUno]

anyone an expert on these putters?

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

Quite a lot of folk in the UK Classic Golf thread on these same pages.

[Jiggered]

The collected knowledge of the forum is extensive, ask the question and you'll usually get the answer you're looking for.

[BobUno]

Well, here goes....I have  a George Nicoll, GEM putter, "Rustless", Hand Forged in Scotland", " Leven, Fife, Scotland" impressed into the metal when forged on the back of the putter.  The classic George Nicoll "hand of friendship" cleek mark logo is also impressed on the back of the club.  

 

Oddly, the club has a metal True Temoer Century shaft, likely from the 70's, and an old style "Golf Pride" grip which has a Golf Pride logo in Cursive lettering on the Grip Cap.  The Grip Cap is rounded, not curved.  

 

So, my question:  How do I date this club from the cleek mark.  I understand there were several examples of the hand and they can be used to date range the club date of forging.  Does anyone have information to assist in dating this club.

 

Bob 

[Jiggered]

As Foozle replied in your other post, George Nicoll made the Gem for many years, possibly up until they were absorbed by Swliken in 1982.  (I have a Swilken version)

If the shaft and grip dates from around the 1970s then it's likely that the club does too.  There are a lot of these out there as you can imagine.

 

Coming back to your question about the cleek mark, these are best used for dating hickory era clubs as there was some consistency in their use.

 

Here are some marks and dates for post-WWII but I'd guess that yours is likely to use a simple hand design as the model continued for so long.

 

1962

 

1966

 

1971

 

1974

 

1974

 

1980

 

1981

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Jiggered

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

Spot on, Jiggered.

The St Andrews Golf Company at Largo Ward, near St Andrews still make them (for £228 if anyone's interested), with hickory shaft. They own the George Nicol name rights.

 

Generally it's old clubs that are assessed by the 'hand of friendship' variants. A modern one such as the OP's are dated by shaft and grip.

[Foozle]

I have dug my Zenith out from its resting place and attach some pictures to see if the cleek mark, grip etc correspond with your Gem? Unfortunately no shaft label.

The cleek mark looks like the 1974 mark from Jiggered's excellent reference.

As mentioned in my other post, I can confirm that I bought this new in the 1980's. I didn't think as early as 1982 per Jiggered's comment but I suppose it is possible or perhaps it was new old stock by the time I bought it.

[BobUno]

Thanks guys.  I think mine too is the http://192.168.2.6:1234/storage/0000-0000/DCIM/Camera/20210624_131551.jpg1974 one.