Identifying dates of MacGregor Tommy Armour Iron Master Putters

[mthompson370]

Design and marking identifiers by year

There's books, blogs and other info for all kinds
of famous and highly used putters, but
information on the Iron Master is vague at best.
I have a MacGregor Golf History Catalogs (
second edition from 2000) and The Golf Club
Identification & Price Guide IV (Golfworks/
Maltby) but still have problems identifying the
4 Iron Masters I own.
The putter first appears in the 1935 MacGregor
catalog (page 5) as "Ironmaster's Putter", "
Designed to match the A-1 model", and last
appears in the 1986 catalog. I think I've read
that Mac came out with an anniversary or other
commemorative issue with numbered heads.
Of the 4 I have:
1. 2 have squared heels, 2 have rounded heals
2. 2 have no sight line, one has an"A" sightline,
1 has a strait line sightline
3. Ferrule lengths differ.
4. 3 have pinned heads, ranging from 1"-1.5"
from top of hosel, one has no pin
5. Markings at the top of the hosel range from
a row of strait lines on 2 w/rounded heel to 2
rows of X's on squared heels
6. Sole markings vary from IRON MASTER, IMG
over IRON MASTER, to IM-6 over IRON MASTER (
36" model)
7. Heads can vary from full chrome, brushed
chrome (seem to rust the most) to black chrome
(haven't seen)
The pictures in the Mac Catalog aren't fine
enough to determine the markings, and since
Golfsmith has bought them out I doubt any
more info will be available.
With the IMG-5 Double X's supposedly being the
most desireable and selling for top dollar,
contributed info would help a lot of us
collector/buyer/sellers determine a bunch.

Here's what I have:
1. Tommy Armour Iron Master IM-6
Construction
A. Square heel
B. One pin @1"
Head Markings
A. MACGREGOR Tommy Armour (red script) IM-6
over IRON MASTER
B. 2 rows of X's at top of hosel
C. No sightline, 3 scratches on top edge
Ferrule
1"
Shaft
Pencil Shaft no shaft band
Grip
A. Leather, flat front
B. Traction Action (top diameter)
C. Golf (over) Pride (center) (no screw)

2. Tommy Armour Iron Master IMG
Construction
A. Square heel
B. No pin
Markings
A. MACGREGOR Tommy Armour (red script) IMG
over IRON MASTER
B. 2 rows of X's at top of hosel
C. "A" sight line
Ferrule
1 3/8" w/2 red stripes
Shaft
Pencil Shaft no shaft band
Grip
A. Rubber w/cork pistol grip
B. Golf (over) Pride (center) (no screw)

3. Tommy Armour Iron Master
Construction
A. Round heel
B. One pin @1 1/4"
Head Markings
A. MACGREGOR Tommy Armour (red script)
IRON MASTER
B. 1 row of lines at top of hosel
C. No sightline
Ferrule
1 3/8" w/1 red line at top
Shaft
Pencil Shaft no shaft band
Grip
A. Replaced w/Winn red pistol grip

4. Tommy Armour Iron Master IMG (belongs to
PGA and SPGA member)
Construction
A. Round heel
B. One pin @1"
Head Markings
A. MACGREGOR Tommy Armour (red script) IMG
over IRON MASTER
B. 1 row of lines at top of hosel
C. One line sightlinee
Ferrule
1" w/red strip and gold at top
Shaft
A. May have been replaced
B. Stepped Shaft
C. Partial shaft band
Grip
A. Round Leather
B. Brown wrap w/red stripe
C. Tape for collar
D. Length