Lot # 29: 1933 Bobby Jones Hickory Shafted Matched Iron Set (Ex-Jeff Ellis Collection)

Category: Golf Clubs

Starting Bid: $400.00

Bids: 35 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Summer Golf Clubs Only",
which ran from 8/31/2022 4:00 PM to
9/18/2022 8:00 PM



Here it is- arguably the most coveted hickory shafted iron set in existence; this is a custom-ordered hickory shafted Bobby Jones matched set of irons. This is a full set from 1 iron to 9 iron. After Bobby Jones retired from competitive golf after the 1930 Grand Slam, steel and pyrotatone shafts quickly gained a near 100% market share in the golf industry. When Spalding was finally able to release its much-anticipated Robert T. Jones, Jr. signature model irons a couple years later, it primarily offered steel shafts. The golf world had moved on from the hickory shafts that Bobby Jones himself used. To obtain hickory shafted examples of the inaugural release of these Spalding Bobby Jones irons, you would have to custom order them. Custom-ordered hickory shafted irons likely represented a minuscule percentage of Spalding's sales in the early 1930s, but they are now coveted by collectors. According to famed golf club expert and golf club collector Jeff Ellis, though thousands of steel shafted sets exist, when it comes to hickory shafted sets "only a handful of complete sets are known."

Offered here is perhaps the finest set of Bobby Jones irons known. This is a high grade matching set of hickory shafted Spalding Robert T. Jones, Jr. irons.

These irons originate from the famed Jeff Ellis Collection, and these exact irons were featured in his books, The Golf Club (p. 138) and The Clubmaker's Art (TCA 1, p. 123; TCA 2, p. 145). These irons have not reached the collector market since its sale at the 2007 Sotheby's auction of the Jeff Ellis Collection.