Feather balls are iconic in the world of golf. Most golfers have never seen one in person, but they have certainly heard about them. To this day, when viewing a featherball such as this one, the auctioneer marvels how this was the ball golfers once used to play the game hundreds of years ago. If Bach and Beethoven were golfers, they'd have played a feather ball!  Chopin, too!

On this handsome circa 1840s feather ball, all seams are solid and tight as are the two closing stitches. The ball is repainted. Repainting a golf ball was a traditional practice of golfers back in the day.  A bright ball was easier to find than a dark one. Plus, given the significant expense of a feather ball and risk of exposing it to moisture, golfers would do all they could to make a ball last.  At over 180 years old, this historical ball is fascinating to examine. Its resilience is amazing.  

Feather balls - made with a leather exterior and a feather-filled interior - are the oldest remaining golf balls known. According to Thomas Peter's 1890 account in Reminiscences of Golf and Golfers (pp 8-9), the making of a feather ball was almost a science:

"The leather was of untanned bull's hide, Two round pieces for the ends, and a strip for the middle were cut to suit the weight wanted.  These were properly shaped, after being sufficiently softened, and firmly sewed together - a small hole being of course left, through which the feathers might be afterwards inserted. But before stuffing, it was through this little hole that the leather itself had to be turned outside in, so that the seams should be inside - an operation not without difficulty. The skin was then placed in a cup-shaped stand (the worker having the feathers in an apron in front of him), and the actual stuffing done with a crutch-handled steel rod, which the maker placed under his arm. And very hard work, I may add, it was. Thereafter the aperture was closed, and firmly sewed up: and this outside seam was the only one visible."

By all accounts, the making of feather balls was hard work. A good feather ball maker working by himself crafted between 3-4 a day.  It was also dangerously unhealthy work. These artisans were prone to contracting lung trouble and asthma from working in such close proximity to ordinary cocks and hens feathers, which is what Tom Morris identified the feathers as when asked about it in 1900 (Golf Illustrated, 7 Dec. 1900: 204).