Offered here is a very old jeu de mail club and ball. A solid wrought iron band wraps around each end of the head. On one end there appears to be a nail wedged under the band to help hold it in place. Judging from the small bit of epoxy visible at the top of the socket, the 43" ash shaft is either a replacement or it was simply reset in recent years, which is quite possibly the case. The grip, however, is a modern replacement, but could be redone with fabric and look much better.

Jeu de mail was a medieval French game, somewhat similar to golf, that went out of fashion in the eighteenth century. In Garden Smith’s 1907 article “Jeu de Mail, Golf In The Making,” published in Golf Illustrated, he refers to a translation of Academiedes Jetix published in 1739. Academie des Jeux contains a chapter on jeu de mail rules and instructions. After noting that jeu de mail was, indeed, somewhat similar to golf, Smith remarks that, "In Holland it developed or degenerated into Het Kolven, in England into Pell Mell and Croquet.

Jeu de mail developed sometime during the 15th to 16th centuries and reached a fairly high level of popularity by the mid to late 16th century. The game enjoyed a few centuries of popularity before falling almost completely out of practice in the 19th century.

The head is genuine and old. A perimeter club for the ages!  

Letter of Authenticity from the World Golf Hall of Fame