Just happened to read an older post from your forum about this ball. And there were lots of questions about it. I'll try to answer them for you. I bought this ball about 1963. As I recall they first came out in'62. I was 17 at the time and bowling with a traveling league team that decided to all buy one. At that time any ball was $29.95. This ball was $100.00! A lot for a ball back then. One of the guys decided he was going to get another one and sold me his for $50.00. It has for the most part remained in my custody for all those years. It now sits in my dining room in a clear display case. Once in a while I'll bring it with me and throw a few shots with it always worrying that it could come back in two pieces. But it's a real conversation piece. As far as I have been able to find out, production was limited to 500 balls. Last one I saw for sale was for $3,000.00 on Ebay. And it does have real 9 carat gold inside the cover. Not for Sale!