Worthington Ball Company Specimen Stock Certificate. Unique vignette of a Golf Ball!! A specimen stock certificate is an original authentic stock certificate with usually just a few certificates printed by the banknote companies to give to their sales people to show as examples of their printing. They are identical to the issued certificates except that they usually have the word Specimen printed or stamped on them. Because there are so few Specimens, they are much rarer than the issued certificates. The Worthington Ball Company, founded in 1904 by George Cushing Worthington, was a pioneer in the world of golf balls. Here are some key points in their history. Worthington didn’t invent the rubber-cored ball, but he obtained the rights to produce Coburn Haskell’s revolutionary design in 1904. This ball, called the “Bounding Billie, ” was a major improvement over the gutta-percha balls used earlier. Worthington Ball Company was known for its innovative spirit. They were the first to produce. Balls with different hardness and compression levels. White-covered balls using a one-piece dip process (a standard today). Balata-covered balls (after World War I). They even experimented with radium-centered balls (the “Radio” ball) in 1910, though the effectiveness was questionable. They were known for their high-quality and affordable balls. The company was eventually taken over by another company in 1966.