Gus #14 Been trying to buy this cue for 20 years.

I was collecting Gus Szamboti cues before anyone knew who he was. Gus was one of my mentors when I was a fledgling cuemaker/repairman. My road partner, Gary Spaeth, played with one until he retired it and started playing with one of my cues. I've owned 13 of Gus' cues and had a collection of 12 at one point, but that was another time. Business and family issues necesitated my selling the cues. Won't say I don't have regrets, but I knew what I was doing and that they were going to be very valuable if I could have kept them. The last cue I got was the only one that Gus made for me. I ordered a fancy cue with red veneers and lots of ivory to be designed by Gus. He hated to make fancy cues almost as much as he hated people collecting his cues. He didn't want to make cues for people who weren't going to play with them. As nice as Gus was to me, he kept me waiting 5 years for my "fancy cue"! As I pieced together soon after, when Gus started my "fancy cue", he started another cue just like it in regards to veneers and basic design, just in case there was an issue with the one he was building for me. That gave him the option of inlaying the second cue and finishing it for me instead of starting over from scratch, if there was a serious problem. It also gave him another plain cue to sell if it wasn't needed as a back-up! A customer at my pool room just happened to call Gus a couple of weeks before my cue was ready, hoping to buy a cue. Gus sold him the plain "back-up cue" he'd build while he was making my cue. It has the same veneers and red stitched ringwork as mine. He received the cue the same day as mine arrived and of course brought it to the pool room to test drive. I tried to buy the cue from him on the spot and every time I saw him since. About 25 years go by and he's in a financial jam. I gave him what I consider to be top dollar for a plain Gus & original "It's George" case so don't bother making offers to buy. Oh, I forgot to mention, it still has both original tips, has had only a few hours of play at the most! It's about as pristine of an original Gus as I've ever seen! It's not for sale! Enjoy the pics!