Interesting stick I need I.D.- for the experts

I believe Mike Eufemia is a player.....not the cue builder. From what I have heard He/is? a World class 14.1 player with GIANT runs above the 500 mark!!!!

G.

from an old BD article...

"East Coast Runs Pool" has been around to haunt the game's annals almost as long as "Always somebody better." When the game was going strong, you could turn up teen-aged 200-ball runners in at least three of New York's five boroughs, and they were but innocent apple-cheeked apprentices. The playing rosters of the best East Coast rooms looked like Amazon eddys at the height of the pirhana season: Johnny Irish, whose nonchalance in his big-money matches was so monstrous he hawked neckties while the balls were being re-racked; Jersey Red, who both talked and played the world's best big-table one-pocket; Johnny Ervolino, whose brilliance seemed limited only by when and if he cared to win; Mike Eufemia, who, according to cult rumor, claimed a practice 625; and on and on. You cannot cull the greatness of the Eastern players down to a single all-time king-of-the-hill nominee, any more than you can divine the finest grape in the finest vineyard. No one has explained why the New York area is pool's Mecca, other than to say ( 1) the game has been in that part of the country the longest, and (2) befitting Mecca, it's certainly East.

not exactly sure of the exact maker of the cue....i could name a couple makers it might be but I'd hate to say for certain, so I wont...

but mike was one of the greatest straight pool players that ever lived....

story goes that he surpassed Mosconi's record of 526 by quite a number......I've heard he ran 700+ and I believe someone said they had heard of a 1000 ball run!!!!

Tho those numbers are not official...



-Grey Ghost-

George,

The stick was either made by Doc Fry or Abe Rich. Their cues are hard to tell apart sometimes, as they were friends that often shared buttcaps, rings, etc. A lot of Doc Fry's cues had a penny under the bumper with a date that represented the year the cue was made.

There's a guy on Ebay named Mike Walsh that is an expert on these cues who might be able to tell you which one of the two made it.

Regards,

Steve

talk to joe at classic cues, and send him better pics of the joint and bumper shaft collars

Hunter said:

George,

The stick was either made by Doc Fry or Abe Rich. Their cues are hard to tell apart sometimes, as they were friends that often shared buttcaps, rings, etc. A lot of Doc Fry's cues had a penny under the bumper with a date that represented the year the cue was made.

There's a guy on Ebay named Mike Walsh that is an expert on these cues who might be able to tell you which one of the two made it.

Regards,

Steve

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Great answer and advice Steve. Looks to me like Rich, better pics needed for positive I.D. Either way the cue would surely raise quite an interest is several collectors eyes because of the previous owners fame. Pics of him with cue in hand would be a great boost in provenance.

12310bch said:

Please help me I.D. the maker of this stick and Michael Eufemia, whose
signature appears on stick. Any history , anything at all. Good or bad.
I know that this is the place to go. Thanks, George

The photos are the best I can get right now.

Click to expand...

Michael Eufemia was a champion back in the 50's & 60's. He won a big straight pool tournament at the Stardust in about 1967 IIRC. He was also supposed to have ran over 600 balls but I don't think it was properly documented. I believe he started the run and the same people weren't there to witness it from start to finish. The cue looks like a Rich cue to me from the pics and may have been made for him or possibly it was a cue he endorsed but never played with. Interesting find!

This is a cue that is so commonly misidentified as a Paradise, it's scary. The company is the NY Rich cue company, not Abe Rich. They sold the cuemaking ops to mastercraft, which then was bought for parts by Gordon Hart of Viking. A lot of times if you look at their shafts they had the stamping opposite the Eufemia embossing that said mastercraft.

But again, I can't tell you the amount of times these surface as "Paradise's". Because someone will say "Oh I got this outta NY, and bla bla bla in 1966, bla bla bla.."

JV

I have Mike Walsh's email addy if you want it. I think he'd be ok for this purpose. But I don't know that it'd be appropriate for me to post it here.

Regardless, it looks like you have a piece of history. It would be important to know if this cue was used to run a bazillion ball run, eh?

Is there a reason for it having two wraps??

classiccues said:

This is a cue that is so commonly misidentified as a Paradise, it's scary. The company is the NY Rich cue company, not Abe Rich. They sold the cuemaking ops to mastercraft, which then was bought for parts by Gordon Hart of Viking. A lot of times if you look at their shafts they had the stamping opposite the Eufemia embossing that said mastercraft.

But again, I can't tell you the amount of times these surface as "Paradise's". Because someone will say "Oh I got this outta NY, and bla bla bla in 1966, bla bla bla.."

JV

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Hey JV,

The story I heard years ago, was that this was a design that Abe came up with when he was at Saul's shop. He and Doc Fry were supposed to have bought some inventory together which made some of their cues almost indistinguishable. Rich kept the model going after Abe left and also had a similiar model with a window (5-G). Abe also used the design and materials on the Florida Cues that he and his brother Morris did right before he started Star Cue Mfg.

There is a picture on p. 48 of the Blue Book for Doc Fry's cues that is Doc's version. The same person that told me about the model said that lots of people had bought these models thinking they were Doc's work, but in reality, they had been made by the Rich family.

I think the guy that told me the story said there was a way to tell them apart by the ring pattern, or some such thing, but I don't remember what he told me. The guy had a ton of old cues from both guys, and had been one of Abe's buddies for many years, so I just figured it he knew what he was talking about.

Steve

Hunter said:

Hey JV,...

I think ...there was a way to tell them apart by the ring pattern, or some such thing, but I don't remember ...

Steve

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Ahh...if only your powers could be used for good!:wink::thumbup:

Black-Balled said:

Ahh...if only your powers could be used for good!:wink::thumbup:

Click to expand...

Whoever thought that the powers I ended up with would be Super Senility or Cosmic Aches and Pains, though...

Hunter said:

Hey JV,

The story I heard years ago, was that this was a design that Abe came up with when he was at Saul's shop. He and Doc Fry were supposed to have bought some inventory together which made some of their cues almost indistinguishable. Rich kept the model going after Abe left and also had a similiar model with a window (5-G). Abe also used the design and materials on the Florida Cues that he and his brother Morris did right before he started Star Cue Mfg.

There is a picture on p. 48 of the Blue Book for Doc Fry's cues that is Doc's version. The same person that told me about the model said that lots of people had bought these models thinking they were Doc's work, but in reality, they had been made by the Rich family.

I think the guy that told me the story said there was a way to tell them apart by the ring pattern, or some such thing, but I don't remember what he told me. The guy had a ton of old cues from both guys, and had been one of Abe's buddies for many years, so I just figured it he knew what he was talking about.

Steve

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Well I just replayed a tape I have from Paul Rubino and it was Gordon Hart and he did buy mastercraft which was the NY Rich cue shop, sold to a guy named Jose. I am sure this is one of those cues. 2 of the cues in that picture are Doc Fry's and 2 are not. But that's ok, I have seen this model cue with a letter of authenticity from a very well known maker calling it a Paradise.

JV

12310bch said:

Please help me I.D. the maker of this stick and Michael Eufemia, whose
signature appears on stick. Any history , anything at all. Good or bad.
I know that this is the place to go. Thanks, George

The photos are the best I can get right now.

Click to expand...

I agree this is a Rich, New York version, 1960's. It might be worth something because it has Euphemi'a name it must have been one of his cues, but Rich cues were affordable small shop production cues.

Besides the joint, which is pretty unique, Rich cues had this style of buttcap and bumper, where most Paradise's has a short buttcap with no bumper. Otherwise they do have similar traits. Usually the joint rings are a little different too. Another thing is the plastic they used yellowed to this aged bone color over time, whereas the Palmer's and Paradise cues plastic colors held up better (but their finishes didn't).

I get many ID's like where the people think they are another cue. I think what was happening were some people, including pool room owners, were misrepresenting Rich and Adam cues as Palmer's and Paradise's.

After Rich was sold, Saul Rich went to work for Palmer and Abe did his own thing. Eventually the name Rich was sold to Imperial and then there were several generations of imports. But that's a whole story in itself.

Chris

Similar Eufemia Cue

Hi,

Ive got a very similar cue with the same signature on the shaft. My dad gave it to me and he told me he bought it in NY in the 70's in a pool hall. My internet search led me to believe that it was made by Abe Rich. I just had the shaft cleaned up it was rewrapped.

Its got a triangle medium tip on it and plays really well and rolls straight.

Ive got pics but it wont let me post them since i just registered on the forum

I am still not positive the answer is Rich NY version. I have a Florida Cue with the sticker still on it that looks a lot like that cue.

Michael Eufemia Rich Cue

As the current owner of the cue and an ardent admirer of all the products of the amazing Rich family, I would be very eager to hear more from anyone who has any knowledge or theory about it. By the way the name Mastercraft has never come up in any of my previous researches. Google "Abe Rich and Family" to see what I have been able to come up with.

Mike's Eufemia's family had a poolroom up in Keene, NH. after moving out of Brooklyn, NY. I think it was called Main St. Billiards when I was visiting up there years ago. Maybe wanna look them up and see if they remember this cue or may even wanna buy it. The person I was Talking to seemed very aware of Mike's career. Hope this helps