Balabushka cues owned by Irving Crane & Wimpy Lassiter

wrldpro

wrldpro

H.RUN 311/Diamond W.R.
Silver Member
I am in need of help from all of you on Az as im trying to see if anyone has any pictures of the Balabushka cues owned by Irving Crane and Luther(Wimpy) Lassiter.I go to Mike Lassiters (Wimpys Nephew)house a couple times a year and we have looked through boxes of articles and newspaper clippings and have had no luck finding any pictures of Wimpys Balabushka cues.Maybe some old Billiard Digest magazines or Charlie Ursetti might have a few.
Irving Crane also had around 3 Balabushka cues made and I also would like to see pictures of them also.If you happen to know who currently owns any of these Balabushkas please forward them this link or my info.

Any help would be appreciated

Bobby

worldpro311@gmail.com
 
skierlawyer

skierlawyer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There is a great picture of Irving Crane's Balabushka in the cue collector issue of The Snap magazine. I believe it was printed in the '90s. I have a perfect copy and can try to scan it if need be. Pete Tascarella is building me a tribute to that cue.
 
flyvirginiaguy

flyvirginiaguy

Classic Cue Lover
Silver Member
Crane, like Mosconi, had more than one Balabushka (Crane had two that I know of), as well as other cues. The one he played with the most had a leather wrap as he loved the leather wrap. I have only seen one Balabushka of Wimpy's (not sure how many he had other than that one). It was the plain 4 point Balabushka posted here some time ago with a letter from Pete T noting it was Wimpy's cue).

I have some of those magazines, as well as tons of pictures of Balabushka cues collected over quite some years. See if I can find em as I have them all archived on bluray now that I have cleaned out and replaced all my hard drives.

I found this, while this is a replica of one of Irving's Bushka cues (the fancier one), but the important part is the letter where he says Balabushka made more than one for him. Possibly even 3 or 4.
http://www.billiardwarehouse.com/cues/hall_of_fame/irving_crane_ic1.htm
 
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classiccues

classiccues

I need 15 Morgans.. Can you help me?
Gold Member
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Page 431 of the third Billiard Encyclopedia has a picture of a Bushka made for Crane and also Ciscero Murphy's cue.

JV
 
WildWing

WildWing

Super Gun Mod
Silver Member
I don't usually revive old threads, but since this one, especially Lassiter's Balabushka was talked about, I thought I'd post the only somewhat decent picture I've seen that shows the Bushka that Lassiter used through most of his latter career. There was a lot of discussion and some photos showing a plain 4 point cue with very little use, as well as a Gina, and Adam cue, that may have been used by Lassiter. This one I saw during the first Legends tournament at Harrrah's in Atlantic City in 1982, and Lassiter is younger in this picture, so it got considerable use. The points can't be seen, but they're very similar to the old Palmer model I, with a combination of mother of pearl diamonds and dots. The buttplate is a white ring at the top, with a combination of mother of pearl and diamond marquetery, which was hard to see at a distance.

Anyhow, hope this clears up at least a little of what I think was the cue most were talking about, belonging to Wimpy. Though obviously he used many thoughout his career.
 

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deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
what a great picture of Lassiter
I was in San Antonio talking with him toward the end of his life
when someone stold his cue,a Gina that he played with for a long time

I don;t know if it was ever recovered ,but that would be nice to see

I believe the Crane cue is now residing in the famous glenn collection
along with so many other famous and beautiful cues.

Sometimes these cues are made available to the public,
 
steveinflorida

steveinflorida

senior member
Silver Member
Luther also played with a Harvey Martin cue. Had a Harvey Martin case that Bill Stroud got from him back 69 or 70.
 
merylane

merylane

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
WildWing said:
I don't usually revive old threads, but since this one, especially Lassiter's Balabushka was talked about, I thought I'd post the only somewhat decent picture I've seen that shows the Bushka that Lassiter used through most of his latter career. There was a lot of discussion and some photos showing a plain 4 point cue with very little use, as well as a Gina, and Adam cue, that may have been used by Lassiter. This one I saw during the first Legends tournament at Harrrah's in Atlantic City in 1982, and Lassiter is younger in this picture, so it got considerable use. The points can't be seen, but they're very similar to the old Palmer model I, with a combination of mother of pearl diamonds and dots. The buttplate is a white ring at the top, with a combination of mother of pearl and diamond marquetery, which was hard to see at a distance.

Anyhow, hope this clears up at least a little of what I think was the cue most were talking about, belonging to Wimpy. Though obviously he used many thoughout his career.
Click to expand...



This cue looks like a tad to me.





.
 
WildWing

WildWing

Super Gun Mod
Silver Member
merylane said:
This cue looks like a tad to me.





.
Click to expand...

Interesting observation, admittedly hard to tell, though the buttsleeve is reminiscent of Tad's work as well. Most Tad cues had a longer than usual buttplate, but not all. Also, most of Tad's joint ringwork had maple boxes, rather than Bushka style rings, but again, not all. It was pretty well accepted that Lassiter played a good deal with a heavily inlaid Balabushka, but this could mean another cue, or people were mistaken that his Bushka was actually a Tad? I guess the only one that could clear this up would be Tad himself.
 
Matt_24

Matt_24

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
merylane said:
This cue looks like a tad to me.





.
Click to expand...

Tad's early cues were essentially copies of Martin cues. If I remember correctly he was heavily influenced by Martin. To this day - I think he still might build a Martin style plain jane cue with the big pin?
 
flyvirginiaguy

flyvirginiaguy

Classic Cue Lover
Silver Member
Bushka or Adam? If I am not mistaken, years ago, I read an article where Wimpy would ask George for this kind of wrap. Linen/leather/linen (or something along those lines). But not sure if this is one of those, or just an Adam cue with white/black/white linen.

Crane, in the background, never got much into people putting cues in his hand, other than the ones he wanted and paid for himself. So we all know what his cue is without even seeing it. :smile:

ABTJb4O.png
 
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deanoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
luther played with a gina cue there toward the end
it had a gold coin
i was with him in san antonio when someone stold the cue

he was very sad

that was a funny tournament after jersey red beat my brains out in front
of a crowd,i was quickly punished by danny medina
then wimpy lost his cue

all 3 of those great players are no longer with us

i guess the lesson is that being a good sucker is good for

your health,at least i am still alive

dean
the sponsor of the party
 
SCCues

SCCues

< Searing Twins
Silver Member
WildWing said:
I don't usually revive old threads, but since this one, especially Lassiter's Balabushka was talked about, I thought I'd post the only somewhat decent picture I've seen that shows the Bushka that Lassiter used through most of his latter career. There was a lot of discussion and some photos showing a plain 4 point cue with very little use, as well as a Gina, and Adam cue, that may have been used by Lassiter. This one I saw during the first Legends tournament at Harrrah's in Atlantic City in 1982, and Lassiter is younger in this picture, so it got considerable use. The points can't be seen, but they're very similar to the old Palmer model I, with a combination of mother of pearl diamonds and dots. The buttplate is a white ring at the top, with a combination of mother of pearl and diamond marquetery, which was hard to see at a distance.

Anyhow, hope this clears up at least a little of what I think was the cue most were talking about, belonging to Wimpy. Though obviously he used many thoughout his career.
Click to expand...
The picture shows the butt of Wimpy's cue below the table and it appears that the cue doesn't have a wrap on it or are my eyes playing a trick on me. That's a great picture of Wimpy by the way.
 
sonny_burnett

sonny_burnett

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Did Wimpy have the silver dollar embedded in a Bushka? Put a value on that in 2014.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Ken_4fun

Ken_4fun

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In one book I saw that cue that to me looked like an early Palmer cue. It might have been the Balabushka but the picture was black and white, with the main focus on Wimpy not his cue of course.

I was just trying to figure out what he playing with too, and it like like a Palmer but back then the Palmers and Balabushka both looked similar from a distance.

Ken
 
flyvirginiaguy

flyvirginiaguy

Classic Cue Lover
Silver Member
sonny_burnett said:
Did Wimpy have the silver dollar embedded in a Bushka? Put a value on that in 2014.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I believe that was the Gina cue with the coin Dean was speaking of. Wimpy used a lot of cues. Every picture I see of him he has a different cue in hand more or less.
 
flyvirginiaguy

flyvirginiaguy

Classic Cue Lover
Silver Member
SCCues said:
The picture shows the butt of Wimpy's cue below the table and it appears that the cue doesn't have a wrap on it or are my eyes playing a trick on me. That's a great picture of Wimpy by the way.
Click to expand...

Here is another of that same cue I believe, the one you said looks like it was missing the wrap. And who said the Filipinos bought over shooting behind the back? heh..

WEpdn2m.jpg
 
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