Pawn Shop Cues

IMO, probably the champion of collecting pawn shop deals is Randyg. While traveling the country, doing the McDermott Texas Express 9-ball Tour, Randy used to go in EVERY pawn shop, in EVERY town they went through, on the road, looking for old Palmer cues. He amassed a collection totaling more than 1100 cues...including the first 3 Palmer cues ever made (but that's another story, purchased from the Balner family). Most of them are gone now, sold off to collectors around the country.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
28 years ago I bought a McDaniel birdseye cue without a wrap for $10 from Buddie's Pawn here in Jackson. I tried to wrap it myself, but no luck. So I take it to Bill's shop for a re-wrap. A day later Bill calls me up and tells me the cue is ready and come pick it up. I get there and here come the cops! Turns out that cue and about 12 more were stolen a few days before from his shop. I'm gettin the 3rd degree and denying everything. The cops threaten to call the Pawn shop and I tell them to hurry up and call. Buddie's right hand man Rick listens and tells the cops he will come down to the shop to see if it is indeed the cue I bought. He clears me and the heat is off, but I was out $10 and the cue. That is how I met Bill,LOL!
 
I just went to a billiards store and spotted a barrel full of cues.I spied a Dufferin (Canada) 21 oz one piece sneaky,dead straight. Ten bucks.No big deal. Even a blind squrriel finds a nut in the woods once in a while.
 
Best cue I've seen

The best cue I've seen at a pawn store was a Mcdermott J/b for about $75. All other cues were stealth, viper, or players, a few Mcdermotts.
 
A couple of months ago my friend scored a Olivier and I got a Bludworth sneaky pete. We both paid $50 a piece. I think right now is a good time to snatch up some deals because folks are going to pawn shops to get money, not spend it.
 
PROG8R said:
All these stories make me a bit sick. Best I could do in a pawn shop recently was a beat up old meucci and a piece of crap of Mcdermott, and a very old Eddie Wheat break cue.
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You sir have 2 minutes in the penalty box for mentioning EW!
 
Pawnshop Cues

While on vacation a few years ago, I bought a Ray Shuler cue for $200 from a pawnshop in NC. Later sold it on eBay for $350.

I had a kid pawn a Schon STL4 to me for $20, and he wound up not coming back for it. It had one of the early (pre-panther) 314 shafts with it also. I still play with it off and on.
 
I have a nice honey hole of a pawn shop that is located right next to a bar with heavy league action. I so far have bought (2) Hank Corsairs, a Schon and a Paul Casanova Cue from this shop. One kid in the shop has my card and I gap him $50 a cue if I get first shot at it and I buy it. A lot of false alarms but it's worth it.
 
Heyalex40 said:
I have a nice honey hole of a pawn shop that is located right next to a bar with heavy league action. I so far have bought (2) Hank Corsairs, a Schon and a Paul Casanova Cue from this shop. One kid in the shop has my card and I gap him $50 a cue if I get first shot at it and I buy it. A lot of false alarms but it's worth it.
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A guy in my hometown of Terre Haute Indiana, that I wont name, has several cues from pawnshops. He has got JW, Richard Black, possible Rambow, etc. He got the I think near Denver in his travels.

He is a nice guy and he usually plays with the Richard Black which is pretty much perfect.

I doubt that he has paid over $200 per cue. But he has had them for a while.

Ken
 
Pawn Shops

Each and every one of these belonged to someone who is sitting at home feeling violated because some crackhead stole their cue and pawned it somewhere.

When you obtain something without working for it, it is usually at someone else's expense.

Maybe you guys should research the message boards and see if you can locate the proper owners of these cues and give them the opportunity to recover them for the low prices that they are selling for in the pawn shops.
 
bchilton- Could you let me and everyone else who reads this thread where we might find these message boards? Is it maybe a nationwide lost or stolen type message board? Appreciate the help! Had a couple of mine stolen a couple of years ago, so I know how these people feel. Thanks. If Ya can't post the link, please pm me.
 
Pawn Shop cues

In the past 3 months, I have bought 6 Meucci, and 8 McDermotts. I sold the cues on ebay and made between 70-140 profit on each cue. 2 weeks ago I bought 2 discontinued Predator cues which I still have. I picked both them up for 175.00. At some pawn shops in Tulsa I have bought 2 Joss, and 1 older Heubler in the past month.

At least 2x a week I make a run around all the local pawn shops after work to see what I can find. Usually its nothing, but every now and then you can find something really good.
 
bchilton said:
Each and every one of these belonged to someone who is sitting at home feeling violated because some crackhead stole their cue and pawned it somewhere.

When you obtain something without working for it, it is usually at someone else's expense.

Maybe you guys should research the message boards and see if you can locate the proper owners of these cues and give them the opportunity to recover them for the low prices that they are selling for in the pawn shops.
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No not necessarily. I have bought alot of cues for very little, from thier owners. My friend $takehor$e and I have cash and when people want to get rid of a cue we buy them.

I insure my cues, and if they get stolen or damaged, Im covered.

Guns, Corvettes, cues, coins are items that I collect. People die, get divorced, inherit, etc. Things come up for sale or pawned all the time.

Its called life. ;)

Ken
 
bayoublaster400 said:
bchilton- Could you let me and everyone else who reads this thread where we might find these message boards? Is it maybe a nationwide lost or stolen type message board? Appreciate the help! Had a couple of mine stolen a couple of years ago, so I know how these people feel. Thanks. If Ya can't post the link, please pm me.
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I've used this one, (AZBilliards) which has quite a few posts concerning stolen cues. I also use the billairds digest message board.

Most of these guys have obviously not had thousands of dollars worth of their personal cues stolen from them. It has happened to me twice, and unfortunately, none of the cues in either incident were ever recovered.

It's a bit disturbing to see so many people who openly brag about going around buying up peoples stolen property so that they can sell it for proffit.
 
Ken_4fun said:
No not necessarily. I have bought alot of cues for very little, from thier owners. My friend $takehor$e and I have cash and when people want to get rid of a cue we buy them.

I insure my cues, and if they get stolen or damaged, Im covered.

Guns, Corvettes, cues, coins are items that I collect. People die, get divorced, inherit, etc. Things come up for sale or pawned all the time.

Its called life. ;)

Ken
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I don't have a problem with people legitimately buying cues from someone who wants to sell them.

I had 3 cues worth several thousand dollars stolen from me along with my car about 8 or 9 months ago. I went to every pawn shop that I could find in the Houston area over the next few months trying to find them. Unfortunately, by the time that i got to them, they had either sold them to someone who frequents pawn shops trying to take advantage of just this type of situation, or they knew that they were stolen and would not admit to having them.

I did not have my cues insured. I am not a collector, I am a player. Two of the most recent cues that were stolen were custom made and personalized with my name made into them.
 
bchilton said:
I don't have a problem with people legitimately buying cues from someone who wants to sell them.
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If a cue is in a pawnshop, it is legitimately for sale. We make every effort to put stolen cues back in the hands of their rightful owners on this forum, but it is kind of naive to believe that all the cues you find in a pawnshop are stolen.

I was in a pawnshop recently when a guy came in with a bag full of guns. He said his grandpa had left them to him and he just wanted them "out of the house". He knew nothing about guns, and he drove up in a Jag with a suit and tie on, so I don't really think he was a crackhead hocking stolen guns.

I've known couples in a divorce to sell the other's goods out of spite. Sometimes people just don't know what they have and are happy to get what they can. They have the same access to the internet that we do, but they just don't take the time to research things out.

I learned a big lesson a couple of years ago. I stopped at my brother's house and they had a woman visiting them that had been a neighbor of theirs for years. She had moved away and came back for a "visit" to see if she could hock some fur coats. She obviously had a drug habit. She offered me the coats and said that she would be willing to virtually give them away. Being what I thought was a standup guy, I told her to think it over before she did something that drastic and I'd buy them if she still wanted to sell them the next day. You know where this story is going. I came back the next day and she had sold them in the middle of the night. A full length Russian sable, a white ermine coat, a beaver coat, and a mink jacket for $500... I was sick! I would have gladly given her several times the price she got for them and I'd still have made a fortune. I know for a fact that a loving father had given her the furs... I snoozed, but I learned a valuable lesson.

I wish you the best of luck in getting your cues back. Thieves suck!

Happy New Year!

Steve
 
Hunter said:
If a cue is in a pawnshop, it is legitimately for sale. We make every effort to put stolen cues back in the hands of their rightful owners on this forum, but it is kind of naive to believe that all the cues you find in a pawnshop are stolen.

I was in a pawnshop recently when a guy came in with a bag full of guns. He said his grandpa had left them to him and he just wanted them "out of the house". He knew nothing about guns, and he drove up in a Jag with a suit and tie on, so I don't really think he was a crackhead hocking stolen guns.

I've known couples in a divorce to sell the other's goods out of spite. Sometimes people just don't know what they have and are happy to get what they can. They have the same access to the internet that we do, but they just don't take the time to research things out.

I learned a big lesson a couple of years ago. I stopped at my brother's house and they had a woman visiting them that had been a neighbor of theirs for years. She had moved away and came back for a "visit" to see if she could hock some fur coats. She obviously had a drug habit. She offered me the coats and said that she would be willing to virtually give them away. Being what I thought was a standup guy, I told her to think it over before she did something that drastic and I'd buy them if she still wanted to sell them the next day. You know where this story is going. I came back the next day and she had sold them in the middle of the night. A full length Russian sable, a white ermine coat, a beaver coat, and a mink jacket for $500... I was sick! I would have gladly given her several times the price she got for them and I'd still have made a fortune. I know for a fact that a loving father had given her the furs... I snoozed, but I learned a valuable lesson.

I wish you the best of luck in getting your cues back. Thieves suck!

Happy New Year!

Steve
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Steve -

Thats what I was trying to say, but you said it clearer and better.

Ken
 
I've been a pawn shop hound for many years and have been very fortunate! Best deal to date was a R. Black (SantaFe) for $300.00 which I sold on Fleabay for $1750.00, that gent an AZ'r than turned around and sold it for ? and last I seen the cue was sold on the net for $3450.00........... True story, I knew the guy that owned the pawn shop and he kept after me to tell him the true value of the cue. After several weeks, I broke down (dumd a-- ME) and told him the truth-came to find out he had 6 more Black's that I could have got for less money-He ended up making a fortune off of those cues........ I know for sure he had a R. Black-Bushka, a Double Oval, a Silver Crown and a Pendleton +. The other 2 were 1 of cues.......... I made him plenty of money!!! Over the years, I picked up a Schon for $300.00 sold for $1000.00, a J. Buss for $50.00 sold for $500+ on Fleabay. A Double reverse butterfly point (Brunswick?Rambow?) for $15.00 (still have), a Sampaio for $10.00 (listed for $1000.00+ in B. Book), A Hoppe for $5.00, a nice original condition Hoppe for $79.95 and a McD - D26 for $90.00 and an original Predator shaft for $35.00............... Hopefully, not the last of the good deals. I use to frequent a lot of shops down South and now in I'm in the Chicago area with VERY few pawn shops around here......... Miss the good deals. There still out there but few and far in between............... Cool thread............
 
Everyone ask Poke and Hope about his George 1/2 hard case he bought for $25 at a yard sale. He said it felt "heavy." It had a cue inside. He asked if the price included the cue and the lady said "yes." Oh, I won't hold back.

Six point, Black Boar, two shafts, ivory ferrules, silver, mother of pearl, etc., etc.

Sick. Just sick.
 
crawfish said:
Everyone ask Poke and Hope about his George 1/2 hard case he bought for $25 at a yard sale. He said it felt "heavy." It had a cue inside. He asked if the price included the cue and the lady said "yes." Oh, I won't hold back.

Six point, Black Boar, two shafts, ivory ferrules, silver, mother of pearl, etc., etc.

Sick. Just sick.
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I can't believe that lady would rob him like that.
 
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