Ilona Balner is celebrating her 90th birthday in Scottsdale next week and I hope you join me in in wishing her the greatest birthday ever! We will print off a copy of this thread to present to Ilona as part of her memories, so your birthday wishes and any stories about Palmer Cues or your experiences with Palmer would be appreciated!
Ilona played an important role in the cue making world for over 30 years. Her and Eugene Balner, who passed away in 1972, were inducted into the American Cuemaker's Hall of Fame in 1999. The Balner's founded Palmer Cues in 1963 and for 30 years created many innovations in custom and production cue making techniques, literally helping to create the mass market for affordable custom cues.
Ilona grew up in the small town of Komarom, Hungary, on the border of Czechslovakia. Of her family, she was the sole survivor of the Holocaust. She traveled to Budapest, where she met Eugene Balner and they married in April of 1945, a month before the surrender of Germany in World War II. On January 1, 1957, the Balner's arrived in Camp Kilmer, New Jersey with their two small children, Peter and Susan, as part of "Operation Mercy" - an effort by the United States to assist Hungarian refugees after the revolution in 1956.
Eugene was a trained woodworker and from there proceeded to Paradise Cues and then founded "Palmer" - named as a tribute to Arnold Palmer.
Ilona worked the shop, meticulously hand wrapped the cues with Irish linen, and used her skills to inlay the fancy cues. In fact, the linen on almost every Palmer made was hand wrapped by Ilona! When Eugene passed away in 1972, her and Peter carried on the tradition. Later, Ilona would run the company on her own for 10 years.
More on the Palmer history can be found here:
http://www.palmercollector.com/Palmerhistory.html
Please join me in wishing Ilona the best on her 90th.
Thanks!
Chris
Ilona played an important role in the cue making world for over 30 years. Her and Eugene Balner, who passed away in 1972, were inducted into the American Cuemaker's Hall of Fame in 1999. The Balner's founded Palmer Cues in 1963 and for 30 years created many innovations in custom and production cue making techniques, literally helping to create the mass market for affordable custom cues.
Ilona grew up in the small town of Komarom, Hungary, on the border of Czechslovakia. Of her family, she was the sole survivor of the Holocaust. She traveled to Budapest, where she met Eugene Balner and they married in April of 1945, a month before the surrender of Germany in World War II. On January 1, 1957, the Balner's arrived in Camp Kilmer, New Jersey with their two small children, Peter and Susan, as part of "Operation Mercy" - an effort by the United States to assist Hungarian refugees after the revolution in 1956.
Eugene was a trained woodworker and from there proceeded to Paradise Cues and then founded "Palmer" - named as a tribute to Arnold Palmer.
Ilona worked the shop, meticulously hand wrapped the cues with Irish linen, and used her skills to inlay the fancy cues. In fact, the linen on almost every Palmer made was hand wrapped by Ilona! When Eugene passed away in 1972, her and Peter carried on the tradition. Later, Ilona would run the company on her own for 10 years.
More on the Palmer history can be found here:
http://www.palmercollector.com/Palmerhistory.html
Please join me in wishing Ilona the best on her 90th.
Thanks!
Chris
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But it sure has a lot of Palmer influences and I wouldn't doubt that whomever made it worked for or with the Balners. I've had Schick, Barry Zamboti, and Abbott look at pic's of it as well. It seems destined to never be identified...
