Richard Black cues

H

higercue

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Hi gangs,

i heard Black is still making cues at the moment, do you think he can do a good job at this elder age? how is his work?

it seems that he is a controversial CM, Hof, cue artistry, many awards, not excellent playability, hard to deal with, etc...

is his cue still worth to buy now and are his cues collectable, lets say 10,000 dollars cues.

further, he made lots of cues but not too many for sale, i'd like to know the reason..

thank you for leave a comment here.:)
 
higercue said:
Hi gangs,

i heard Black is still making cues at the moment, do you think he can do a good job at this elder age? how is his work?

it seems that he is a controversial CM, Hof, cue artistry, many awards, not excellent playability, hard to deal with, etc...

is his cue still worth to buy now and are his cues collectable, lets say 10,000 dollars cues.

further, he made lots of cues but not too many for sale, i'd like to know the reason..

thank you for leave a comment here.:)
Click to expand...

1. I don't think his age is a problem - 90% of the work is done by machines that are much younger than he is.

2. Playability is subjective so not an issue - there are cues that many people adore that I wouldn't use if you bribed me. To each his own. As for the other negatives, I haven't ever heard any comments of that nature.

3. Well, they are not Bushkas nor Szambodis, but a few will cost well past $10k to acquire. Worth it? Yes, to someone.

4. As to many cues that are not for sale? Are you sure about that? I have also not heard reports of Richard hoarding cues. Only he could answer that one.

FWIW - Herman Rambow made cues more or less by hand. He had worked all day in his shop the day he died... at 86 or 87 years of age.

HTH
Dale
 
higercue said:
Hi gangs,

i heard Black is still making cues at the moment, do you think he can do a good job at this elder age? how is his work?

it seems that he is a controversial CM, Hof, cue artistry, many awards, not excellent playability, hard to deal with, etc...

is his cue still worth to buy now and are his cues collectable, lets say 10,000 dollars cues.

further, he made lots of cues but not too many for sale, i'd like to know the reason..

thank you for leave a comment here.:)
Click to expand...

You will lose money buying his cues. If you're buying for "investment" you'd be far better off Investing the money in your pocket.
Jason
 
jasonlaus said:
You will lose money buying his cues. If you're buying for "investment" you'd be far better off Investing the money in your pocket.
Jason
Click to expand...
You might be right about new cues as that is the case with almost all cuemakers, but the market on used Blacks has always been inching up. I have made money on every used Black I have ever bought and sold.
 
I currently have 6 RB's and have had many more.
Like I said in another recent thread his cues fit me and my ideal hit perfectly.
I have tried most makers out there and FOR ME his are the best, perfect actually.
Although I currently have 6 I've had quite a few others and I can tell you that
I have never sold an RB for less than I payed for it. They have always grown.
And now when I look at the prices I was selling them for 10 years ago the
prices have come up considerably higher.
So this statement "You will lose money buying his cues." does not apply to my
experience in reselling RBs.
 
9Ballr said:
I currently have 6 RB's and have had many more.
Like I said in another recent thread his cues fit me and my ideal hit perfectly.
I have tried most makers out there and FOR ME his are the best, perfect actually.
Although I currently have 6 I've had quite a few others and I can tell you that
I have never sold an RB for less than I payed for it. They have always grown.
And now when I look at the prices I was selling them for 10 years ago the
prices have come up considerably higher.
So this statement "You will lose money buying his cues." does not apply to my
experience in reselling RBs.
Click to expand...

It does apply to my experience - that's why I still have 3 of them, don't wanna take a loss and the inlays are so bad I can't bring myself to sell them to somebody else.
One plays great, the other 2 like crap.
 
jasonlaus said:
It does apply to my experience - that's why I still have 3 of them, don't wanna take a loss and the inlays are so bad I can't bring myself to sell them to somebody else.
One plays great, the other 2 like crap.
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Pictures????
 
Every Richard Black I have seen throughout the years was executed very well. Not to say that every single cue a maker makes is the same, but I have seen quite a few Blacks.
 
Better options out there for collectability and playability (subjective indeed) so get a Scruggs.
 
I think the best cue I ever had was the 4-point I had Richard make me back in 1978. I bought a Casino model cue from him in 1981 that IMHO didn't play as well as the 4-point. It was made well, but different hit.

In edit, it looked almost exactly like the simple 4-pointer Scruggs in Billiardbill's post below. My wrap was white/green speck...I'm not sure if that is what is on the Scruggs, but my points had blue and silver too.
 
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SWN99 said:
Better options out there for collectability and playability (subjective indeed) so get a Scruggs.
Click to expand...

The only Scruggs I had played great, but there's no upside as far as $$$ is concerned if you paid retail.
Jason

There are very very few cues that have an upside if you pay retail.
 
pdcue said:
1. I don't think his age is a problem - 90% of the work is done by machines that are much younger than he is.

2. Playability is subjective so not an issue - there are cues that many people adore that I wouldn't use if you bribed me. To each his own. As for the other negatives, I haven't ever heard any comments of that nature.

3. Well, they are not Bushkas nor Szambodis, but a few will cost well past $10k to acquire. Worth it? Yes, to someone.

4. As to many cues that are not for sale? Are you sure about that? I have also not heard reports of Richard hoarding cues. Only he could answer that one.

FWIW - Herman Rambow made cues more or less by hand. He had worked all day in his shop the day he died... at 86 or 87 years of age.

HTH
Dale
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No.4, not Richard hoarding cues i mean he made a lot of cues for specific customer, but not too many people sell their Black cues.
 
d8c6b45af73b826a4c1add41615910c5.jpg


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You see my choice. Lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jasonlaus said:
The only Scruggs I had played great, but there's no upside as far as $$$ is concerned if you paid retail.
Jason

There are very very few cues that have an upside if you pay retail.
Click to expand...

Agreed...If you're buying a cue at retail for an "upside", you're buying for the wrong reason IMO...
 
cueman said:
You might be right about new cues as that is the case with almost all cuemakers, but the market on used Blacks has always been inching up. I have made money on every used Black I have ever bought and sold.
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My girlfriend has this cue for sale, would you know if this is a Richard Black cue for sure? she is adamant it was, but we need it verifying.

Thanks Lee
 

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lee brett said:
My girlfriend has this cue for sale, would you know if this is a Richard Black cue for sure? she is adamant it was, but we need it verifying.

Thanks Lee
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I've never seen a Richard Black with that wood ring above the wrap. Other than that it looks like some of the cues that him and others made that look similar.
 
Richard Black has always been in the top echelon of cue makers. His cues may not rank up there with Ginas, Tads and Szambotis, but they aren't far behind either. He has been selling cues for premium prices for decades and getting it. He does not seem to lack for customers, myself included. I've owned four of his cues and all played well imo. I didn't lose any money on the two new cues i bought from Richard and made a couple of dollars on the used cues that I bought privately.
 
jasonlaus said:
2 are at family's home 700 miles away, another is at Ted Harris's shop in hollywood FL about 1,000mi away stop by and take a look.
Jason
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Very convenient - you knock a world class cuemaker - but showing proof
is too much to ask for. Take a walk to jimbo's where you belong.

Dale
 
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