REAL closet finds...

Here is a real closet find story.

I got of work,went home,took a quick shower. Went in my closet to get my league shirt. Looked at a box of books I had on the shelf. Was.looking for a misplaced book so thought maybe its there. 2nd book was a book on handicapping quarterhorses. Looked at it and realized I had forgotten the 500 I had put there for seed money.

Took the book with the 500 in it to Pawnstars the next day. Rick said if you can hangout for a while I know a guy who is...

Ken_4fun said:

Guys -

I watch the Antiques Roadshow and other shows and like most folks I always like to see someone that buys something at a garage sale for $1.00 and its worth $10,000.

I really dont want to hear about someone told someone about a time, but if you have first hand knowledge or it happened to you on cue, Id love to hear the story and pictures if you got them.

Ken

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One of my closest friends found his Balabushka as a broken house cue on the rack. I've played with this cue. It's a Szamboti blank, fixed by Ernie.

I went with my wife to visit a friend of hers up in Wisconsin. While they caught up with each other, I was talked into playing golf with her friend's husband. We chatted while we were playing and he asked what my hobbies were. I mentioned pool, and he told me that his dad beat Willie Mosconi once. I chalked it up to one of those "I payed my way through college by hustling pool" kinda stories.

That night he told me that he still had his dad's old cues, and asked if I'd like to see them. I am not a cue expert by any means, but he had a nice case with two old cues inside. The first thing I noticed was the ivory ferrules and well-shaped tips. I didn't notice any cuemaker logos or anything, and he had no idea what kind they were. I have a feeling that they are valuable. He's much older than his wife, so maybe when he passes I'll be able to purchase the cues from her since he wouldn't let them go for sentimental reasons.

Actually such a "closet find" was the reason I registered here in the first place. I just copy/ paste parts of the post:


Hi everybody!

As the title says, I´m searching for some infos on a pool cue I got my hands on. But since I´m a snooker player, I`m not that familiar with pool cues, brands etc., so I hope someone here can help me.

But at least I can tell you the backstory on how I found this piece:
My name is Chris, and I`m from Austria, Klagenfurt (hometown of Albin and Jasmin Ouschan) and I`m working in a hotel in a near town.

Although this hotel is quite new, there is still an old building next to it, which was the original hotel and dates back before 1860. Well, they want to tear off the old and not used hotel and since there was till some stuff in there, we decided to look through the rooms to see if there is something in there which still can be useful.

And there I found said cue. Obviously it is nothing fancy, has a bit of a curve in it and I guess it is some kind of house cue, but I still think it is a bit uncommon. I don`t really know how old it is, but since the building wasn`t used for at least 40 years and we found much older stuff in there...well, I guess it is quite old.


Back then, nobody could really tell me what I had found. Meanwhile I did some research and wrote a mail to a guy who owns a billiard museum in Vienna.
He told me that my find was a 100-120 year old "Kaffeehaus Queue", translates to something like "Coffehouse cue", you know the old Viennese coffee houses of the pre WW 1 era. But since the cue had some nice inlay , he estimated it to be a special cutom made piece for a wealthy person, maybe a KuK official or someone in the austro-hungarian army.

I didn't ask for the price and I don't really want to know it. Maybe its valuable, maybe not...but I consider it my treasure

I found my balabushka in an old bar laying on top of a broken down pizza oven along with other junk cues...it still had 2 shafts with it as well.

Pic 2.............

Went back to Colorado Springs about 10 yrs ago and happened to see a old buddy and asked him what he ever did with his JW cue. He says i still got it, i haven't played in years you want it? We go over to his house and his JW in a Fellini case is thrown on the plastic in his crawl space. Been laying in there for 20 years. Gave him some cash for it brought it home and cleaned it all up. Everything was still like new!

Found a Scruggs with two shafts in an O'Neil case for $40.

Ken_4fun said:

Dang thats what I was talking about.....any chance of getting pictures?

Ken

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Unfortunately, no photos to show. I need to find out the rest of the story: what pool hall, how the hell did it sit there all that time etc.

And my "closet find" was the first year Schon cue that I put a photo up on the "Let's see your Schon" thread (whatever the title is). It had been in the bar owner's office for years and years, in a corner, in a cheap case. When I saw it, I offered him $300 and he took the cash.

and when i am gone the rummage sale might be a real score beyond belief for someone.

A friend went into a pawn shop recently and asked if they had any junk cues in the back. One stood out out: it had a delrin buttcap and micarta joint. It came with an It's George case for $39. The cue has been restored and now has a SS joint and two new shafts. After some serious sleuthing, Bill Schick confirmed that he made it.

This is probably a very minor win money-wise, but in the 90s Boston Billiards had a Joss Limited cue worth $500 in the case marked at $189, same as a plain Joss next to it. Walked to the ATM a block away, got it, used it for about 15-18 years and sold it for $250 not long ago to help fund one of my son's Junior Nationals trips. It was still the best hitting Joss I have played with, had a super nice shaft on it.

I bought a Hoppe Titlist cue for $300.00, I suppose thats not such a bargain depending on how you look at it.
I actually paid $300 for my exceptionally clean, privately purchased and owned GCI, along with the table I got a Brunswick floor standing double sided cue stand with 8 Brunswick house cues and 1 Hoppe Titlist. When I was looking at the GCI prior to purchase the seller asked if I wanted the cue stand and cues cause otherwise he was going to take the stuff to the dump, I said no. On the way home (we had to return in 2 days to pick up the table) my wife asked why I didnt want the cues and the cue stand, I said it was just junk, I never even looked at the stuff, my wife then informed me that the cue stand was a brunswick that matched the table. I immediately called the seller and told him I would take the cue stand and cues. Someone woulda got a real nice deal on a Titlist and a Brunswick cue stand if not for my wife. God bless her!!!

I was in a thrift store with a friend as we were looking at the sporting good stuff we spotted a pool cue. my Friend bought it for three dollars he took it home and found out it was a blood worth. he had it verified at the derby by two different custom cue booths

Although it wasn't found in a closet, I think this counts. My dad was looking for a Gold Crown in decent shape when he stumbled upon a bar selling this table because they wanted more seating space. 1917 Brunswick Kling, if I remember correctly he bought it for $400 in the mid 1970's

Super Billiards Expo is coming up. Wonder what it would take to do something like this (Antiques Roadshow)?