Dale Patten cue value and info?

phil dade · Mar 17, 2018

Dale passed away sometime ago. I spoke with Dale a number of times and bought a beautiful BRW, Szamboti blank with quite a few MOP diamonds and dots. My cue was Szamboti Blank, great detail, BRW, and crisper inlay work and better dash detail, than this one. I easily sold it for mid $2xxx's......I agree with Martin that this is a Spain, not a Szamboti. Dale used a pantograph as ChopDoc speculated.

Moet.1977 · Mar 17, 2018

Doc I'm not saying your wrong cause I truly don't know but I heard that cnc is always round points, but they can
use a cnc machine and then cut the points Sharpe after.

I don't know if that's true or not just what I was told.
Plus I thought Dale used mostly Spain blanks, ether way it's a beautiful cue and worth at least 1200.

Chopdoc · Mar 17, 2018

Moet.1977 said:
Doc I'm not saying your wrong cause I truly don't know but I heard that cnc is always round points, but they can
use a cnc machine and then cut the points Sharpe after.

I don't know if that's true or not just what I was told.
Plus I thought Dale used mostly Spain blanks, ether way it's a beautiful cue and worth at least 1200.

I am not commenting on the blank. Others know better.

The sharp v groove for points can be cut with cnc. I am talkning about traditional method but with cnc. No cleaning up of rounded points. Actually sharp straight off cnc. Just ask in the cue maker forum. They can show you.

Once you see it, it makes total sense. Simplicity itself. It's a straight linear cut with a sharp tip bit that gets shallow as it progesses, or deep if you go the other way,
not a flat bottom shallow pocket like with inlays.

The same cut can be made with a jig and table saw, as well as other ways.

Franky4Eyes · Mar 17, 2018

Chopdoc said:
Actually rounded edges could have been just as easily been done with a pantograph, which is a very traditional tool.

Rounded edges being only done with CNC is a misnomer. In addition, sharp points can be done with a CNC, so that is another misnomer I have seen.

Though some might not like those inlays for the rounded corners, I don't find it very detracting...maybe only slightly as I believe it would look better with sharp corners as it would match the maple ring work better.

One should note the notched diamond inlays on the cue are in fact sharp.

This cue is in nice shape, from a lesser known but good maker, and desirable to many I would think.

.

He asked for a generalization of why...
That's all I offered.
Your explanation was entirely more thorough.
Green to you!

Franky4Eyes · Mar 17, 2018

phil dade said:
Dale passed away sometime ago. I spoke with Dale a number of times and bought a beautiful BRW, Szamboti blank with quite a few MOP diamonds and dots. My cue was Szamboti Blank, great detail, BRW, and crisper inlay work and better dash detail, than this one. I easily sold it for mid $2xxx's......I agree with Martin that this is a Spain, not a Szamboti. Dale used a pantograph as ChopDoc speculated.

I've been outta that circle of folks for a while.
I didn't know he passed. My friend Gary passed away years ago as well.
I believe it was me that said I believe the blank to be a Spain, or Szamboti,
because of the little I knew about Dale's work.

skins · Mar 18, 2018

It's not a Spain blank.. If it is a Szam blank which it looks like just from the pics, it's a shame Dale installed it low to make the points shorter.. IMO that choice took a lot of value away from the cue...

ideologist · Mar 18, 2018

skins said:
It's not a Spain blank.. If it is a Szam blank which it looks like just from the pics, it's a shame Dale installed it low to make the points shorter.. IMO that choice took a lot of value away from the cue...

That's how all of his blank-made cues were

MrBellMan · Mar 18, 2018

Here are some extra pics. I'm told the protectors are original as well!

Enjoy!

qbilder · Mar 18, 2018

The traditional way to make the windows in the sleeve is pretty much the same way you make dash rings. A groove is cut in a dowel and another type of wood glued into the groove. Cut the dowel to length and sandwich it between solid rings of the same species as the dowel. Now you have boxes/windows with razor sharp corners. It requires more material & a lot more steps that inlaying, though.

Franky4Eyes · Mar 18, 2018

A very nice cue, and in great condition for it's age.
Considered keeping it as a player?

classiccues · Mar 18, 2018

I agree with Skins.. if this is a Gus blank, which it looks like, the forearm was trimmed at the end, removing the base of the points by probably 1/2"-3/4" to open the gaps like that.

To the OP, your windows are truly inlaid as opposed to a billet that is cut off. In Dales cues, should not matter that much in terms of true value, but may make a collector wince.

These cues do not come up often, I do not believe he made a lot. I have had 2 in 25 years. Could be strictly a west coast thing...

Far as value.. the values batted around here are probably close. Yours is in very good condition so someone collecting 1960s-70s cues should take note of this cue.

JV

subdude1974 · Mar 18, 2018

What are the lengths? Looks like 28/30 split or close to.(if a 58” cue). Nice looking cue. Sure it plays good.

skins · Mar 18, 2018

qbilder said:
The traditional way to make the windows in the sleeve is pretty much the same way you make dash rings. A groove is cut in a dowel and another type of wood glued into the groove. Cut the dowel to length and sandwich it between solid rings of the same species as the dowel. Now you have boxes/windows with razor sharp corners. It requires more material & a lot more steps that inlaying, though.

It's amazing the designs you can create by utilizing that somewhat simple technique...Ernie and Bill S. are masters at it..

MrBellMan · Mar 18, 2018

subdude1974 said:
What are the lengths? Looks like 28/30 split or close to.(if a 58” cue). Nice looking cue. Sure it plays good.

It plays solid!

The butt is 28 1/2" not counting the rubber bottom and the shafts are all 30" long.

MrBellMan · Mar 18, 2018

classiccues said:
Far as value.. the values batted around here are probably close. Yours is in very good condition so someone collecting 1960s-70s cues should take note of this cue.

Thx for the info!

Is it a 70's cue? I'm not sure exactly how old it is...

MrBellMan · Mar 19, 2018

I just got an email from the seller who knew Dale and he confirms a lot!

"Dale Patton made cues for Ritchie Florence, who was his brother-in-law, before branching out and making cues under his name. He acquired a lot of his knowledge from Gus Szamboti and later was able to buy several boxes of forearm blanks that were glued up but unturned by Szamboti. I found this cue in Reno years ago at a USPPA Tournament. I was there with a friend that has 3 of these Patton/Szamboti cues and he recognized it right away. The cue was in rather poor condition I paid $300 for the cue with one shaft. I sent to Dale who confirmed this was one of his cues with the Szamboti forearm. He refinished it, re-wrapped it and made two new shafts for me."

And there you have it! ;-)

Koop · Mar 19, 2018

Very cool, thanks for sharing.
That would be a keeper for sure if it were mine!

pt109 · Mar 19, 2018

Koop said:
Very cool, thanks for sharing.
That would be a keeper for sure if it were mine!

It would be a keeper for a lot of us.....therefore extremely saleable.

Jps · Sep 2, 2023

classiccues said:
I agree with Skins.. if this is a Gus blank, which it looks like, the forearm was trimmed at the end, removing the base of the points by probably 1/2"-3/4" to open the gaps like that.

To the OP, your windows are truly inlaid as opposed to a billet that is cut off. In Dales cues, should not matter that much in terms of true value, but may make a collector wince.

These cues do not come up often, I do not believe he made a lot. I have had 2 in 25 years. Could be strictly a west coast thing...

Far as value.. the values batted around here are probably close. Yours is in very good condition so someone collecting 1960s-70s cues should take note of this cue.

JV

Don't know if anyone is still active on this thread but I have several Florence cues dating for 1978 to 1982 Gus blanks on 2 of them. Although Dale did use Burton Spain on some cues also

Jps · Feb 8, 2024

Did this person sell this cue?

Dale Patten cue value and info?

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