Gold Crown questions

14oneman

Straight, no chaser!
Silver Member
A gentleman in my area is selling a GC that I'm thinking of purchasing. He bought it used, and other than the obvious fact that it is a GC, he has no idea what series or era the table is.:confused:

Is there a way for a layman like myself, to easily identify and tell the difference between GC1,2,3,4?

Also, is certain year(s) GC's better or more desireable than others?
 

nyneball

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Gold Crown

The I is the best in my opinion. The pedestals and the skirts are "real" wood, usually maple. I just broke down and moved a GC III and the skirts were particle board, painted black. The frame is what makes the GC tables and I saw no difference in that. The slate bolts of the earlier GCs go into "floating steel plates" in the rails. The GC III (not sure about the IIs) have a different bolting system, too complicated to discuss here, but not as good IMO as the early tables. The GC emblems on the I is a brass casting, the GC III is a plastic inllayed deal. I believe that real wood was an option on the IIIs but not sure. Im not a table mechanic but have assembled a I and a III so far. Depending on the price either of the tables is a good table. Ball returns seem to make more people happy than drop pockets. Good luck with your purchase. Another thing I just remembered.
The Gold Crown I has adjustable feet, the Gold Crown III did not.
 

NineBallNut

New member
Silver Member
While I question some of the info stated above, In my experiences, most people tend to like the older gold crowns over the new ones when givin a choice.
 
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14oneman

Straight, no chaser!
Silver Member
Thanks guys. I suspected as with most things in life, "oldie but goodie" applies. What I really need is a positive way for me to identify WHICH GC he has.:confused:
 

NineBallNut

New member
Silver Member
14oneman said:
Thanks guys. I suspected as with most things in life, "oldie but goodie" applies. What I really need is a positive way for me to identify WHICH GC he has.:confused:
can you take a picture or something? it's hard to describe the differences. look under the frame and see if there are little slotted screws in the frame near where the slates bolt down. Also does it have plastic skirts underneath the rails that cover the ball return?
 

oldroller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Gc1

I know for sure the GC1 is the only one with non-adjustable feet.I think the GC3 had brass colored trim.That should let you determine the differance since the 4 is much different
 

SlateHumper

Pokin' and Hopin'
Silver Member
Gc 123

The best tell tale sign I know of is.... once the table is apart the rail bolt anchors. GC1 has a fig 8 shaped anchor plate. If I am not mistaken a GC 2 has a single round disc. A 3 or 4 has floating anchors. AGAIN if I am not mistaken.
 

smittie1984

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A gold crown 4 is easy to indentify. The pockets will be flush with the metal castings. And if I remember correctly the GC4 doesn't have a center beam but 2 cross beams for leveling the slate. And the frame is much heavier than an earlier model GC.

I've only run across a couple of pre-GC3 Gold Crowns. 1 was a 10foot snooker. The other I think was a GC1 with ball return. The slate was the fake slate. I forget what it is called but it is manufactured slate. It will normally be a little over an inch thick but weigh less than a 1" italian/brazilian slate. The older GC had a weird footing. It had feet like seen on GCs. But the feet weren't attached to the bottom of the table. We had to drill a screw through the middle of the foot to keep it on.

The feet also didn't have any threads on the top to look like it was suppose to be that way. And the legs it's self didn't have room for a threaded foot to go up.

It was a Brunswick and built exactly like a GC. It' just everything I found weird.

Oh yeah. GC3s will normally have a metal tag/sticker somewhere that says it is a Gold Crown 3.

Pictures would help if you could get some.
 

Poolschool

Pool table nerd
Silver Member
SlateHumper said:
It wasn't a manufactured or fake slate. It was sandstone.

They called it "Brunstone"... :)

Plastic skirt = GCI
Wood aprons, legs, no apron skirt = GCII
Brass plated legs and corner castings without Brunswick name = GCIII
same as above but with the Brunswick Billiards logo on the casting = GCIV
 

Tablemechanic

Member
Silver Member
Gold Crowns

Gold Crown 1, early ones did not have adjustable feet. They all had the rail mounting plate on the bottom of the rail. Very heavy pinned slates from the USA.

Gold crown 2"s. have adjustable feet and they changed the rail mounting to up inside the rail with a floating plate. It works much better because it pulls the rail down from the midle of the rail and not the bottom. Same Slates as the 1's

Gold Crown 3, Changed the frame. much lighter. Also the way it is made, the ends flex. Rails are much lighter, imported slates from South America, bad rubber, They also lowered the table and shortend the pocket shelfs so they played easier. Also changed the way the aprons mount to the table.

Gold Crown 4, completly differnt table.

All gold crowns have wood aprons. And the Brunswick emblem on Gold Crown 3's are metal.

If you have and questions about Gold Crowns let me know, I have worked on 100's of them.

Steve
 

cuesmith

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!
Silver Member
Gold Crown Repairs

oldroller said:
I know for sure the GC1 is the only one with non-adjustable feet.I think the GC3 had brass colored trim.That should let you determine the differance since the 4 is much different


You're right about the GC3's 4's.

Leg Levelers were an option on I's, II's & III's . Ashtray castings were an option on I's & II's . Early I's sometimes had under rail disks with sort of a figure "8" design left over from the Anniversaries. Later I's and early II's had round under rail disks with 4 screws securing them to the bottom of the rail. Late II's ,III's and IV's have rail fasteners that are installed from the top of the rail under the laminant.

Here's couple of tips for installers not familiar with CG's!

On the last type of rail fastener I described.... NEVER, when recovering one of these Gold Crowns, remove the brads in the underside of the rails, next to the hole the rail bolts go through. This brad keeps the female part of the fastener from sliding into a position where you can't get the rail bolts started.

When reassembling a Gold Crown, you can adjust the size of the pocket opening slightly, by moving the rails either in or out. You can also "fine tune" the way the corner castings fit, by shimming underneath the fasteners ( I usually used pennies). This will bring the castings down flush with the rails when you get it right.

If the rails are well secure on a Gold Crown, a lot of mechanics remove the entire top, less the ball box and pockets. In other words, the rails and the blinds can be removed, and installed as one unit for either recovery or work to the bed. If the table is to be recovered, you want to carefully slice the top of the rail cloth, from end to end, and remove the feather strips after removing the rail bolts, ball box and pockets. Then install the new rail cloth with the feather strips, before having a reliable person help you flip the rail assembly over. This way after you flip the rail assembly over and remove ALL the staples and the remainder of the old rail cloth, you're ready to start stapling the new cloth in place. You want to be sure all the casting bolts are good and secure while you're REMOVING AND INSTALLING the rail bolts. This helps keep the assembly from flexing when you flip the assembly, but you still must excersize caution! Another thing, I highly recommend that you do not try this without the blinds attached. The blinds help to keep the assembly rigid.

Spent too many years working on those damn things. Now I try not to lift anything over 21 ounces!

Just more hot air!

Sherm Adamson
Sherm Custom Cues
 

SlateHumper

Pokin' and Hopin'
Silver Member
tap tap tap

cuesmith said:
Spent too many years working on those damn things. Now I try not to lift anything over 21 ounces!

Just more hot air!

Sherm Adamson
Sherm Custom Cues

I'd like to lift something weighing 19 1/2 oz.:D
 

gulfportdoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Great thread!

I really appreciate this thread! I've often wondered re the differences between the GCs. Thanks for your expertise!

Doc
 

SlateHumper

Pokin' and Hopin'
Silver Member
molding

oldroller said:
Is the trim on the rail edge removable on a GCI??
THANKS
If I am not mistaken the trim is attatched from the underside of the rail with brad nails. if not then it might be a "T" molding.
 

smittie1984

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
gulfportdoc said:
I really appreciate this thread! I've often wondered re the differences between the GCs. Thanks for your expertise!

Doc

It is. I've even learned some stuff.

However in the pool world the debate over what is better on the Gold Crown line seems to always be opinion.

I hear people who swear by 1s and 2s. Others swear by the 3 and others think 4s belong in the garbage. I'm a fan of the 4. But own a 3 and love it.

Oh, about the plastic blinds. I don't believe the person was meaning the blinds where made of plastic. But older GCs seem to of had a plastic vinyl wrap around the wood blinds.
 

jimhuckaby

New member
Gold Crown dates

I bought a Gold Crown with ashtray corners, adjustable feet, poplar/plywood base and poplar blinds. On the center part of the base is the Gold Crown decal (no metal plaque or casting). The shop I bought it from told me it was from a university pool hall known to be built in 1952, and that the table itself was from 1952. In a separate thread I was told that Gold Crowns weren't built until the 1960s. Is that right?

Does anyone know what dates the different models (I, II, III, IV) were sold?

All 4 ashtray inserts are missing. Is there any dealer who sells parts like that?
 

SlateHumper

Pokin' and Hopin'
Silver Member
ash trays

jimhuckaby said:
I bought a Gold Crown with ashtray corners, adjustable feet, poplar/plywood base and poplar blinds. On the center part of the base is the Gold Crown decal (no metal plaque or casting). The shop I bought it from told me it was from a university pool hall known to be built in 1952, and that the table itself was from 1952. In a separate thread I was told that Gold Crowns weren't built until the 1960s. Is that right?

Does anyone know what dates the different models (I, II, III, IV) were sold?

All 4 ashtray inserts are missing. Is there any dealer who sells parts like that?
There was someone here selling a set a while back but I can't find the post.
Try Howard @ Edison Billiard 419-946-2956
 

Post First

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you had to answer could you list your order of preference if you were biuying one please from worst to first please....
 
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