Jazz said:
Sean,
What do you think the impact on market value of unsigned cue on the secondary market?
I've seen Gilbert conversion on eBay not going for much - I think it's due to the fact it's very hard to verify that Andy was the one who converted it.
But conversion by other known cuemakers seem to fetch pretty good money.
Any thought?
Jazz,
That's a great question. Don't think the value on the secondary market for his conversions is reduced at all by him not signing them. Andy's work is very unique looking and people who have seen a lot of his cues should be able to readily identify it. The conversions that have been on ebay lately were IMO (1) not so attractive with the inlay designs and (2) the auctions might have looked a little fishy and people just steered clear.
Another thing that you may be noticing....Andy has done a lot of inlaid Titlist conversions where he's cue the cue in half just below the just to put a ring above the wrap. In fact we have one on our website right now. These were probably all done at the original orderer's request. In general I think most Titlist buyers would prefer to keep the full splice effect (one piece coming back below the wrap) without that ring set. I'm having Andy do one like that now....real traditional, ivory joint, stitch ring sets, full splice extending back under wrap, modified Hoppe butt.
Another thing, too, you've got to remember that Andy's prices are still EXTREMELY reasonable. He's recently informed us of another small pricing increase, but even with that, he still comes in way under what a lot of the "bigger names" do and his quality of work just keeps getting better and better.
IMO, getting a few of his cues and putting them back is going to be a real savy investment over the next few years. His prices will keep going up.
Just my thoughts.....Sean
***By the way, this is a very nice looking conversion cue Greg has. Andy showed us this new horseshoe inlay pattern when we visited him and Vickie in Clever last month. Awesome stuff.
