Antique Hyatt Billiard Ball set

C

collins1012

New member
I recently found a Antique green box that said "Hyatt Pocket Billiard Balls" and upon opening the box i found 15 red balls with a single white dot and 1 slightly larger brown/maroon ball with a black triangle on it. I have found similar boxes for roughly 200 dollars but im not sure if thats over or under priced. if anyone has any information about these, could you please comment and help tell me what i have. it is a complete set.
 
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wikipedia said:
John Wesley Hyatt invented a composition material in 1869 called nitrocellulose for billiard balls (US patent 50359, the first American patent for billiard balls). It is unclear if the cash prize was ever awarded, and there is no evidence suggesting he did in fact win it.[2]:17[5] By 1870 it was commercially branded Celluloid, the first industrial plastic. Unfortunately, the nature of celluloid made it volatile in production, occasionally exploding, which ultimately made this early plastic impractical.[2]:17 Urban legend has it that celluloid billiard balls themselves would occasionally explode during rough play, but no reliable sources have been found that can substantiate this.

Subsequently, to avoid the problem of celluloid instability, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiards balls such as Bakelite, Crystalite and other plastic compounds.
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Haven't heard of the set you're describing. Do you have any pictures?
 
If you are interested in pool collectibles, the book to get is "Pool and Billiard Collectibles" by Mark and Connie Stellinga. It's about $60. Here is the item in that book that probably applies to the set you have:
Stellinga 001.jpg

They also show pictures of sets with no markings and sets with stars.

The listed prices tend to be for items in excellent condition.
 
I have picture of the set I have.......I already read about Mr. Hyatt but thank you for the info....and as you can see from the picture i put, the set i have isnt the same.
 

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They do look like clay but it's hard to tell with the photo. Are there any dates on the box at all? Bob Jewett is the resident expert on this.
 
I have been reaserching these and I think I found what their from.....has anyone heard of the game "pyramid pool" which I guess was widely played in the early to mid 1800s? They say they were played with 15 un numbered pool balls. It was I guess the game that started snooker some how?
 
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