balabuska

T

tom haney

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm about to show my ignorance again.
Questions about Balabuskas:
How old are these sticks?
When did Balabuska die?
How valuable are they?
How do they play compared to Schons,
predators, etc.
A pool dealer in Daytona told me
McDermott makes the new Balabuskas. True?
He also said there are certain markings
on the originals that distinguish them
from the new ones & that dealers know
what these marks are & don't tell
consumers. Was he bullshitting me?
I'm pretty gullible.
 
It should be quite easy to tell the difference of a real balabushka and one of the new factory made ones. I've never seen a real balabushka in real life but in all the pictures i have seen it seems that they are all signed by Mr. Balabushka himself. I could be wrong here though.
 
The new Balabushkas are NOT made by McDermott. Helmstetter, Balabushka and Viscotti are all made by the same company, but it's not McDermott! McDermott makes McDermotts!!

Zim
 
fxskater said:
It should be quite easy to tell the difference of a real balabushka and one of the new factory made ones. I've never seen a real balabushka in real life but in all the pictures i have seen it seems that they are all signed by Mr. Balabushka himself. I could be wrong here though.
Click to expand...
The ones that are signed are the new ones made by Helmstetter. I have never seen an authentic Balabushka signed by George himself, though that's not to say there isn't one.
 
hondo said:
A pool dealer in Daytona told me
McDermott makes the new Balabuskas. True?
He also said there are certain markings
on the originals that distinguish them
from the new ones & that dealers know
what these marks are & don't tell
consumers. Was he bullshitting me?
I'm pretty gullible.
Click to expand...
False.
He doesn't even know who makes them, much less how to identify them.
Yes! It's BS!
I don't think I would be doing any business with him.
 
Last edited:
Glad to do it Don. I ran with Bill Stack from 75 to 83 and I could play with his Balabushka any time I wanted but I had fallen in love with the Joss West I won in 75 and rarely played with the Balabushka.
 
I had a real Balabushka made about 72'. plain with 4 points and nothing fancy. Bought it from the original owner about 1988.
Had to rewrap it , found a George Balabushka signature under the wrap. I found out during the many years since, that he did sign or initial some of his cues.
 
Hondo,

Here are some real Bushkas...

http://www.classiccues.com/cues/balabushka.htm

Click the serious eye candy link and you will see 12-14 really nice Bushkas that were part of a pre-production photo shoot for the up and coming Blue Book. Thanks to Jim B. for the photo. This photo shows some late 50's cues all the way to cues made in the 70's.

Georges cues started at 50 bucks and probably topped off at no more than 500. In fact I would be shocked if he ever got that much for a cue. As far as playability, they play as good as todays cues hands down. BUT playability is subjective. I have hit with a few Bushkas I couldn't play with. There are some that are still being used today, but truthfully most of them are in collections.

Enjoy the pics...

Joe
 
Classiccues, you are basically right. In 1974 Jackson, Mississippi's Woody Mitchell paid $650 for his new Balabushka. This price was for the top of the line Balabushka at the height of his popularity extant.
 
I had what was supposed to be a Balabuska, four points and rather plain with a linen wrap that didn't seem to have any finish. No ID of any kind on it. Was my faviourite cue ever.

Bought a new Balabuska , GB-1, this year that looks very similar and has his siginature on it. Has a made in Japan sticker and a "Certificate of Authenticy" with it stating "This is what George Balabushka would be making if he were still with us today"

Looks to me like that dealer is trying to sell you a fake version of the new copy.
 
buska's,
A plain Jane, is a cue with no points or inlays. Just plain looking.

The new cues with George's name on them, are made in Japan, by Adam's cue company. Dick Helmstetter no longer owns any part of that company. It's owned in part by two people, a man from Japan, and David Forman, who now lives in Bangkok, Thailand, [formally from NY, city]. BY THE WAY, THEY ARE SELLING ALL THEY CAN BUILD.

As far as taking a cue to Japan, good luck. Japan's economy is way off.. No money. One of my dealers from Tokyo, told me you can go borrow all the money you want, with no interest for 5 years. How true this is, is anyones guess.

But going to Japan and selling cues, sounds good, but it's tough action for most who are not connected. You just don't step up to the plate and sell them cues. Those people are pretty darn smart. Cues you speak of must be looked at very close, by those who have vast experiance and knowlege of these cues.In Japan, this could take days and days.

To Danny D,
I was also wondering Danny D , if those cues [the new buska's] are over priced, why do you have them? Did you get riped? If they are dropping each year in value, why haven't you unloaded them, if your loosing money????

From the way you write, your an expert in cues and what they are worth? How much experiance have you had in this field, other than your person opinion?

Perhaps, you should start a business over the internet, setting values on cues. Not like the NADA car and truck book,[ or the blue book of cues] but something just for cues. Are you game? If so, how much would you charge someone, coming to you to set a value on any brand cue, he or she would be interested in purchasing?

Might be a good business for some person who knows about cues, to crank off. Whoever takes this on, will catch holy hell from buyers and sellers of cues. You better be thick skinned, whoever you might be. Back up what you say.

The best way would be, [in my opinion] is to buy cues and then you the owner, set the prices. Then they buy or don't buy. After several years of buying and selling you then could be considered an expert in placing values on cues.

Another note,
Several days ago Danny D, you wrote that my tips are over priced and were made in Thailand.

FOR THE RECORD, your wrong. These are not over priced and not made in Thailand. You need to get the story straight before you comment on my products. When it comes to me and my products, your darn sure not an expert.

Tips,
If they sir, are over priced, why is it I am selling over 300 per month over the net, and sell any more when I go and do cue repair, and have many on back order??[ I just sold about 1200 within the last three month's].

Sorry, but your clueless to what I do and don't do.

leonard "blud" bludworth
 
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