craigslist Balabushka

Authentic Balabushka Cue

Thank you everyone for your advice. I have ended my listing on Ebay pending obtaining a COA from Pete Tascarella. Once that happens, I will relist the cue.

For those of you who have asked my brother's name, he was Walter Lee Jacobsen, aka "Butch" or "Butchie" from Staten Island. He played throughout NY and won the Staten Island Eight Ball Championship in the 70's.

Again, thank you all for your input, and for the doubters, keep monitoring this site.
 
It always amazes me what people think ?????

I dont see anything that doesnt look like sumpthin george might of done.






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Jakerold said:
Thank you everyone for your advice. I have ended my listing on Ebay pending obtaining a COA from Pete Tascarella. Once that happens, I will relist the cue.

For those of you who have asked my brother's name, he was Walter Lee Jacobsen, aka "Butch" or "Butchie" from Staten Island. He played throughout NY and won the Staten Island Eight Ball Championship in the 70's.

Again, thank you all for your input, and for the doubters, keep monitoring this site.
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it's been fun monitoring this thread - you have quite a treasure there, it seems.

I am happy you made your way here to az; you've received some excellent advice from some very knowledgeable members. Getting that cue to Pete Tascarella will pay for itself in spades, assuming it passes muster, and there's no reason to think it will not. :)

Kevin Brewer, with whom you've corresponded here, is not only an expert on many rare cues, he also is a master marketer and he may hold the ebay record selling price for a balabushka sale. The one he sold ended a good bit north of your buy it now price. :thumbup: You might want to keep his contact info nearby. ;)

Please keep us in the loop on your progress with Pete and when it goes back on ebay though I sense we'll hear about the listing pretty fast. Who knows, maybe yours will become a new record.

GL with your sale. Yours looks to be a rare one.

best,
brian kc
 
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Kickin' Chicken said:
it's been fun monitoring this thread - you have quite a treasure there, it seems.

I am happy you made your way here to az; you've received some excellent advice from some very knowledgeable members. Getting that cue to Pete Tascarella will pay for itself in spades, assuming it passes muster, and there's no reason at this point to think it will not. :)

Kevin Brewer, with whom you've corresponded here, is not only an expert on many rare cues, he also is a master marketer and he may hold the ebay record selling price for a balabushka sale. :thumbup: Please keep us in the loop as to your progress with Pete and when it goes back on ebay though I sense we'll hear about the listing pretty fast. Who knows, maybe yours will become a new record.

GL with your sale. Yours looks to be a rare one, indeed.

best,
brian kc
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What balabushka cue did he sell ????







.
 
Kevin has sold a couple of Bushka's but I think he is referring to the Boyer Gus box cue.
 
I've handled maybe 7 Balabuskas. I'm certainly no expert. To be honest, I never allow myself to speculate about the authenticity of a Bushka, my advice to everyone is always the same, send it to Pete. If Pete says its a Bushka then you've got a marketable collectible. If he says no, hopefully you have an honest plan B. You can't sell one as a Bushka for any real amount of money without either having the LOA or allowing the buyer to get one as a condition of the sale. if that is the case (and it is) why not get the letter up front and take the doubt out BEFORE the price negotiations?

The few Bushkas I've sold were not of the level this cue will be if authenticated.

I hold the eBay world record for high value completed cue sale, but that cue was a Szam.

Two observations:

a) When I sold the Szam on eBay, the first posts in the AZ thread were "experts" (the non-buying type) that were pretty darn sure either the cue or myself or both were scams.

b) As a club, AZ has the highest amount of guys that would actually buy a cue like this (if a Bushka) in AMERICA. That amount (again in America) is under 10. So while there maybe be 100 guys willing to render an opinion on the cue, a very small percentage of them are buyers.

Thanks

Kevin
 
kvinbrwr said:
a) When I sold the Szam on eBay, the first posts in the AZ thread were "experts" (the non-buying type) that were pretty darn sure either the cue or myself or both were scams.
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Many of my friends were watching that sale, and the night before I went to Las Vegas for the VNEA (2007), the cue was at $26K.
None of us felt that it was a scam, in fact it was rather exciting, especially when it sold for 54K.
I spoke with Fatboy, right after that, and I guess he was the under-bidder, but I missed the comments by the non-buying so-called "experts".
 
cuesblues said:
Many of my friends were watching that sale, and the night before I went to Las Vegas for the VNEA (2007), the cue was at $26K.
None of us felt that it was a scam, in fact it was rather exciting, especially when it sold for 54K.
I spoke with Fatboy, right after that, and I guess he was the under-bidder, but I missed the comments by the non-buying so-called "experts".
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The cue hit 20K the first day (of 7) and most of the naysayers dropped away. Before that, some guys "knew" that Gus never signed a cue, others knew some very interesting facts about me and my other auctions and location, some knew about the glue lines, some knew Gus never used a brown bumper. There was a post or two speculating about what the cue would go for if "properly marketed" instead of on eBay with values far below what the cue ended up bringing at auction.

As I said, most of that fell away when the bidding got high enough and some very well heeled buyers chimed in. That was a fun week. Around 30K it turned into hard-hitting questions like "how does a guy pay" and "how does a guy ship?", with all sorts of opinions and suggestions by guys that had zero experience with the issue. The buyer mailed me a check and I mailed him the cue.

This cue, if authenticated, would also be very fun to sell, but IMHO, not as much fun as that Szam. probably not 1/2 as much fun, but still way fun.

Kevin
 
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thepavlos said:
Kevin has sold a couple of Bushka's but I think he is referring to the Boyer Gus box cue.
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yep, of course, it was not a bushka but rather, a Gus.

I do stand corrected and still tip my hat to the ebay record cue sale, and seller. :thumbup:

best,
brian kc
 
kvinbrwr said:
I've handled maybe 7 Balabuskas. I'm certainly no expert. To be honest, I never allow myself to speculate about the authenticity of a Bushka, my advice to everyone is always the same, send it to Pete. If Pete says its a Bushka then you've got a marketable collectible. If he says no, hopefully you have an honest plan B. You can't sell one as a Bushka for any real amount of money without either having the LOA or allowing the buyer to get one as a condition of the sale. if that is the case (and it is) why not get the letter up front and take the doubt out BEFORE the price negotiations?

The few Bushkas I've sold were not of the level this cue will be if authenticated.

I hold the eBay world record for high value completed cue sale, but that cue was a Szam.

Two observations:

a) When I sold the Szam on eBay, the first posts in the AZ thread were "experts" (the non-buying type) that were pretty darn sure either the cue or myself or both were scams.

b) As a club, AZ has the highest amount of guys that would actually buy a cue like this (if a Bushka) in AMERICA. That amount (again in America) is under 10. So while there maybe be 100 guys willing to render an opinion on the cue, a very small percentage of them are buyers.

Thanks

Kevin
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Hey I'm a buyer. But i want one of the real ones with his signature on the forearm.
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
yep, of course, it was not a bushka but rather, a Gus.

I do stand corrected and still tip my hat to the ebay record cue sale, and seller. :thumbup:

best,
brian kc
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Brian

When we had that cue, for years screwed together and leaning against the wall in the corner of the room with the pool table for anybody that needed a cue to use, we referred to it as "that cue built by the guy who made parts for Balabushka".

Kevin
 
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It's a Balabushka! Eddie gave it to me.

100_2327.jpg
 
It is a Bushka for sure

Jakerold said:
I am the one selling the cue and no it is not fake, Scooter Banks did not send me a cashiers check as he states (Sarcasm?). I put the cue on ebay and it is 100% authentic. Read my description and my ratings. Perhaps Craigslist was a mistake but it was my only option until ebay allowed me to raise the amount I could sell an item for. If you doubt me, send me an email and we will talk. It is a real Balabushka and was specifically designed and made for my brother by George himself.
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Sorry to hear about Walter. I knew him for many years. Have played him many times at Pete Margos place and Cue Town. I knew Walter very well.
He use to carry that Bushka around in a snake skin case.
That is one beautiful cue. I have hit with it many times.
He would never sell that cue to anyone and he had many offers.
Make sure you get the money for it,,,believe me someone will pay what you want. Do not let that cue go for cheap.
If you need any help send me a message.
 
Walter Jacobsen

Thank you SmoothStroke. My brother gave me that cue and insisted that I should never let it go for under 50K. I appreciate your kind words and the fact you gave me some credit where some thought the cue was not real. Now to get that COA from Pete. Have a great holiday.
 
Nobody is selling anything here?? I thought this forum was for folks from AZB selling their goods, not some guy on another site getting promoted here every 5 minutes....
 
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