Cues better than money in the bank

[maxeypad2007]

Look at the appreciation rates on cues like Szamboti and Bushka in the last 15 years.

At that point in time those cues were going for $3-4K on average. Today they are selling for fare more than that a mere 15 years later.

With that said what will be the next best cue to sit on and are cues a functional investment to the point that it makes good business sense.

 

[td873]

Look at the appreciation rates on cues like Szamboti and Bushka in the last 15 years.

At that point in time those cues were going for $3-4K on average. Today they are selling for fare more than that a mere 15 years later.

With that said what will be the next best cue to sit on and are cues a functional investment to the point that it makes good business sense.

Pool cues are not a good investment. Although ultrarare and desireable cues (Bushkas / Botis) may appreciate, they are the exception and not the rule. Ask most of the people trying to sell cues here or on eBay - they rarely get what the cue is really "worth." Instead, they get back just about what they paid (maybe a little more, maybe a little less). The key here is "little." Basically, it's just free rent of a cue.

However, for me, speculating on pool cues is not now, nor will it ever be good business sense.

-td <-- just plays the market like the rest of the world



-td

 

[Snoogi]

IMHO, only rare and exquisite cues appreciate values through time, more like antiques. Niche market, not really to be seen as investments, only for collectors. As for the more general and production cues they are hardly worth their values after some plays, more depreciation than appreciation.

 

[Kevin Lindstrom]

My opinion

Most cues are like most cars. Once they are driven off the lot, well we all know what happens then.

If done correctly, stock market or real estate seem to be the safer way to go.

 

[poolhustler]

I agree with all of the above, there are much better options for investing your hard earned money than pool cues! I collect them just to look at!!



Russ......

 

[bruin70]

Look at the appreciation rates on cues like Szamboti and Bushka in the last 15 years.

At that point in time those cues were going for $3-4K on average. Today they are selling for fare more than that a mere 15 years later.

With that said what will be the next best cue to sit on and are cues a functional investment to the point that it makes good business sense.

no. that's too much of a generalization. bushkas and szams stand apart from all other cues, and they will always have value.

kershenbrock are already expensive. tads are hard to figure out because his son has been making the cues for a few years now. shrager is really old but i thought he already stopped making cues. gina will always hold value. tascarellas/herceks are already expensive too, so maybe they're the next collectable.

 

[Fatboy]

I Havent Lost $$$ On A Cue Yet Well Almost I Have On A Few Over The Years But Over All I'm Way Ahead, However I Do Have A Few I Took The Worst Of It Buying Them Because I Liked Them Or Some Other Reason, Tads Are A Bit Soft These Days,

Cues Can Be A Good Investment, They Are A Bearer Assett Like A Diamond Or Watches, I Just Dumped 3 Very Expensive Watches And Made Out Good, So I Bought A Few Cues, And There Aint No Taxes With The Profit From Selling Them A 40% Savings In My Case Right Off The Top, The Wrong Cues Are Not Investments, The Right Ones Are, Everytime Something Is Bought Or Sold Someone Is Winning And Someone Is Losing, You Just Have To Be On The Right Side Of The Deal Or Have The $$ To Ride It Out For A Few Years.

Szams, Bushkas Are A Good Play, Sw's Are If You Find Them Priced Right. Chinese Cues Are Great If Your Importing, Hell You Can Have Cues Made Overthere For $10 Wholesale Them Here For $40 To Distributers Who Flip Them To Retailers For $75 Ans Then Retail Them For $150, Not A Bad Gig-its Just Hard To Find A Slot In That Market

 

[ceebee]

I buy & sell cues all the time. I have had Blacks, Schons, Pechauers, Macs & others. I've made 4-5 hundred dollars on a single cue deal. As far as investing large sums of money on a perishable item, that isn't for me. I've seen theives take away a man's cue collection & were never found.

There are houses in your town, that can be purchased for the price of a great cue. In 15 years, what will the value of that house be? The land will be worth more, for sure. Who knows? History shows us that "LAND" is the best investment.

The down side to land ownership is taxes, the upside is the magnification of profit. I saved my whole life. As I look back my savings, would be 10-20 times larger by purchasing some land.

Good Luck with your investments.

 

[Fatboy]

I buy & sell cues all the time. I have had Blacks, Schons, Pechauers, Macs & others. I've made 4-5 hundred dollars on a single cue deal. As far as investing large sums of money on a perishable item, that isn't for me. I've seen theives take away a man's cue collection & were never found.

There are houses in your town, that can be purchased for the price of a great cue. In 15 years, what will the value of that house be? The land will be worth more, for sure. Who knows? History shows us that "LAND" is the best investment.

The down side to land ownership is taxes, the upside is the magnification of profit. I saved my whole life. As I look back my savings, would be 10-20 times larger by purchasing some land.

Good Luck with your investments.

i have other investments too, cues are a small piece of my net worth, less than 1%, but i've been lucky too, i like to spread myself out on investments, i have land, houses, shopping centers, professional office space a number of businesses. And cars(investments), watches, cash and cues.

But there was a time 11 years ago i filed BK because of a business failure and i was in cues heavy at that time and floated the boat flipping them-it was easier then too. It was off the books and that was important at that moment,

 

[nineballman]

I'm sitting on my original SouthWest cue for now. It is 12 years old and I've been offered 2K, but I think in the future it will be worth more. I really don't need to 2K, so oneday maybe I'll get lucky and it will be worth $10K!

 

[TATE]

Cues as Investments

Look at the appreciation rates on cues like Szamboti and Bushka in the last 15 years.

At that point in time those cues were going for $3-4K on average. Today they are selling for fare more than that a mere 15 years later.

With that said what will be the next best cue to sit on and are cues a functional investment to the point that it makes good business sense.

The question "are cues good investments?" I would have to answer "no". The vast majority of cues are not good investments. The question "Are collectible cues an investment, and if so, are they a decently performing asset? In my opinion, the answer is "yes".

I did an informal study a few years ago with my fellow AZ collectors and published it here:

http://www.palmercollector.com/CuesAsInvestments.html

We tracked cue prices from dealer flyers from the early 1990's and priced them in today's market. I tried to pick up a few cues from every category and value range from several prominent dealers. Collectible cues purchased from dealers at retail prices were actually a good investment over the study period. I believe the results were skewed toward the conservtaive side. Had I taken every cue offered and valued it, the return would have been much greater, because certain cues appreciated tens of thousands of dollars, so I threw those out, while others just held their value. Few went down in value.

I invite everyone to read it over, then I will add a few comments later in this thread.

Chris

 

[Oddball]

Be sure not to get 'making an investment' and 'speculating' confused. Investing usually involves the creation of wealth whereas speculating is often a zero-sum game wealth is not created. Although speculators are often making informed decisions, speculation cannot usually be categorized as traditional investing. Collect for keepsake and you will never be disappointed. Remember, it's only wood so you might as well enjoy. Once the word 'investment' is inserted, that is where the seeds of dread and gloom are planted.

As a collector myself (pre-1929 tobacco cards), none of my current collection was obtained for investment purposes, only for the pure pleasure of owning them - as if each card was a miniature work of art. Every collection should be looked at the same way. Appreciation in value is just a bonus.

Try using a cue instead of money to buy a Happy Meal and let me know how it turns out.

 

[Str8PoolPlayer]

Look at Dale Perry Cues and ask the question again ...

His Cues are now selling for less than $300 average, when only a year ago they were bringing close to twice that on average ...
The best advice I would give is to buy the cues YOU like to play with, and or, collect and be happy with your private stash ... I bought my first Custom Palmer Model "M" in 1975 for $300.00 with a Leather Brunswick Case ... That same cue and case today is hovering around $3500.00 ... However, I was buying clean 55 - 57 Chevys for $300 - $500 back then and they range from $20k - $50k (or more) today ... That said, my "Cardinal Rule for Buying" over the past many years is : "Never buy anything you may have to make an excuse for later" ... Anytime you can "steal" a high-end Custom Cue you know you can turn for a nice profit in the short term, I say "Buy It" ...
Remember ... (1) $200,000 Ferrari will always be worth more than (10) $20,000 Taurus's ...
This Ferrari was purchased in 1978 for $37,000 and sold at auction in 1989 to a Japanese firm for $597,000 ... It made me a very happy camper ...

 

[yally]

Buy cues for a passion, buy GOLD to invest.

Yally

 

[HIRUN526]

I would like to let you boys in on a little secret.....

Knowing what to buy
When to buy it
And how you buy it

When you follow those three little steps you will be able to put all kinds of money in the bank.

Always make your profit going in on a deal not coming out.

There is always money to be made on pool cues,stocks, real estate etc.

Running with the pack will usually leave you on the short end.

Investing in the "Right" cuemakers is not a bad investment, it's actually a great investment.

Buying run of the mill cues so to speak is not a good investment, there are only a handful of living cuemakers that are current and future quality investments and a handful of deceased cuemakers that are great investments. I'm talking better than money in the bank.

Anyone who generalizes about any investment field does not understand investing and should not invest.

 

[qbilder]

If cue "investing" were big money, then cuemakers would all be rich from building them. However, I know not a single builder who got rich from cues. A few make more money dead than alive!!! What fun is that? Invest in timbered property, sell some trees & make development lots to sell to contractors. Everybody wants a country home nestled in the woods. Then use the money to collect cues & support the cuemakers

 

[prewarhero]

in order for something to be considered a good investment it must have returns beyond inflation. If we consider inflation to be at 2.7-3% per year and general non-market based investments return an average of 5% growth (this includes money market instruments, bonds, and real estate) cues must do the same. That means well purchased cues must double in value every 15 years. That means that a cue you buy now for $1k, will need to sell for $4k in 30 years. If we look at market based investments the cue value must double every 7 years. That means in just 28 years the $1k cue must sell for $16k. I doubt very many cues will out perform the market.

 

[uwate]

I dont think cues are the greatest investment. First you have the potential to see your investment decrease if the cuemaker puts alot of cues out on the market. Its still supply and demand and as another poster pointed out with Dale Perry, an oversupply on the market really crushes the resale potential.

The other factor I do not like with cues is that they are subject to theft, are not easy to store to protect from theft, and insurance riders are a pain in the neck to deal with.

If you are going to invest in cues, I would suggest buying cues where you can feel comfortable that the cuemaker in question is not going to put alot of cues out on the market. Searing is a good example of this. So few of his cues are available that the pricing is really high, but what would happen if dozens and dozens of his cues hit the market all at once? This happened a few years back with Bender. The story I got was that Mike Bender was ill and his shop (him and his wife?) put out a bunch of cues to raise money for medical bills. Not sure on the truth of this story but I do know this, alot of his cues hit Ebay and other resale places and the prices deteriorated. Cues of his were selling for alot less than his retail pricing. I think even today, a Bender that cost 2500 new would not bring that full 2500 on ebay.

 

[Hidy Ho]

Cues are better than money in my pocket ....

 

[jimmy-leggs]

You really want a good investment cue?,this cue retails for$ 5,200 u.s.and will sell for best offer.never been played,not once.longoni custom lux,2 shafts,case,letter of authenticity.
hint.......the guy might take $3,500-4,000.let me know.
THIS IS A GREAT INVESTMENT!only 50 made.



SORRY,couln't resist my plug.