To be honest, most people have overvalued the "scruggs died" money bump. The only ones to benefit from this are bushka and a lesser extent Szamboti. I cant imagine paying more for a scruggs pre vs post. Now don't get me wrong, Scruggs probably played better than both
...but
I beg to differ a bit. After a cue maker retires from building cues, or this world, their cues often appreciate.
For one thing, the population of cues made will never increase in number and can go only go down due to
damage or actually becoming lost. The value of a cue is always based on rarity and scarcity. The simple
version is supply and demand but actually rarity and scarcity is what really fine tunes the market price.
A living cue maker still active can make more of the same cue designs, obviously would increase the total
number of cues built so the rarity factor can come into play long before scarcity factor does. I think any well
regarded name in cue making that passes on would likely see the market value of cues appreciate. I paid $2500
for my Scruggs cue 20 years ago and I was the 2nd owner but the darn cue truly was pristine condition.
It is worth quite a bit more today. IMO, I attribute a lot of that to Tim not building cues any longer and he didn’t
make that many radial pin flat ivory joints (rarity factor). How many could you locate right now, today, that’s for sale
or within the last 6 months, 1 year or even 2-3 years (scarcity factor)?
The below outlines key factors that relate to a permanently retired cue maker’s pool cues appreciating afterward.
It directly reflects how they were faring while they were still building custom cues, not just catalog pool cue versions.
First and foremost, a deceased cue maker must have been a highly regarded name while he was building cues.
It just dawned in me how sexiest that sentence must come across to women readers. As if a women wasn’t as
qualified and capable as a man when it comes to cue making. Personally, I enjoy watching women professionals
play pool as much as I do men players. Jean Balukis could beat anyone on any day, even Willie admitted that. So
how come I can’t recall any famous, or just popular, names in cue making that are women. That just seems odd.
Secondly, the cue maker can’t be a large production shop where lots of the work is performed by subordinates and only
last minute cursory attention to detail gets performed by the cue maker. In other words, the cue maker has to be hands on involved with the build.
Thirdly, annual production and lifetime production of cues, especially the higher level, more intricate designs (Level 7 and above) has to be a modest number. The market shouldn’t have lots of replicated designs barely distinguishable from each other. The cue maker has to bring something to the build; craftsmanship and detailed execution has to be their hallmark.
Fourthly, the cue maker needs to be highly regarded by players, as well as his peers, for building a pool cue that is difficult not to praise the first time you play with it. The cue maker’s wares should become acclaimed about something.
Lastly, the cue maker must have been popular, and in great demand, while he was still making cues. He (or she) should have had a wait list for a custom cue order and I’m not going to suppose what it should be but you’d need to wait awhile before your cue was even started.
