I collect pool balls. Some are obvious museum finds, with no question of authenticity. Good luck building your own dangerously flammable celluloid factory just to make fake balls to sell. There is a set that could be, and was, faked.
I got this set from Richard H. Lane, of Marathon Key, FL. Rick collected Coca-Cola trays, and came across these for $25, at a flea market. With no photo, I said we can't lose at $25. The set was missing the #13 and one other ball. A guy from Michigan traded me the two balls I needed, and they matched exactly. I described them to a California collector who then started asking dealers if they had any. So old Tony, the master of fakery made a complete set, inlaid black dots under the numbers. Problem was he used Hyatt "Fancy O" balls to inlay. And he inlaid both sides. The real mccoy are BBC Compo-Ivory balls, and the dots are only inlaid on ONE side. I know the couple in Indiana who bought the fakes, they were not happy, but Tony has died so there is no return policy. I post this because I have a dilemma. If I polish these, then later on when I keel over my sister might have to argue about their originality. If someone faked these, they would probably have to polish them like Tony did to cover up any evidence of drilling. Should I polish them, or leave 'em be? The theory going around is that these were made for some large billiard room to mark them in csse of theft. The star cueball is not original to this set. Thoughts?
I got this set from Richard H. Lane, of Marathon Key, FL. Rick collected Coca-Cola trays, and came across these for $25, at a flea market. With no photo, I said we can't lose at $25. The set was missing the #13 and one other ball. A guy from Michigan traded me the two balls I needed, and they matched exactly. I described them to a California collector who then started asking dealers if they had any. So old Tony, the master of fakery made a complete set, inlaid black dots under the numbers. Problem was he used Hyatt "Fancy O" balls to inlay. And he inlaid both sides. The real mccoy are BBC Compo-Ivory balls, and the dots are only inlaid on ONE side. I know the couple in Indiana who bought the fakes, they were not happy, but Tony has died so there is no return policy. I post this because I have a dilemma. If I polish these, then later on when I keel over my sister might have to argue about their originality. If someone faked these, they would probably have to polish them like Tony did to cover up any evidence of drilling. Should I polish them, or leave 'em be? The theory going around is that these were made for some large billiard room to mark them in csse of theft. The star cueball is not original to this set. Thoughts?
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