Years ago, a guy that was about half lit and gambling in my local pool room was shooting with a cue that seemed to be in fairly rough condition. Needed refinished and a new wrap. Guy loses his a$$, and needs money to keep playing to win some back, so he offers to sell me the cue for $25. Me, being a COMPLETE NEWB, looked at the cue from about five feet away and said, "ummm, no". Next day, I go to another pool room and the owner comes up to and says, "hey, look what I bought last night." He had the cue. I said, "why'd you buy that beater?" He says, "you don't know what this is, do you?" I said, "no, not really." He hands it to me, and points out the JW on the butt, which is fairly legible, but that I did not notice from across the room last night. Come to find out, it's a Joss West, a fairly old one, and worth WAY more than the $25 I could have gotten it for. The pool room owner sends it off and gets it refurbished, and it comes back looking like new money. Perfect condition, flawless, and easily with over a grand or more. If I could get my foot around to my backside, I'd STILL be kicking my own butt TO THIS DAY! ARGH!
