Sold For Sale Original 60s hand made George Balabushka Cue $27,000 (sold)

[ribdoner]

IyeRonic, i have a very good friend who is interested in your cue. he has 2 Balabushka's, he's a serious buyer. if you can call me 989-305-6454,
i can give you his phone number & you can contact him. you have a beautiful Balabushka. did your father ever sell pool related clothing at major
tournaments. if so they were very high class, shirts, sweatshirts, & jackets. take care. Don aka Sure Man Cues

Don,

I knew his dad dating back to the 70's when i lived in CHI. He had a few very high end cues and played strong 9B on a big table

He is the same guy that sold the clothing you mentioned

Stay healthy, Adam

 

[EyeRonic]

IyeRonic, i have a very good friend who is interested in your cue. he has 2 Balabushka's, he's a serious buyer. if you can call me 989-305-6454,
i can give you his phone number & you can contact him. you have a beautiful Balabushka. did your father ever sell pool related clothing at major
tournaments. if so they were very high class, shirts, sweatshirts, & jackets. take care. Don aka Sure Man Cues

The acquisition of this cue by my father was somewhat of a fluke. He was not involved in the billiards community in any way. As soon as Pete Tascallera has finished authenticating the cue I will contact you.

 

[ribdoner]

Don,

I knew his dad dating back to the 70's when i lived in CHI. He had a few very high end cues and played strong 9B on a big table

He is the same guy that sold the clothing you mentioned

Stay healthy, Adam

I saw the box and thought for some reason his dad was George Michaels...lol, that's what I get for thinking.

Looks like his dad scored it after George owned it which doesn't diminish it's value in any way

 

[EyeRonic]

I can safely say you are the only person on this forum who could have owned that cue and resisted the temptation to use it. I'm sure your cue will bring a nice payday. Thanks for s

I saw the box and thought for some reason his dad was George Michaels...lol, that's what I get for thinking.

Looks like his dad scored it after George owned it which doesn't diminish it's value in any way

Yes, my dad and George were friends. George borrowed $50 from my dad and gave my dad the cue as repayment. This was in 1969 a little bit before I was born. This is also why the cue in the condition it is in. My father was not an avíd pool player and in fact from the time I was born until around the time I was a teenager he didn't play at all. Ge would bring the cue with him on rare occasions my brothers and I got together to play pool but that only occured about once or twice per year and was an even rarer occurrence once he retired because he would snow bird in arizona during the winter months leaving the cue at his home here in Seattle

 

[terpdad]

I empathize. Overall, I think USPS does a good job & they are in a pinch now. That said, I recently shipped a cue the same way you did & it took 9 days to arrive. The times when I have needed help w/ lost or misdelivered packages, they have been very little help. To be fair, I've had similar experiences w/ UPS & Fed Ex.

 

[14.1'er]

I don't believe I've ever understood the term "going postal" quite as much as I do at this moment. I sent the cue 2 day priority registered mail last week I was told because of weather etc. It would probably arrive in New York last Friday. According to the tracking it went to the seattle distribution center and then departed seattle on the 17th. There have been no tracking updates since it left Seattle which is rather disturbing. I started a delayed delivery inquiry with the post office and received a report stating an investigation had been completed and the issue was resolved. The report claimed my parcel had been located, it was in Washington state and would arrive to me very soon. Aghast I phoned the person who had completed the report. I stating the package was not on its way to me but I was the sender ( which was also stated in the opening sentence of my inquiry). He said "oh yes it looks like you are sending it to New York, well we are short staffed right now because of Covid and because you sent it registered mail it takes a little longer to arrive". I said it departed the seattle facility (at the time) 5 days ago and there have been no updates since. His reply was that some facilities were more behind than others and that registered mail takes longer because everyone who handles the package has to sign for it. I asked him if he could tell me exactly where in washington the package was. He said he didn't know but last he saw it was in Seattle. I tried asking more questions highlighting that according to the tracking it was not at facility but was in transit to which he simply replied "I don't know what to tell you but your package isn't lost, its in washington"0. At my wit's end I finally ended the conversation as it's obvious all he did was look at the same tracking information I could see on line. I tried to contact the post office again, expounding on the idea of a package being in transit for now nearly a week. I got a response from the same genius that I spoke with before who said he looked into things further, that the tracking updates were not live reports and that my package was probably at JFK. I am not an inpatient person and can completely understand that between the weather and a global pandemic along with staffing shortages postal workers and other government employees are incredibly overwhelmed and are having to deal with all kinds of frustrations and countless complaints from irrate and upset people. They are dealing with all kinds of problems that are out of their control and completely unprecedented but it's hard not to think that this guy takes stupid pills when he wakes up and sometimes forgets to take his brain out of the jar in the morning before heading into work. I would not be surprised to find out that his mother was still seeking to have an abortion. The status btw still states the package left the facility in Seattle and is in transit to it's destination.

First let me say that I am very sorry for the shipping delay, I know how troublesome it can be.

I'm 100% sure your cue is not lost. Sending it registered mail requires that each person who touches the package has to sign off on it. This makes the last person who touches it responsible for it. The likely hood of it being lost/stolen is extremely low. Having said that, I wish you had shipped UPS Next Day Air Early Morning Delivery Insured. It is expensive, but we'll worth it in my opinion when dealing with high dollar items. Also, collecting your insurance fee is extremely easy as compared with the USPS.

Please let us know as soon as it arrives.

 

[EyeRonic]

Yes, I believe you are correct in that it will likely turn up. Pete mentioned they usually ship fedex with $1000 instance which is enough to make sure it gets paid enough attention that it gets where it should without being too expensive or being a target. I am indeed learning many things through this process. Thank you for the post.

 

[gmansbu]

Like was mentioned above registered mail takes FOREVER. It took forever pre covid, so i could just imagine how long it takes now - especially if it’s going from coast to coast. Registered mail is super slow, but also the safest way to ship something valuable like your cue. It’ll turn up eventually - you’re just to get a few extra gray hairs in the meantime. Hang in there!

 

[jimmyco]

Don't know if it's still like this, but 35 years ago I was a bonded courier. Whenever I picked up a Reg, upon signing for it, the package was removed from a vault.

Only mentioning this to highlight the security Reg carries.

HTH

 

[ideologist]

Also, collecting your insurance fee is extremely easy as compared with the USPS.

Please let us know as soon as it arrives.

This part is woefully incorrect. UPS will shit in your shoes as repayment. They do not pay their guarantees right now, claiming covid. They also do not insure collectibles.

USPS pays their claims

 

[SpiderWeb]

They have USPS auctions every week in Atlanta for lost things.

 

[EyeRonic]

Like was mentioned above registered mail takes FOREVER. It took forever pre covid, so i could just imagine how long it takes now - especially if it’s going from coast to coast. Registered mail is super slow, but also the safest way to ship something valuable like your cue. It’ll turn up eventually - you’re just to get a few extra gray hairs in the meantime. Hang in there!

Thank you for the encouragement

 

[Duane Remick]

Thank you for the encouragement

" I SAY,
DON'T WORRY ....
I HAVE HAD SEVERAL DELAYS WITH THE USPS-
GOT EVERYTHING SAFE AND SOUND,
WAS A LITTLE LATE,
THAT'S ALL"

 

[Ken_4fun]

Something like this belongs in a museum. And I will add this inappropriate comment. I hope it stays in the USA.

I was told a lot of top end cues ended up in Japan in collections.

JMO

Ken

 

[ideologist]

Something like this belongs in a museum. And I will add this inappropriate comment. I hope it stays in the USA.

I was told a lot of top end cues ended up in Japan in collections.

JMO

Ken

Hopefully an American ponies up then

 

[14.1'er]

This part is woefully incorrect. UPS will shit in your shoes as repayment. They do not pay their guarantees right now, claiming covid. They also do not insure collectibles.

USPS pays their claims

I've had issues with both UPS, and USPS. UPS never gave me an issue refunding me, but USPS has. No delivery service is guaranteeing anything right now. I'll take my chances with UPS every time over USPS.

 

[ideologist]

I've had issues with both UPS, and USPS. UPS never gave me an issue refunding me, but USPS has. No delivery service is guaranteeing anything right now. I'll take my chances with UPS every time over USPS.

USPS is paying refunds on missed Express Mail deliveries, 100%

 

[EyeRonic]

I just got an update that the cue is in Jamaica ny

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

USPS is paying refunds on missed Express Mail deliveries, 100%

Not anymore they aren't they've just suspended the guarantee yesterday

 

[EyeRonic]

The cue is now in pete's hands