I am posting the following statement from Mark Kulungian. This is in reference to the stolen Ginacue story that has been circulating and misrepresented by other people involved in the saga. It will also be posted in the Billiards Digest board as well as on our site. Everything is self explanatory.
Joe
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My name is Mark Kulungian, owner of Pool Table Magic. For nearly 30 years I have been buying, selling, trading, and collecting cues. During all this time of building and establishing a business, enjoying cue-collecting as a hobby, raising a family, and meeting / dealing with a wide variety of people and personalities, I have never had to deal with anyone so uncooperative, opportunistic, manipulative, and immature as Scott Lee.
It’s been said that my silence has created an atmosphere of guilt. For the past 1 ½ years, I have heard and read lies and deceitful comments about myself and my business generated from Scott Lee and this Ginacue. For those reasons, and many others, I make this public statement to set the record straight. I can remain silent no more. Here are the facts:
Scott Lee has twisted the truth and manipulated people with mis-statements of fact to gain support in an apparent attempt to damage my reputation. Following will be a list of facts, not hearsay, to prove my previous statement to be the truth.
The preliminary court hearing in PA to determine a resolution or move forward with a trial date, regarding this cue took place on Thursday June 23, 2005. At that hearing, the court recognized that I had bought the cue in good faith (with no knowledge of its purported stolen status), acknowledged my receipt and cancelled check proving my payment for the cue and further acknowledged the additional money I had invested to make the cue functional and increase its value. In the presence of the judge, investigating police officer, myself and my lawyer a compromise was recommended and agreed to by Scott Lee and myself. I relinquish the cue to him and he compensates me the dollar amount determined by the court. The second part of the agreement was not to discuss the specific terms of the settlement of this case with anyone, and/or on the internet, except to say “it has been resolved.”
Within a period of less than 10 days, Scott Lee has breached this agreement and has discussed details of this case with at least 2 people, namely “randyg”, who posted details of the court agreement on the Billiards Digest board @ 7:56a.m. on 7-3-05 and “Barbara”, who posted more details @ 9:32a.m. on the same day. This is another example of Scott Lees continued unwillingness to cooperate, comply or represent anything he does in a truthful manner. He has demonstrated total disregard for honor, integrity and voracity.
Therefore, Scott Lee’s repeated breaches of agreements have left me no choice but to come forward and defend myself with the truth surrounding what has really happened in this case. Below is the factual and accurate representation of dates, times and events as they occurred.
Back in September 1992, I purchased an old Ginacue ( circa late 1960’s) Even though the cue was broken, I paid fair market value for it ( I still have the receipt and check) , I wanted this cue because it fit a niche in my collection. I put it aside knowing it needed restoration.
In the winter of 2003, Martyne Backman (Billiards Digest contributing writer) mentioned in one of our conversations an idea she had to write an article about when to restore a cue. Martyne thought it would be interesting if she could find a cue that was relatively worthless and after restoration transformed into a valuable and highly collectable cue. Her problem was the difficulty in locating such a cue.
I told her I had such a cue and if she wanted, I would call Ernie Gutierrez, the original cuemaker, and arrange to have him repair/restore this cue right away. Ernie, as usual, was pleasant and very cooperative. He agreed and completed the work quickly and beautifully.
We discussed this cue at great length during many phone conversations. He shared with me that this cue was originally designed for Eddie “Champagne” Kelly back in circa 1967-69. Ernie recalled building approximately 5-6 cues of this model. He went on to explain that he believed this cue had been worked on by some other cuemaker(s) for a variety of reasons:
First, the decorative ring above the wrap was missing, which meant the decorative ring was purposely cut out and removed and/or the cue was previously broken. Another possible explanation was the handle was replaced at someone’s request: if they wanted a wooden handle instead of linen or leather wrap.
Secondly, Ernie would never misalign the GINACUE script in the white band with the silver nameplate in the buttsleeve. The 2 names would always be on opposite sides of the cue, which was not the case with this cue.
Third, it is possible that this cue could have been pieced together from 2 entirely different cues, especially given its condition when I bought the cue and the fact that other cuemaker(s) worked on the cue.
Ernie rebuilt the entire butt of the cue: the missing ring above the wrap was rebuilt and restored, a new handle wood was installed, the rings in the backend were taken apart and re-aligned, a new “cortland” irish-linen wrap was installed, plus 2 new shafts were fitted and matched. Martyne was thrilled and we moved forward with the project. The article appeared in Billiards Digest March 2004.
When we discussed the silver nameplate and leaving or removing the initials ( S. LEE), Ernie could not recall if he had engraved those initials or not. He offered to remove the initials and I said let’s leave them on since that is the way I purchased this cue. He explained he might have to re-engrave them if they “came out” during the refinish process. I said that would be fine. Back in 1992 when I bought the cue, Ernie told me he did not build this cue for Sang Lee, the world renowned billiards player. He thought he originally built this cue for a woman.
It is Scott Lees good fortune that I am an honest business man, otherwise he would never have had this opportunity. If I was the dishonest person Scott Lee makes me out to be, I could have chosen to remove the initials and replace the broken buttcap when I first purchased the cue or at any time prior to it to being photographed. And I certainly would not have offered the cue to be included in an international magazine article for all to see.
Joe
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My name is Mark Kulungian, owner of Pool Table Magic. For nearly 30 years I have been buying, selling, trading, and collecting cues. During all this time of building and establishing a business, enjoying cue-collecting as a hobby, raising a family, and meeting / dealing with a wide variety of people and personalities, I have never had to deal with anyone so uncooperative, opportunistic, manipulative, and immature as Scott Lee.
It’s been said that my silence has created an atmosphere of guilt. For the past 1 ½ years, I have heard and read lies and deceitful comments about myself and my business generated from Scott Lee and this Ginacue. For those reasons, and many others, I make this public statement to set the record straight. I can remain silent no more. Here are the facts:
Scott Lee has twisted the truth and manipulated people with mis-statements of fact to gain support in an apparent attempt to damage my reputation. Following will be a list of facts, not hearsay, to prove my previous statement to be the truth.
The preliminary court hearing in PA to determine a resolution or move forward with a trial date, regarding this cue took place on Thursday June 23, 2005. At that hearing, the court recognized that I had bought the cue in good faith (with no knowledge of its purported stolen status), acknowledged my receipt and cancelled check proving my payment for the cue and further acknowledged the additional money I had invested to make the cue functional and increase its value. In the presence of the judge, investigating police officer, myself and my lawyer a compromise was recommended and agreed to by Scott Lee and myself. I relinquish the cue to him and he compensates me the dollar amount determined by the court. The second part of the agreement was not to discuss the specific terms of the settlement of this case with anyone, and/or on the internet, except to say “it has been resolved.”
Within a period of less than 10 days, Scott Lee has breached this agreement and has discussed details of this case with at least 2 people, namely “randyg”, who posted details of the court agreement on the Billiards Digest board @ 7:56a.m. on 7-3-05 and “Barbara”, who posted more details @ 9:32a.m. on the same day. This is another example of Scott Lees continued unwillingness to cooperate, comply or represent anything he does in a truthful manner. He has demonstrated total disregard for honor, integrity and voracity.
Therefore, Scott Lee’s repeated breaches of agreements have left me no choice but to come forward and defend myself with the truth surrounding what has really happened in this case. Below is the factual and accurate representation of dates, times and events as they occurred.
Back in September 1992, I purchased an old Ginacue ( circa late 1960’s) Even though the cue was broken, I paid fair market value for it ( I still have the receipt and check) , I wanted this cue because it fit a niche in my collection. I put it aside knowing it needed restoration.
In the winter of 2003, Martyne Backman (Billiards Digest contributing writer) mentioned in one of our conversations an idea she had to write an article about when to restore a cue. Martyne thought it would be interesting if she could find a cue that was relatively worthless and after restoration transformed into a valuable and highly collectable cue. Her problem was the difficulty in locating such a cue.
I told her I had such a cue and if she wanted, I would call Ernie Gutierrez, the original cuemaker, and arrange to have him repair/restore this cue right away. Ernie, as usual, was pleasant and very cooperative. He agreed and completed the work quickly and beautifully.
We discussed this cue at great length during many phone conversations. He shared with me that this cue was originally designed for Eddie “Champagne” Kelly back in circa 1967-69. Ernie recalled building approximately 5-6 cues of this model. He went on to explain that he believed this cue had been worked on by some other cuemaker(s) for a variety of reasons:
First, the decorative ring above the wrap was missing, which meant the decorative ring was purposely cut out and removed and/or the cue was previously broken. Another possible explanation was the handle was replaced at someone’s request: if they wanted a wooden handle instead of linen or leather wrap.
Secondly, Ernie would never misalign the GINACUE script in the white band with the silver nameplate in the buttsleeve. The 2 names would always be on opposite sides of the cue, which was not the case with this cue.
Third, it is possible that this cue could have been pieced together from 2 entirely different cues, especially given its condition when I bought the cue and the fact that other cuemaker(s) worked on the cue.
Ernie rebuilt the entire butt of the cue: the missing ring above the wrap was rebuilt and restored, a new handle wood was installed, the rings in the backend were taken apart and re-aligned, a new “cortland” irish-linen wrap was installed, plus 2 new shafts were fitted and matched. Martyne was thrilled and we moved forward with the project. The article appeared in Billiards Digest March 2004.
When we discussed the silver nameplate and leaving or removing the initials ( S. LEE), Ernie could not recall if he had engraved those initials or not. He offered to remove the initials and I said let’s leave them on since that is the way I purchased this cue. He explained he might have to re-engrave them if they “came out” during the refinish process. I said that would be fine. Back in 1992 when I bought the cue, Ernie told me he did not build this cue for Sang Lee, the world renowned billiards player. He thought he originally built this cue for a woman.
It is Scott Lees good fortune that I am an honest business man, otherwise he would never have had this opportunity. If I was the dishonest person Scott Lee makes me out to be, I could have chosen to remove the initials and replace the broken buttcap when I first purchased the cue or at any time prior to it to being photographed. And I certainly would not have offered the cue to be included in an international magazine article for all to see.
