This topic is very confusing to many of us, and I have been attempting to resolve some of the problems encountered for more than 10 years by researching this subject. At first I thought about keeping this information to myself, however, that would only cause others to go through what I have trying to accurately date these cues, and I don’t wish that on anyone.
While I was still on Active duty in the US Military I began this research, I started by buying all the reference material I could find on the subject and that is when I began to realize that much of the information I was searching for was not in printed form. Now I used all the standard reference materials such as, the Blue Book Of Cue by Brad Simpson, and the Billiards Encyclopedia by Victor Stein and Paul Rubino and while these are both fantastic books they did not answer the questions I had on this subject. I suspect that it would be impossible to cover all information on the subject of pool and billiards in a single life time, and what is important to one person may not be as valuable to others.
By all accounts I have read it appears that the first production of one piece cues in America was sometime during the 1840’s or 1850’s. These cues were simple for the most part and they did not include any splicing techniques that were already popular in Europe. However, these early cues did have a wedge on the bottom of the cue that was carry over from the traditional style Mace that had been used at this time for more than 200 years.
At this point in history fancy billiards and pool cues were mainly if not entirely imported from manufactures in Europe. These imports were mainly for Trophy Cues that were given away as a first place prize in the different pool and billiards tournaments of the day. These cues were mainly Butterfly style and Full Spliced models that included veneers on the points that were Multi Colored, along with inlays or wedges of Mother of Pearl or Ivory. This set the bar that Brunswick would follow with their designs and techniques and these techniques are still popular to this day with only differences in machining methods setting them apart for the most part.
During the late 1880’s Brunswick was still importing their fancier cues, but due to gentleman like George Brittener and later Herman Rambo this was about to change in major way. Cues made before 1890 did not have a decal present on them, in many cases the word Brunswick was stamped into the cue on the butt and some were not even marked. However, during this time frame or shortly before weight stamps were placed on the cues butt, the earliest of which were in a V-Shaped wedge, at this time the cues were still being hand stamped so in many cases little thought was give to the stamp being concentric and neatly placed. About this same time cues with stamped handles of multiple designs were also produced and these designs were made with machinery using a pre-made die. Sometime during the 1890’s the weight stamp was also transferred to a die and impressed into the cues butt for a more uniform look. Now until sometime in the teens the weight stamp was still include in a V-shaped wedge on the cues butt, unless the cue was made as a Trophy cue that included a inlayed wedge, in this case the weight stamp was placed on the opposite of the cues butt from the wedge. Then for some reason unknown to me sometime during the late teens Brunswick did away with the wedge on the bottom of the cue and the weight stamps were impressed on the opposite side of the butt from the cues decal. This procedure continued until the middle 1930’s when their weight stamp was moved from the cues butt to between the cues points. One thing that can be confusing concerning this is the fact that older cues will be encountered with a late Brunswick decal. This happened due to the repair department that was set up by Herman Rambo where all major Brunswick facilities started offering cue repair to their customers. Many old catalogs from the Teens and 20’s talk about sending cues to Brunswick for repair work and they listed prices to have this work accomplished. Now I have no proof of this in any reference I have found, but it certainly appears that during this work that the cues had new finish applied, along with the application of new Brunswick decals, this accounts for cues I have seen with a wedge with a weight stamp and one of the late Brunswick Balk Collender decals.
Another thing I have encountered were a few cues that were not made by Brunswick, with Brunswick decals on the cues butt. When I say the cues were not made by Brunswick I am saying that they are not listed in any catalogs which advertised the models of cues that were being produced by Brunswick. I suspect that cues I have seen were sent in with other cues for repair and a Brunswick decal was placed upon them at that time, after all advertisement was just that and nothing more.
I hope this information helps if anyone has any suggestions or information that should be added please let me know, the information I have included here is what I have accumulated and some of it is speculation do to a lack of records on this subject. For these blanks in the current information available I have used information I have gathered by handling many many many hundred of these cues over the years.
I will post some pictures later that show some of the differences and there will be more to follow on this subject as I get time.
Hope this helps
While I was still on Active duty in the US Military I began this research, I started by buying all the reference material I could find on the subject and that is when I began to realize that much of the information I was searching for was not in printed form. Now I used all the standard reference materials such as, the Blue Book Of Cue by Brad Simpson, and the Billiards Encyclopedia by Victor Stein and Paul Rubino and while these are both fantastic books they did not answer the questions I had on this subject. I suspect that it would be impossible to cover all information on the subject of pool and billiards in a single life time, and what is important to one person may not be as valuable to others.
By all accounts I have read it appears that the first production of one piece cues in America was sometime during the 1840’s or 1850’s. These cues were simple for the most part and they did not include any splicing techniques that were already popular in Europe. However, these early cues did have a wedge on the bottom of the cue that was carry over from the traditional style Mace that had been used at this time for more than 200 years.
At this point in history fancy billiards and pool cues were mainly if not entirely imported from manufactures in Europe. These imports were mainly for Trophy Cues that were given away as a first place prize in the different pool and billiards tournaments of the day. These cues were mainly Butterfly style and Full Spliced models that included veneers on the points that were Multi Colored, along with inlays or wedges of Mother of Pearl or Ivory. This set the bar that Brunswick would follow with their designs and techniques and these techniques are still popular to this day with only differences in machining methods setting them apart for the most part.
During the late 1880’s Brunswick was still importing their fancier cues, but due to gentleman like George Brittener and later Herman Rambo this was about to change in major way. Cues made before 1890 did not have a decal present on them, in many cases the word Brunswick was stamped into the cue on the butt and some were not even marked. However, during this time frame or shortly before weight stamps were placed on the cues butt, the earliest of which were in a V-Shaped wedge, at this time the cues were still being hand stamped so in many cases little thought was give to the stamp being concentric and neatly placed. About this same time cues with stamped handles of multiple designs were also produced and these designs were made with machinery using a pre-made die. Sometime during the 1890’s the weight stamp was also transferred to a die and impressed into the cues butt for a more uniform look. Now until sometime in the teens the weight stamp was still include in a V-shaped wedge on the cues butt, unless the cue was made as a Trophy cue that included a inlayed wedge, in this case the weight stamp was placed on the opposite of the cues butt from the wedge. Then for some reason unknown to me sometime during the late teens Brunswick did away with the wedge on the bottom of the cue and the weight stamps were impressed on the opposite side of the butt from the cues decal. This procedure continued until the middle 1930’s when their weight stamp was moved from the cues butt to between the cues points. One thing that can be confusing concerning this is the fact that older cues will be encountered with a late Brunswick decal. This happened due to the repair department that was set up by Herman Rambo where all major Brunswick facilities started offering cue repair to their customers. Many old catalogs from the Teens and 20’s talk about sending cues to Brunswick for repair work and they listed prices to have this work accomplished. Now I have no proof of this in any reference I have found, but it certainly appears that during this work that the cues had new finish applied, along with the application of new Brunswick decals, this accounts for cues I have seen with a wedge with a weight stamp and one of the late Brunswick Balk Collender decals.
Another thing I have encountered were a few cues that were not made by Brunswick, with Brunswick decals on the cues butt. When I say the cues were not made by Brunswick I am saying that they are not listed in any catalogs which advertised the models of cues that were being produced by Brunswick. I suspect that cues I have seen were sent in with other cues for repair and a Brunswick decal was placed upon them at that time, after all advertisement was just that and nothing more.
I hope this information helps if anyone has any suggestions or information that should be added please let me know, the information I have included here is what I have accumulated and some of it is speculation do to a lack of records on this subject. For these blanks in the current information available I have used information I have gathered by handling many many many hundred of these cues over the years.
I will post some pictures later that show some of the differences and there will be more to follow on this subject as I get time.
Hope this helps