Well, we all know the saying.
Saw an ad for a custom cue for sale locally. Guy says it's a "Precision Cue Design" from Arizona (Barenbrugge now). Asking price is ridiculously low. I email him immediately and tell him to call me, I'll buy it today. Guy eventually calls me, and I have a hard time understanding him on the phone. But what I took from the conversation was this: He pulled the cue from a storage locker won at auction. Took it to a pool hall, where they told him it was worthless because it was cracked and poorly repaired with glue. Says it's broken about 6" from the tip. I think he tells me, they are also the ones who identified the maker.
At this point, I'm still VERY curious, and have no problem buying it even with a broken shaft. The "leather case" is probably worth more than he's asking.
He asks me to meet him at a grocery store near where he lives. So I drive about 30 miles to meet him. I keep telling myself it's too good to be true, and not to get my hopes up. But the storage locker part makes me think, just maybe!
I get there and he's holding a really cheap 1x1 vinyl case. This alone has me really skeptical now. When he opens the case I see a brass screw on tip/ferrule. I just wasted gas. Out of the case comes one of those cheap 3 piece made in Taiwan, sold for $19 new piece of junk cues. This one is old, battered, and has a non-maple shaft. My heart sank, but I had convinced myself not to expect a Barenbrugge. I tell the guy that I really have no use for the cue, not interested. I could sense the disappointment. But I'm the one who took over an hour of my time and drove 60 miles round trip to look at a $5 flea market cue, advertised as a premier custom! But I just had to know...every once in a blue moon, you get lucky. Yesterday just wasn't that day.
Any of you Triangle area people who saw the ad, rest assured it wasn't worth the phone call!
I'm still completely confused as to where this guy got the Precision info from. Not even a beginning cue collector would make that mistake. And only a fool would try to pass it off as one. Although I have seen a unknown cue at a pawn shop, looked like a McDermott with the logo sanded off, being sold as a Southwest. Asking price was around $200. I told the pawnbroker, if that was a Southwest, I'd gladly hand you $200 right now. But that's not even close!
Saw an ad for a custom cue for sale locally. Guy says it's a "Precision Cue Design" from Arizona (Barenbrugge now). Asking price is ridiculously low. I email him immediately and tell him to call me, I'll buy it today. Guy eventually calls me, and I have a hard time understanding him on the phone. But what I took from the conversation was this: He pulled the cue from a storage locker won at auction. Took it to a pool hall, where they told him it was worthless because it was cracked and poorly repaired with glue. Says it's broken about 6" from the tip. I think he tells me, they are also the ones who identified the maker.
At this point, I'm still VERY curious, and have no problem buying it even with a broken shaft. The "leather case" is probably worth more than he's asking.
He asks me to meet him at a grocery store near where he lives. So I drive about 30 miles to meet him. I keep telling myself it's too good to be true, and not to get my hopes up. But the storage locker part makes me think, just maybe!
I get there and he's holding a really cheap 1x1 vinyl case. This alone has me really skeptical now. When he opens the case I see a brass screw on tip/ferrule. I just wasted gas. Out of the case comes one of those cheap 3 piece made in Taiwan, sold for $19 new piece of junk cues. This one is old, battered, and has a non-maple shaft. My heart sank, but I had convinced myself not to expect a Barenbrugge. I tell the guy that I really have no use for the cue, not interested. I could sense the disappointment. But I'm the one who took over an hour of my time and drove 60 miles round trip to look at a $5 flea market cue, advertised as a premier custom! But I just had to know...every once in a blue moon, you get lucky. Yesterday just wasn't that day.
Any of you Triangle area people who saw the ad, rest assured it wasn't worth the phone call!
I'm still completely confused as to where this guy got the Precision info from. Not even a beginning cue collector would make that mistake. And only a fool would try to pass it off as one. Although I have seen a unknown cue at a pawn shop, looked like a McDermott with the logo sanded off, being sold as a Southwest. Asking price was around $200. I told the pawnbroker, if that was a Southwest, I'd gladly hand you $200 right now. But that's not even close!
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. Some guy is supposedly betting high and blowing tons of money, but by the time I get there he was either broke or got wised up. I did catch a guy once who played me $20 9-Ball all day and night until he went broke (in California) and I won over $600. I was thrilled until about two weeks later I heard Brian beat the same guy for $3,000! 
