Information Please Antique Billiard Balls
- Thread starter ProZack
- Start date
runouteasy
Banned
Those are Burt pool balls made of celluloid. Date back to 1880-1890's. The cueball is ivory.
The cuball is worth about $125-175, if looks like is has a few cracks. Ivory cueballs sell easy.
The ball set is real rough, but these are wall hangers anyway. You see sets and individual balls listed pretty high on ebay, but they never sell. I'd say the set is worth about $400-600. Then again if the right collector wants them they could pay more because these sets are very rare.
What else do you have>
The cuball is worth about $125-175, if looks like is has a few cracks. Ivory cueballs sell easy.
The ball set is real rough, but these are wall hangers anyway. You see sets and individual balls listed pretty high on ebay, but they never sell. I'd say the set is worth about $400-600. Then again if the right collector wants them they could pay more because these sets are very rare.
What else do you have>
Wow. How did the balls get so rough on their surfaces? I would think from wear of normal play they would get smaller in diameter but stay smooth as they wear?
It almost looks like they just came out of the mold (because the parting line is visible) and have not yet gone through the ball grinding process.
They look like plastic balls from a billiardette table. They are tiny. The tiny cue ball is adorable and I would buy that I need a heartbeat
runouteasy
Banned
Why do you guys think these are miniature balls? In the one photo there is a butt of a cue that give some idea of scale, they are full sized.
Do you guys know that the first plastic was invented by a man developing a non-ivory alternative for pool balls? In the early days of environmentalism. Prior to 1880 Billiards was a rich man's game. Development of non ivory balls helped bring pool to the masses.
J.W. Hyatt. John Wesley Hyatt, American inventor of celluloid. Hyatt was attracted to a 10,000 dollar prize offered for a substitute to ivory in the manufacture of billiard balls. He moulded pyrooxylin (partially nitrated cellulose) by dissolving it in a mixture of alcohol and ether and adding camphor. The product he named celluloid and it was patented in 1870. It was the first commercial plastic, and although used in billiard balls from 1875, the prize was not awarded. It found a variety of other uses but was replaced as less inflammable plastics were invented.
Do you guys know that the first plastic was invented by a man developing a non-ivory alternative for pool balls? In the early days of environmentalism. Prior to 1880 Billiards was a rich man's game. Development of non ivory balls helped bring pool to the masses.
J.W. Hyatt. John Wesley Hyatt, American inventor of celluloid. Hyatt was attracted to a 10,000 dollar prize offered for a substitute to ivory in the manufacture of billiard balls. He moulded pyrooxylin (partially nitrated cellulose) by dissolving it in a mixture of alcohol and ether and adding camphor. The product he named celluloid and it was patented in 1870. It was the first commercial plastic, and although used in billiard balls from 1875, the prize was not awarded. It found a variety of other uses but was replaced as less inflammable plastics were invented.
Kobachi
Scarred but Smarter
Because I believe I have a similar set. They are about half sized, as are the cues that also accompanied them. I'll try to dig them out and post a pic.
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My understanding is that Hyatt didn't want the prize as that would pass the celluloid rights to Collender and ultimately he made way more from other licensing of the product and his own ball manufacturing. Very interesting story.
Dave
They do look small for some reason, even compared to the butt of the cue. I read somewhere that back in the Civil War days a standard table was 12'.
Snooker balls are 2 1/8...pool balls are 2 1/4...3c balls are 2 3/8...yet put next to each other they seem hugely different...even though only 1/4" separates snooker balls from billiard balls. Interesting old set of balls Zack! :thumbup:
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Didn't those balls explode or something at times when hit together which is a huge reason that formula was no longer used? Wonder if Mr Bond has some news clipings of poeple getting injured with billiard ball shrapnel?
A guy sold some Russian Billiards balls (2 11/16 ") to a local pool hall. A buddy and I played some 9 ball with them on a tight table. Could hardly make a ball :lol:
Now and then I play on my 9' table with some miniature balls (a little over 1") ... makes the pockets look like buckets but they bounce (!) funny off the rails :thumbup:
Dave
I know about a story from June 1870 when Hyatt blew the back wall out of his facility...
And another story from Sept 1875 when some of his celluloid false teeth " exploded"..which was more like a pop than an actual explosion. ( Hyatt also found a great market for his plastics in false teeth)
But the exploding ball thing seems to be mostly an urban legend due to the volatile nature of the ingredients, production process, and of course a few accidents at the factory.
Obviously more stable versions of the plastics were developed right away.
Interesting bit about Hyatt..
http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/Peter-Kinnear-1822-1913-Owner-of-Albany-4984008.php
http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/Peter-Kinnear-1822-1913-Owner-of-Albany-4984008.php
It would be great if you can play with the set and report how they play? Maybe take a video if you are able to? I don't know of any video that exists before the modern phenolic balls.
That particular set would be greatly reduced in value if played with. The current surface condition makes them unplayable anyway. Excellent condition sets of "clay" balls exist.
I've played maybe 20 or 30 times with clay balls including long sessions of one pocket. I think their surfaces are more slippery than phenolic and they don't skid as often, but I never did an accurate comparison.