Larry "LaRue" Hymes was a cue builder in Tampa Florida, who learned from Ricco Cervantes and worked out of Robertson's Billiards for a short while in the 90's. He is listed in the 3rd edition of the Blue Book of Pool Cues, but it's just a short paragraph and no cue pics... It seems he was just getting started and noticed, then he moved away and I think there are really only a handful of people in the area here who know what happened with him afterwards.
Here are some photos of a pool cue that he was commissioned to make in the early 90's for someone named "Don" as indicated by the name in the butt. The gold is real, the diamonds are real, the rubies are real, and the onyx is real. Anything white you see on here is what you think it is. I'm told the stand-alone value of the just the gold and gems in this cue are valued at well over $4k on their own. Cue is 60" long (30" butt & 30" shaft) and weighs in at just over 21oz. The shaft was very well chosen old wood and It hits great.
AFAIK, this is the only one like this he made, and you can see the heavy influence from Rico's work in the design elements. photos of this cue exist on a pamphlet he had made for marketing purposes back in the day. While it's not necessarily my style, the cue is very striking in appearance and makes for one hellova conversation piece!
Here are some photos of a pool cue that he was commissioned to make in the early 90's for someone named "Don" as indicated by the name in the butt. The gold is real, the diamonds are real, the rubies are real, and the onyx is real. Anything white you see on here is what you think it is. I'm told the stand-alone value of the just the gold and gems in this cue are valued at well over $4k on their own. Cue is 60" long (30" butt & 30" shaft) and weighs in at just over 21oz. The shaft was very well chosen old wood and It hits great.
AFAIK, this is the only one like this he made, and you can see the heavy influence from Rico's work in the design elements. photos of this cue exist on a pamphlet he had made for marketing purposes back in the day. While it's not necessarily my style, the cue is very striking in appearance and makes for one hellova conversation piece!
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