Long Time Voyeur - First Time Poster - Cue ID??

[BigDaddyInc.]

Thanks to all who have chimed in so far. Okay I received the following email from Rich Sluzalis (from susiecuebilliards) which unfortunately stated the following:

"The cue you have was distributed by Brunswick however is just a cheap import

With a world champions name on it. Just like the K-Mart Miz cues.

Yes it certainly does read Joe Balsis on the butt cap but Joe did not sign it.

It was a factory printed signature from a copy of Joe’s signature on

A line of inexpensive cues for the rail beaters

I sold about a 10 of the exact same cue. I even had the original cardboard store display that these cues were showcased in.

After Joe passed away, Eleanor Balsis, Joe’s widow, asked me to sell all of Joe’s billiard items, including the tangerine GC-1 in her living room that she absolutely hated and all the items that he accumulated throughout his professional pool career on. I had only 5 weeks to sell it all as she was moving out of state. She had no clue of the value of his billiard items.

The cue is not worth much even in good condition. The only reason the ones I sold on Ebay brought good money was because they were from the Balsis household and still in the plastic sleeves.

I wish I could have had a financially better answer for you but I only call them as I see em.

Best of rolls!

Rich Sluzalis"

Thanks for the input, good to know. But really that cue you have i can tell it's way better made than the kmart cues of today. I also have an old cue that was made well but it's not made by anyone of any importance apperantly but i keep it anyway who knows maybe someday i'll use it or sell it for cheap. It's not costing me anything to keep it lol!

 

[manwon]

Here we're going to start with stroking a few egos out there...it's been incredible to read the information from the hundreds and hundreds of cumulative years worth of experience on this forum. It's kinda fun to watch the 97% of the members who are extremely willing to share their knowledge and insight with not only layman (in other words...total idiots like myself), but often times direct business competitors. What a great community you guys/gals have created.

Alright, now that the ego stroking is out of the way (ha ha), I do have a question about a cue I picked up. My opinion is this is one of several thousand very inexpensive (okay cheap) Balabushka copies that have been made over the years, but thought I'd throw this out to the experts. The reason I'm assuming that is there is still a sticker on the butt that has faded and I can't make out the "signature" (I pick up on those little subtleties...). Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it.


Hello and welcome to the forum, after looking at your cue I can say that in my opinion there is way that it is a Balabushka. I don't think George ever used a 3/8-10 pin with a flat faced joint, also the weight bolt is not right for a Balabushka cue and it appears that the cue had a push in bumper which he also did not use.

I don't know who made the cue, but by the construction and the materials used I would say that it was made in the 1970's. The weight bolt looks like those used by Adam during that time frame, if the bumper was present it would help identify it completely. I believe the cue to be a signature series cue, I doubt that it was made specifically for Joe Balsis.

I suspect that I would keep it at least until the maker can be positively identified, however, that may never happen which is common for cues like this, I also don't know if it is an import or if it was made in the USA.


JIMO

 

[JAMSGOLF]

Here we're going to start with stroking a few egos out there...it's been incredible to read the information from the hundreds and hundreds of cumulative years worth of experience on this forum. It's kinda fun to watch the 97% of the members who are extremely willing to share their knowledge and insight with not only layman (in other words...total idiots like myself), but often times direct business competitors. What a great community you guys/gals have created.

Alright, now that the ego stroking is out of the way (ha ha), I do have a question about a cue I picked up. My opinion is this is one of several thousand very inexpensive (okay cheap) Balabushka copies that have been made over the years, but thought I'd throw this out to the experts. The reason I'm assuming that is there is still a sticker on the butt that has faded and I can't make out the "signature" (I pick up on those little subtleties...). Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it.


Hello and welcome to the forum, after looking at your cue I can say that in my opinion there is way that it is a Balabushka. I don't think George ever used a 3/8-10 pin with a flat faced joint, also the weight bolt is not right for a Balabushka cue and it appears that the cue had a push in bumper which he also did not use.

I don't know who made the cue, but by the construction and the materials used I would say that it was made in the 1970's. The weight bolt looks like those used by Adam during that time frame, if the bumper was present it would help identify it completely. I believe the cue to be a signature series cue, I doubt that it was made specifically for Joe Balsis.

I suspect that I would keep it at least until the maker can be positively identified, however, that may never happen which is common for cues like this, I also don't know if it is an import or if it was made in the USA.


JIMO

Thanks manwon. I have watched your input on a lot of the posts here over the last several months and always appreciate your insight. I never believed it to be a Balabushka only because I don't have that kind of luck (which is why I haven't entered any of the raffles to date...ha ha). According to an email I received, it is an inexpensive Brunswick import.

Okay, giddy school-kid moment, but I have to admit, this was kind of fun getting everyone's input/insight/knowledge. I have a lot more pool questions that I would love to ask...and will.

Thanks again for having such a great forum and great community members (with the exception of Tramp Steamer...he should know there's no room for humor or sarcasm now-a-days...just kidding)!!!

 

[TATE]

Here we're going to start with stroking a few egos out there...it's been incredible to read the information from the hundreds and hundreds of cumulative years worth of experience on this forum. It's kinda fun to watch the 97% of the members who are extremely willing to share their knowledge and insight with not only layman (in other words...total idiots like myself), but often times direct business competitors. What a great community you guys/gals have created.

Alright, now that the ego stroking is out of the way (ha ha), I do have a question about a cue I picked up. My opinion is this is one of several thousand very inexpensive (okay cheap) Balabushka copies that have been made over the years, but thought I'd throw this out to the experts. The reason I'm assuming that is there is still a sticker on the butt that has faded and I can't make out the "signature" (I pick up on those little subtleties...). Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I would really appreciate it.

I'm pretty sure it's an Imperial cue from Taiwan made in the mid to late 1970's. Some of these have Rich Q, Brunswick, etc. names on them. A lot of them come up here for ID and are often confused with Adam cues, which are much higher quality.

It's nice to see a signature sticker that survived all these years. This was an inexpensive "fancy" cue.

Chris