Pool Ball Collecting.

Louis Vuitton Billiards Set

Read this article at https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/louis-vuitton-billiards-set/ .

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Good evening, gentlemen. :)

Thank you so much for bringing my attention to those Louis Vuitton billiard balls! I'll be updating that page until they go on the market.

Best wishes,
RC.
 
Sometimes, there is no explanation for having a “set” of balls like this and the only two I can think of are for those pool-playing kids who showed signs of absolutely loving the monkey exhibit at the zoo and now endlessly talk of trips to the Congo before they truly disappear - and the other is when friends have quickly emptied that Johnnie Walker Blue 200th Anniversary bottle mistakenly for the Crown Royal you got from an a-Hole brother in law...

Pull these out:

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Time for some Monkey Business 3-Ball




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Good afternoon, K2K. :)

Beautiful pictures of that interesting 7 Ball game, sir? Was that lovely hexagon rack custom made by any chance?

I'm sure I have seen the specialist title ball somehow linked to the billiard historian, Charles Ursitti. Is this just my imagination, or does anyone have further information to share?

Mr Bond offered up a rather fetching variation with post 449 on this thread. :)

Best wishes,
RC.
 
Hello, Rubik’s!

The hexagon rack was indeed a custom rack from quite a few years ago and for the life of me cannot recall the details. Perhaps in future ball set pics, I can include some of the racks I’ve acquired along the way as well

As for the history of how the special 7 ball came into being, I am not certain. I have reached out to Aramith about this and haven’t any worthwhile information to share - yet. I’m not aware of any involvement of Mr. Ursitti with this particular ball - that warrants deeper investigation as well, sir.

I’m off to post 449...

~ K.


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Sometimes, there is no explanation for having a “set” of balls like this and the only two I can think of are for those pool-playing kids who showed signs of absolutely loving the monkey exhibit at the zoo and now endlessly talk of trips to the Congo before they truly disappear - and the other is when friends have quickly emptied that Johnnie Walker Blue 200th Anniversary bottle mistakenly for the Crown Royal you got from an a-Hole brother in law...

Pull these out:

020642200421d05d46dbf86d3ec32eb1.jpg


Time for some Monkey Business 3-Ball




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Thought I would offer up a quick overview of this (often viewed as) silly 3-Ball game. I know. I know. Playing with Monkey Balls doesn’t help that notion either.

3-BALL

Played over 3 to 5 innings.

Each shot you take is 1 point. Yes, including the break shot!

Each and every foul adds 1 point.

See how many shots (plus any foul points if any) it takes you to pocket all 3 monkey’s balls.

Example: break dry and then pocket each ball with one shot each. Score for that rack: 4

Next guy up.

Total over 3 to 5 racks when everyone has played.

Fewest points wins the pot.

And take that leftover bottle of Crown with you that no one touched after the JW 200th.






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Time for a little diversion from the standard sizes we’ve been posting here in the Pool Ball Collecting thread this past few years.

Getting back on a 3C table for some new challenges and appreciation for all cue sport games, I’ve picked up a few carom ball sets along the way to take with me and thought I’d share one of the “typical” modern offerings you’ll see when playing any number of the billiard/carom games: the unadorned Super Aramith Tournaments.

61.5mm @ a perfectly weight-matched 208 grams on the nose. Nearly Unbelievable. I had to verify and calibrate the scale to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me

Having a mass 25% greater than our typical 2.25” pool balls takes just a short time to get used to esp if you’re using a dedicated carom cue with a slightly shorter and stiffer shaft and taper. But what a wonderful adjustment it’s been.

To make the transition (and appreciate the larger balls) I’ve picked up the great game English Billiards to play on a standard pool table - with a widely accepted rule-set variation also adapted to play on our US sized pocket tables.

Amazing game. Amazing balls as always from Aramith. The Super Aramith Tournament carom set:

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Beautiful by Aramith as always, Mr K! :)

I've often had a yearning for their striking Prestige set with the red, yellow and white all spotted. The hefty price tag of $179 plus shipping and customs charges to the UK challenges my pocket a tad, unfortunately.

208 grams, eh? I shudder to think how my sixteen-ounce, seven-millimetre tip pool cue would fare against those monstrous leviathans!

Best wishes,
RC. :)
 
Hello RC -

I see the weather outside your door is exactly on par with ours here in Texas, sir. Right at a balmy 6°C/42°F. Perfect pool playing weather

Ah yes - the Super Aramith PRO-CUP Prestige 6-spotted superlative carom offering. I’ll have to post up a pic soon, sir

What I love about the unadorned set is that they glide across the baize with no indication of care, concern or effort - especially for playing the English Billiards game.

The PRO-CUP set looks incredible swirling about its path on the 5 by 10 Verhoeven 3C tables we have nearby and have the pleasure of playing on. Two completely different experiences when playing and comparing the spotted to the plain.

Any English Billiards gaming play for you over there in your neck of the woods, RC?

~ K.


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Good evening, K2K. :)

Alas, I haven't played English billiards (or snooker) for far too long. As you know, old chap, my health hasn't been great recently and both these elegant games involve quite a journey for me.

Bar billiards is another game I occasionally enjoyed in my youth. I wonder if any of the good folks of AZB have ever tried this most unusual of cuesports? Never hugely popular even in its heyday, bar billiards has all but disappeared over here in England so one would expect any tables in America are few and far between.

Best wishes,
RC.
 
Ah ha! The oft-forgotten Bar Billiards game, RC. I should have known you were leaving out a few surprises

9 holes in the table surface similar to bumper pool with various skittles placed in front of certain scoring holes - but the details I cannot remember. I have a few references at home I’ll have to look through - so in the interim, I’m recalling an old table I swear was a Bar Billiards version in my Aunt’s basement back in South Dakota way back. Smallish at around 3x6 or less wasn’t it?

Tell us about the game - and pull out that ball set which was used - we know you have one in that loft somewhere, sir

~ K.


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Good afternoon, K2K. :)

Like yourself, sir, it is so long since I have set eyes on a bar billiards table, let alone played a game, my recollection of the finer points are more than a little hazy. I'm sure you're correct about there being nine holes, three of which are guarded by wooden skittles (we used to call them mushrooms). The table had to be fed twenty pence in order to release the balls (seven whites and one red) and then players had fifteen minutes to accrue points before the 'bar' descended to block the ball return.

My fondest memory is that of the balls, barely smaller than the pockets themselves, taking a gratifyingly long time to wriggle down into the chute. It was rather mesmerising, reminiscent of a plump lady squeezing herself into a corset.

Best wishes,
RC.
 
Thank you once again, ladies and gentlemen, for keeping the thread alive with such fascinating billiard balls and beautiful photographs.

I'll endeavour to update the index soon... I'm stalling awhile as I happen to know K2K has one or two extraordinary discoveries to share. ;)
 
Putting the pressure on to get a few plastic rabbits out of the leather hat are you, dear RC? 🧐

This next set isn’t in the extraordinary category like the one following this one definitely can be classified as such, but it isn’t seen every day and surely not outside of a collectors hoard or a stuck-in-the-80’s-frat-guy’s dusty garage table...

The original issue Playboy Bunny logo ball set:

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This set was only available here in the USA through the magazine as far as I can find which tells a whole other story of the original buyers should you be lucky enough to find one. The seller I obtained these from would not give me any other details as to how they came to own them other than an emoji wink. I wonder if he’s the one that bought up all the bunny t-shirts too 🤨

These arrived in their original issue box and appear to have never been played. Flawless actually. Weights within 1.9 grams, which is amazing in itself considering the manufacturing challenges for inexpensive resin balls.

I think the most interesting thing about this Playboy Bunny ball set is the conversation that they generate around the table with stories from seeing the first magazine as a young kid here or there to finding the elusive rabbit head logo on such and such cover - and of course to the great editorial reviews and fiction within those iconic covers 🤭

They play well and clean up nicely even if only for one night.

~ K.


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Stay tuned for a truly extraordinary set later today...

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~ K.


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Good evening, K2K. :)

If anyone comes even close to guessing what lies within that case, sir, I'll be mighty impressed!
 
Anyone care to take a guess at the contents of Mr K's rather unpretentious black case?

I'll offer a cryptic clue: until last week I believed these extraordinary balls to be purely apocryphal. To discover a set actually existed was quite astonishing.
 
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