Rambow Cue? Opinions welcomed. Selling soon.

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Phylo

New member
I recently purchased this cue in a pawn shop. I don't play nearly as much as I used to, but I knew that this was a high quality piece, the price was right, and I bought it.

There is no maker's name on it, but after some internet research, it looked to have the earmarks of a Herman Rambow.

I sent pictures to a man who is known and respected on this board and in pool circles (I won't quote him by name without his okay). He said that it appears to be a Rambow built in the mid 60's, ivory butt, Cortland wrap.

Here's the link to photos:

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii152/meridian_t/

The first thumbnail is a slide show that is kind of annoying, the others are still photos.

I'll probably be selling this cue, but I'd like to find out more about it first. This is far more stick than I need, and it should be in the hands of a better and more deserving player than me!

I welcome your comments, questions, and opinions.
 
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Looks like you might have hit the jackpot. I am no Rambo expert, but it appears to be an original condition one, to me. I would PM people like Deno J. Andrews, Tate and Runscott. They have much more experience with those cues, and if they don't know the answers, they know who does. On the down side, I have never personally seen them go for the kind of money that the Blue Book says they will, either, but certainly a cue worth some money, depending on how good a deal you got on it in the first place.
Joe
 
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Bamacues said:
Looks like you might have hit the jackpot. I am no Rambo expert, but it appears to be an original condition one, to me. I would PM people like Deno J. Andrews, Tate and Runscott. They have much more experience with those cues, and if they don't know the answers, they know who does. On the down side, I have never personally seen them go for the kind of money that the Blue Book says they will, either, but certainly a cue worth some money, depending on how good a deal you got on it in the first place.
Joe
Click to expand...

Someone told me once that Deno Andrews and Paul Rubino can authenticate Rambow cues.
 
Wow !

Unless you are really hurting for money, I would hang onto it and pass it down to the kids or save it for a rainy day. Right now, the market is a bit soft for cues in general. That may not be the case for vintage collectibles like Rambos and Balabushkas,etc. But why sell in a softer market if you don't have to? In the meantime, you could take your time and send it out to get an authentication letter done on it which will only help the price when you do sell. I have no doubts on its authenticity only because I have seen a couple real Rambos owned by others. One just so happened to have some very rare inlay work in it and and an ivory butt cap like yours and was stolen. The owner was so sick because it had been in his family from day one for 3 generations. Good luck with the sale.

Nice cue!
 
The negatives I can see from the pics is it looks like someone inked over the original penciled name when they refinished the cue. The names and initials were originally done in pencil and the lines were not this bold or even. The lettering looks about right. The cue looks like it was refinished long ago (Rambow didn't clear coat over the ivory butt cap, and you can see where some clear overlapped the black joint collar). I think this cue was made in the late 1950's, since it doesn't have a ring above the buttcap.

Unaltered, this would be a $2000 - $2500 cue if it's pretty straight, but if I'm right about the inscription ink over, it's going to knock a decent chunk off the value. It might get maybe around $1800 on E-Bay.

It would be very helpful to have some provenance on this cue. This would help you to sell it. Maybe you can find out who Frank James Wolf Jr. is.

Chris
 
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Phylo said:
I recently purchased this cue in a pawn shop. I don't know much about cues, and I don't play much any more, but I saw that it was a quality piece, the price was right, and I bought it.

There is no maker's name, but after some internet research, I thought it had the earmarks of a Herman Rambow.

I sent pictures to a man who's name is known and respected on this board and in pool circles (I won't quote him by name without his okay). He said that it appears to be a Rambow built in the mid 60's, ivory butt, Cortland wrap.

Here's the link:

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii152/meridian_t/

The first thumbnail is a slide show that is kind of annoying, the others are still photos.

I'll be selling this cue soon, probably on eBay. This is way more stick than I need, and it really deserves to be in the hands of a better player than me!

I welcome your comments, questions, and opinions.
Click to expand...

Please show a clear photo of the signatures on the shafts and the Butt. I suspect that the cue is also a Rambo. The over all condition is also not bad for the cues age, and I would not touch it in any way. I would have to see the signatures straight on though to be certain if it is authentic.

I do however, suspect at this point that you certainly found a great classic cue. I would think in the current condition and market the cue will sell between $1500 to $3000 depending upon who is interested, and when it is offered.

Good luck, and please post or send the additional photo's to fullsplicebilliards2@comcst.net.

Thanks very much for posting!!!!!!
 
Mr Hoppe said:
Someone told me once that Deno Andrews and Paul Rubino can authenticate Rambow cues.
Click to expand...

You are correct, in fact Deno Andrews has a Very Very Large collection of Rambo's.
 
Tate hit some good points, and missed one or two as well. From the pics, it looks like a Rambo, but it's also possibly a 'clone'. The writing is mainly where my skepticism lies. Every thing else was optional from Brunswick and cannot be relied on alone.

I'd skip Deano on this one and go straight to Paul Rubino.
 
Thanks, everyone, for the responses. I'll get some better pictures of the inscription and add those to the link.
 
yeah how bout it , every pawnshop i go into has nocues or they have the classic redneck budweiser cue from walmarts for like 10 bucks

i wish i could find a deal waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


i do know a fellow friend of mine who found a tim scruggs cue in a box on side of road like 10 years ago . he still has it .
 
A little off subject

There is a guy who comes into the poolroom here that has got some amazing deals at pawnshops.

To tease me even more he keeps the friggin reciepts to show me what he has paid.

I have seen:

Titlist Gina
Josswest
Richard Black
Paradise

And each of these cues were purchased for less than $100.

UGH:rolleyes:

ken
 
Ken_4fun said:
There is a guy who comes into the poolroom here that has got some amazing deals at pawnshops.

To tease me even more he keeps the friggin reciepts to show me what he has paid.

I have seen:

Titlist Gina
Josswest
Richard Black
Paradise

And each of these cues were purchased for less than $100.

UGH:rolleyes:

ken
Click to expand...


ummm where do you live ,and where are these pawn shops ???:D ;)
 
manwon said:
Please show a clear photo of the signatures on the shafts and the Butt. I suspect that the cue is also a Rambo. The over all condition is also not bad for the cues age, and I would not touch it in any way. I would have to see the signatures straight on though to be certain if it is authentic.

I do however, suspect at this point that you certainly found a great classic cue. I would think in the current condition and market the cue will sell between $1500 to $3000 depending upon who is interested, and when it is offered.

Good luck, and please post or send the additional photo's to fullsplicebilliards2@comcst.net.

Thanks very much for posting!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Hello, will you please post some clear photo's of the signature, something looks funny about it!!!
 
manwon said:
Hello, will you please post some clear photo's of the signature, something looks funny about it!!!
Click to expand...

Craig,

I am totally convinced the writing is real and the cue is a Rambow. He now has some good inscription pics on the web site. Here's one:

Rambow_Inscription.jpg


The only question I had was if someone inked over the inscription. Now I am incined to think from this pic the inscriptions are original. However, I wonder if the shafts were made at a different time or in fact belonged to different cues, or one shaft was for Sr, and one for Jr. Notice on shaft has "Jr." on it and the other doesn't.

I have seen other Rambows with this thicker writing style. The lettering is consistent with samples I have of other Rambow inscriptions. I have no doubt this cue is genuine. I am pretty sure it's been refinished, however, but a long time ago.


Chris

FYI here is a close up of mine with more typical penciling. This belonged to player Mark Haddad's father. Notice the older style joint:

Rambow_2.jpg
 
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I have three Rambow cues that came from the estate of Donald T. Owens. The cue with the Rambow signature is a purpleheart titlist. I have a couple of shafts with the initials to go with it.
John



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Might be fun to have a "show us your Rambow's" thread in the gallery . . . Cuesblues has a few too.
 
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