ScottR said:
I saw that one and howardthedick and I are both bidding on it. lol
Do you know if it is a Runde era cue? It looks like it to me, but I am no Schon expert.
First of all, I would like to say that the Schon on E-bay is well worth the buy it now price. The seller is a friend of mine and he's top notch. The colors are really attractive, the forearm has all kinds of figure, and you won't have to put any money into the cue because it's been nicely refinished and is ready to roll.
Runde Era:
Generally, the "Runde era" reference is to the sharp points and to the way the cues were built originally up until the late 1980's, early 1990's.
This is as opposed to later cues which were made with inlaid points (by pantograph) which show rounded edges. By the way, this is no slam on Evan Clarke, who builds a superior cue today.
Here is some brief info I put together on the early Schons:
http://www.palmercollector.com/Schon/SchonPage.html
The original line of Schons was introduced in 1981 and were made by Bob Runde, who was already an experienced custom cue maker at the time. His construction technique was basically the short splice forearm. The cues were very popular and demand continued to increase. The quality of the work is phenonmenal. I think he made as nice of a basic cue as anyone.
Technically, Runde was with the the company when they converted over to inlaid points in the late 1980's, early 1990's, so those are "Runde era" cues too - but that's not what everyone is talking about.
The old Schons play exceptionally well and are pretty consistent from cue to cue. The newer Schons play just as well. Looking at this cue, it's an R-6 and I would guess about 1987. Silver rings became standard instead of the stitched rings in 1985 (which could be oprdered) and they were making a lot of these cues by 1987.
The reason why I collect the old spliced point Schons is because of the quality of execution and craftsmanship required to make points like that, plus they are a thing of the past. They really are nice cues.
Chris