Sin City & High End Cues

Cannonball55

Cannonball55

This is cool
Silver Member
Hi,

I have a friend of mine who owns an authentic Szamboti as well as a rare Tad cue, he told me that he bought them in vegas , but that's not the reason why i am starting this thread . He told me that he purchased the cues from a jeweler/pawnbroker that he knew, and explained to me that this gentleman had the inside track on all of the higher end cues that were hocked . According to him, las vegas has a higher than normal percentage of top shelf consumer goods such as jewelry, electronics and of course pool cues .

I was just wondering, for those of you who have been to Vegas ( i have not ) is it true ? are the pawn shops over there like mini department stores ? just curious to know if there are any legs to this story :scratchhead:
 
A lot of good stuff gets hocked in Vegas, that's true.

But now with the internet, not much of it gets priced cheap.

I've heard stories of cues selling dirt cheap in pawn shops. But that was years ago, before pawnbrokers had access to pricing info on the internet.
 
Cannonball55 said:
Hi,

I have a friend of mine who owns an authentic Szamboti as well as a rare Tad cue, he told me that he bought them in vegas , but that's not the reason why i am starting this thread . He told me that he purchased the cues from a jeweler/pawnbroker that he knew, and explained to me that this gentleman had the inside track on all of the higher end cues that were hocked . According to him, las vegas has a higher than normal percentage of top shelf consumer goods such as jewelry, electronics and of course pool cues .

I was just wondering, for those of you who have been to Vegas ( i have not ) is it true ? are the pawn shops over there like mini department stores ? just curious to know if there are any legs to this story :scratchhead:
Click to expand...

I've checked several times during various trips, and nobody had anything worthwhile--just some cheap production cues.
 
When I lived there they never had much worthwhile. And when you wanted to dicker and deal they would turn into ass cracks...
 
I bought and sold a pile of cues in the pool rooms in vegas in the earily 90's. people would come in looking to sell them, the trick was being there all the time so your there when they walk into the door. I have a friend who has worked at a indoor shooting range he buys and sells lots of guns, people come in busted and want to sell their guns. He flips them or in some cases like AR-15's he uses them for parts.

Thesedays I dont know whats going on at the poolrooms because I never go to them, and if I do its for just a few minutes to get a bet down or something.
 
I remember a bunch of years ago my buddy called me from the pool room and asked me if he should go ahead and buy these cues some guy was selling. He wanted like 1400 for them. It was a matching pair of Black Boar cues. and i told him i didnt think so. another idiot moment.
 
Fatboy said:
...people come in busted and want to sell their guns. He flips them or in some cases like AR-15's he uses them for parts...
Click to expand...

That's good, because I'd hate to hear he was using for the intended purpose. (Although then again, living in Las Vegas you might just have to every so often.)

Seriously though, as with finding bargains at charity shops, garage sales, swap meets etc. the only method for consistent success is putting in the time searching as many places as possible as often as possible. Every so often you are guaranteed to find a bargain, but making it be worth more than the time you invested to find it is the problem.
 
About the only good deals I have found in pawn shops is on a few microphones. Most of the other crap is damn near retail in most of the shops I have looked in.

I found a nice D series Mcdermott in a shop once. It was one of the lower models with no points and I thought "Cool, I will buy that if its reasonable" I was thinking $150-$200.

The price: $500.

As I repeatedly LOL'ed in the sales troll's face I slowly left the store. My favorite part is when they get indignant when you laugh at the price all the while knowing they paid some crackhead or kid who jacked it from a car $30 for it.

That is my general experience with shopping at pawn shops.
 
> Depending on how long ago he bought that Szam,it might be the one Joe Blackburn lost when his whole trailer that contained his repair rig was jacked from the parking lot of the Riv,or wherever it was :(.

On the other hand,it seems like that cue was just the butt,no shafts,but it wouldn't be hard to come up with something to fit it.

I used to have good success getting cues from around the pawnshops in Memphis. I bought at least 25 reasonably clean,sometimes pristine Meucci's from all price points for 30-40 bucks,and sold them locally for sometimes 10x what I paid for them around the mid-90's :cool: .

I bought a "bundle" of 10 clean,playable Meucci shafts with different shaft collars,along with 6 that were unplayed and 2 warped ones for 150 bucks at the shop next door to The Rack :eek:.

The nicest cue I ever saw there was a pretty clean Schon with a BUNCH of ivory in it for 650,when an identical cue was 2400,but I was tapped at the time :frown:.

Since the internet became what it is,deals can still be found,but not if the manager can use a computer. The only shop in my town is run by a woman that has literally 30 different Blue Books on all kinds of pawnable items,jewelry,CUES,guitars,amps,electronics,guns,tools,just whatever.
Tommy D.
 
The days of getting a steal on a cue in a pawnshop are long gone, they have the book and ebay, they just look it up and see whats it worth.

Pawnshops pay pennies on the dollar and mark everything full retail as if it were new and most wont negotiate much if at all, I don't see how they sell anything except for ebay.
 
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