Szamboti? Any help?

C

chrisklenox

Registered
Well I have this cue... I thought for sure that it was a Balabushka, but I sent it to Pete Tascarella and he says it is not. He told me to contact Barry Szamboti, which I am doing but I wanted to see if anyone here can more or less tell me what this is. Any thoughts? I need to sell this and will be doing so soon. I just need to get a letter of authenticity, etc. I want to ship this as few times as possible so any help is greatly appreciated!
 

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I'm no expert but it does looks like a conversion, probably of a Titleist but I can't tell for sure without a close up of the veneers. I'm sure some guys with way more knowledge than me will chime in.
 
Here are the others. Sorry about that.
 

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It certainly is a nice conversion no matter who made it. As long as it plays to your liking, then you're a lucky guy.
 
Pete also knows Szamboti's very well. Did he offer an opinion about that possibility? I'm no expert but it doesn't look like a Szam to me either. Like others have said, a nice conversion and that's about it.
 
jay helfert said:
Pete also knows Szamboti's very well. Did he offer an opinion about that possibility? I'm no expert but it doesn't look like a Szam to me either. Like others have said, a nice conversion and that's about it.
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Pete said that one of the shafts are Szamboti (funny enough, that shaft is warped, and is not original) but he did not know otherwise. If this is a conversion what would the ballpark value on that be? I love the stick but am needing money. If the value is not super high, I would much rather hang on to this guy. Whatever it is, it plays amazingly well.
 
dont look like a Szam to me, but the pics are hard to tell, so I plead the 5th. And show it to some guys that know, I am kinda in the know but because the pics are difficult and its a real real old one-that takes me out of being able to help you.

What I can do is steer you into the guys who will KNOW.


either way its a dandy of a cue, and a keeper,

best

eric
 
Brunswick Titlist or 26.5 conversion for sure, "maker," unknown. Experts will probably want close-ups of the joint pin, shaft inserts, bumper, and butt with bumper off. As a conversion with an unknown maker, value would be about $400 in this condition, and this market, IMO.
Good luck.
 
I would say for sure its not a Szam. looks to me like a conversion Brunswick or maybe a Hoppe. Your probably better off keeping it because in it's present condition, your not going to get much for it IMO.
 
Many of these old conversions will never be identified. The parts can be guess dated, which at least gives you a little to go on. Early Szamboti Titlists are very generic looking and are hard to identify - they resemble Balabushka's in overall dimensions, buttcap, etc. If Tasc said to send it to Barry, I would. He identified a shaft as a Szamboti - that may be the original shaft for all you know. The wrap could well be Szamboti.

I recently had a Szamboti Titlist in my hands and kept looking at the cue and looking - thought it might be a Balabushka but the joint was wrong. It was later identified as a Szamboti. To me the joint looks on this looks like like 1960's style or 1970's style - nickel silver. The original cue looks like 1930's to 1940's Brunswick Titlist or 26 1/2 to me, based on the veneer colors.

Can you measure the length of the handle itself, the length of the wrap channel, and the distance the wrap channel starts from the joint? On the original shaft, can you take a pic of the shaft insert? Can you show a photo of what the weight bolt head looks like - is it tapped for a bumper screw?

If you hold the cue up to the light and look closely at an angle, turning the cue, can you see an indentation from a weight stamp either between the prongs or on the butt itself?

Chris
 
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Mr Hoppe said:
Brunswick Titlist or 26.5 conversion for sure, "maker," unknown. Experts will probably want close-ups of the joint pin, shaft inserts, bumper, and butt with bumper off. As a conversion with an unknown maker, value would be about $400 in this condition, and this market, IMO.
Good luck.
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That's about what I thought. I was going to offer him something in that range.
 
Mr Hoppe said:
Brunswick Titlist or 26.5 conversion for sure, "maker," unknown. Experts will probably want close-ups of the joint pin, shaft inserts, bumper, and butt with bumper off. As a conversion with an unknown maker, value would be about $400 in this condition, and this market, IMO.
Good luck.
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With the case you may be looking at $500.
 
Pushout said:
Looks like a plain leather Fellini. Does it have the tag inside? My alligator one does.
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Just a gut feeling I think the case may be a Kelley case. They were a little trimmer then a Fellini. I have one sitting here and that looks like the same case.
 
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Pushout said:
Looks like a plain leather Fellini. Does it have the tag inside? My alligator one does.
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The case is indeed a Fellini.

Thanks for all of your observations on this folks. I am going to take some more photos and measurements as suggested and put those up within a few days.
 
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