The High End of the Cue Market ????

JCIN

JCIN

TheActionReport.com
Gold Member
The JOB $50K South West thread got me to wondering. What is the very highest end of the cue market? To be honest I have never really paid attention to that end of the pool as it is too deep for me to play in. :D I have heard the " A guy in Japan traded a suitcase nuke and $2 mill for a one of a kind Dale Perry" stories. Just looking for a little realism.

I am curious as to the largest cash amount ever paid for a cue? I know it is hard to verify these things as people at that end of the market often expect a certain amount of discretion regarding their purchases. I am not talking about stories like Ernie turning down X amount for the ivory cue, but real, cash changed hands sales. The recent Boti on EBay is a good example.

I just do not see a whole lot of room for the JOB cue (or just about any other at this price) to go up in value. How many people who would like to purchase a cue in this range actually CAN? Personally I think I would rather have a handfull of Boti's, or a dealer case full of "regular" South Wests, maybe even a new Vette. $50K cash is a significant amount of scratch for most people.

Before everyone starts in on the stories about their friends who drop 50k on dinners in a month, most people I have met who are at this income level for real did not get there and stay there by taking flyers. For someone to buy a cue at this price point it seems investment would have to play a part.

I can see an astronomical price for one of Gus's or Bushka's masterpieces, to me they trancend the market, anything else just seems a little far fetched. Searing and DPK could probably touch the $30K realm (if they haven't already) based on their work and scarcity. Tony at Black Boar, and Ginacue, could maybe get in there as well.

So lets hear the stories. No names, just numbers, don't piss anyone off. If you know they want to remain confidential we should honor that.
 
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The Celtic Prince was the most expensive cue I ever saw a picture of.
I have an old Billiards Digest with it in it. It was the Cues as Art issue from about ten years ago.:)
 
CaptainHook said:
The Celtic Prince was the most expensive cue I ever saw a picture of.
I have an old Billiards Digest with it in it. It was the Cues as Art issue from about ten years ago.:)
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Same here. 'The Celtic Prince' made by Thomas Wayne apparently sold for $103,000 making it as far as I know, the most expensive pool cue sold to date.

McDermott does have an asking price on their Intimidator of $150,000 which we have listed on our website for them (no sale yet!) http://www.platinumbilliards.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_37_225&products_id=1002388
 
shanesinnott said:
Same here. 'The Celtic Prince' made by Thomas Wayne apparently sold for $103,000 making it as far as I know, the most expensive pool cue sold to date.

McDermott does have an asking price on their Intimidator of $150,000 which we have listed on our website for them (no sale yet!) http://www.platinumbilliards.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_37_225&products_id=1002388
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And they likely won't get it either unless they find some incredibly wealthy pool-player with bad taste, a penchant for Dungeons and Dragons, and a need for a channel for which to hide some of their money in. And even then, I'm sure that individual will look elsewhere.

As for the most expensive cues ever sold, the Celtic Prince was allegedly sold for over $100k but there was also another cue sold by another AZer that, if memory serves, went for close to double that. He can feel free to step forward and clear the air if he so desires.
 
I do not know the value, but King James Rempe had a cue in the late 80's early 90's that had some Diamonds and Ruby's in it.:)
 
The Thomas Wayne Celtic Prince cue never fetched even close to 100K. That was a rumor. The actual price the buyer paid was considerably less than half that amount (according to the cue collectors who were "in the know"). The Rempe cue was valued at $10K, even with the diamonds. Bludworth made a cue with a lot of diamonds, that I believe he got $25K for. Maybe he'll post about that. Joe Gold made his fanciest cue ever (the one on the cover of the Blue Book, 2nd ed.), that he said he wanted $50K for, but ended up selling to a lawyer for about $20K.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
CaptainHook said:
The Celtic Prince was the most expensive cue I ever saw a picture of.
I have an old Billiards Digest with it in it. It was the Cues as Art issue from about ten years ago.:)
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I don't know if that cue was really paid for and for that amount.
How much did the Lambros Dragon sell for?
Didn't Jackie Gleason's cue sell for over 100K too?
 
From Headspot-Billiards


This site talks about Meucci's SEs from 1 to 7, so it would appear to b about 8 years old.
Charlie

This is a quote from the following site:
http://www.headspot-billiards.com/info-cuemakers-meucci.htm

Meucci has also made some of the most intricate and ornate cues ever built. The Taj Mahal cue featured a bird's eye maple forearm with a scene depicting scrimshawed ivory elephants carrying treasures up an Indian ebony winding road. The cue was inlaid with lapis lazuli, bloodstone, and over 3-1/2 ounces of 14 karat gold. The cue took over 350 man-hours of labour to complete. Another famous Meucci cue was "The King James." Originally made for Jim Rempe, this cue was inlaid with gold, ivory, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. It sold new for $22,000, but has sold several times since, each time for more money. It is known to have sold for $40,000 and is rumoured to have brought $75,000.

 
JoeyInCali said:
I don't know if that cue was really paid for and for that amount.
How much did the Lam bros Dragon sell for?
Didn't Jackie Gleason's cue sell for over 100K too?
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Randy has gotten offers of 250k for the Dragon cue and will not sell it, it's the most intricate cue made to date is what I was told by Mike L.
 
Subsonic2u said:

This site talks about Meucci's SEs from 1 to 7, so it would appear to b about 8 years old.
Charlie

This is a quote from the following site:
http://www.headspot-billiards.com/info-cuemakers-meucci.htm

Meucci has also made some of the most intricate and ornate cues ever built. The Taj Mahal cue featured a bird's eye maple forearm with a scene depicting scrimshawed ivory elephants carrying treasures up an Indian ebony winding road. The cue was inlaid with lapis lazuli, bloodstone, and over 3-1/2 ounces of 14 karat gold. The cue took over 350 man-hours of labour to complete. Another famous Meucci cue was "The King James." Originally made for Jim Rempe, this cue was inlaid with gold, ivory, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. It sold new for $22,000, but has sold several times since, each time for more money. It is known to have sold for $40,000 and is rumoured to have brought $75,000.
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Rempe told me himself that the "King James" cost $10,000, an unheard of amount at that time. When it was first sold it went to a guy in California who paid $18,000, or so I heard. I have since lost track, so it may have been sold a number of times since.
 
i know you ask for no he say she say stories. But, I spoke to Tony Scanelli and he was commissioned to make a dragon cue for Lucky! Needless to say the thing is fabulous and made the cover of the cue calander! Per Tony "Lucky refused $100,000.00 plus!!!!

The Japan market has a little deeper pockets then the states if you ask me and over there the sky is the limit for the right cue by the right makers!

They seem to love certain makers better than others and Black Boar seems to be top dog and then southwest! These are just my observations and everyone is free to chime in becuase I have been wrong before!!!

kid
dynomite
 
Scott Lee said:
Joe Gold made his fanciest cue ever (the one on the cover of the Blue Book, 2nd ed.), that he said he wanted $50K for, but ended up selling to a lawyer for about $20K.
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i designed that cue. it was called "Trigger". but it wasn't his fanciest.
 
I believe the most valuable cue out there is the "Golden Bushka."

Number two would be the silver Gina with the matching box that Ernie made in 1966.

One of these cues will probably be the first cue to sell for $1,000,000. Its a matter of market timing, and which cue sells first.
 
skins said:
i designed that cue. it was called "Trigger". but it wasn't his fanciest.
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According to Joe, it was the fanciest cue he had made. This was several years ago, and if he's made a fancier one I haven't seen any pictures, nor heard anything about it...which means exactly NOTHING! :D When I used to rep his cues he let me go through all of his designs (trigger included), including ones he hadn't even made yet, and I never saw anything more elaborate than that one.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Cuaba said:
I believe the most valuable cue out there is the "Golden Bushka."

Number two would be the silver Gina with the matching box that Ernie made in 1966.

One of these cues will probably be the first cue to sell for $1,000,000. Its a matter of market timing, and which cue sells first.
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i saw the silver/ivory Ginacue a few months ago, it felt nice to hold it, Ernie wants $500,000 for it, I really dont think he wants to sell it-he has owned it for ever and its put him on the map as does all his other work. thats just my opinion, to me i think the right number for it is 250-300K. At that level its a narrow market, unless it crosses over to the art market then who know how high it could go.
 
I was witness to a sale of 16 high end cues this past weekend to one buyer. There were thirteen Szambotis, two Balabushkas and one Tad in the deal. Total value of the lot was just over 200K.

These were all prime examples of the above cuemakers, in very nice condition. Some had been refinished by Barry Szamboti. This will give you a more realistic picture of the TRUE value of ultra high end cues in the present market. The highest prices were attached to the Bushkas of course and they were valued in the 15K-20K range. Most of the Szambotis were valued at 8K to 12K.

I had the pleasure of hitting balls with all the above cues, and checking them for flaws. I must say they all (with one exception) played great, and the hit was clean and crisp. Gus Szamboti and George Balabushka knew something about how to make a cue that not only looked good, but played good as well. After all, these cues were made to play with, not to just admire.
 
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Lucky Gus Szamboti and all about the cash

I traveled to Hawaii in 99' Hawaiian Brians MY interest Rodney Morris and Szamboti There were about six Gus Szamboti cues I took pictures measured with digital calipers. The main man was aki he came from the back with what I was told Gus's personal playing cue! And then I measured used the calipers on a cue that Lucky Had offered him 75,000. He said he turned it down because he felt Luck would pay 100,000. He then brought out posters of lucky's Szamboti Collection. The Posters read Billiards Power House "Lucky" IWAO HI HINI 1999 and 2000 favorite collection. I apoligize for not being able to read all of Lucks name or not looking around. I also visited Richard Black around the same time He sold cues to the Japanese for lots of money. He put about twenty five cues on a nine foot and said half-million for all. His value as art and cues. With racks of shafts from Mizerak extra shafts. They Steve and Richard were argueing because the miz sold a black for 26,000. and Richard was mad. I also played with 3 other Richard Blacks that the Miz had for sale at the time. I do have the Szamboti Posters Has any one ever seen them. In 1999 Lucky had Power House Billiards 1-9.
 
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