Thrift shop finds

[asmith74]

I travel allot and love antiques. The thrill of finding a cue or billiard collectible is worth the time of going through many shops at least for me. It is interesting how a person can train himself to quickly see cue stick shaped things in a booth full of crap. I even get a feeling if a store is going to produce a treasure or not. I wish I were right 100 percent of the time. I found a cue in a store in Denver once that someone had stirred a five gallon can of blue paint with the butt end and I decided to pass on it. I went back to the store three years in a row and saw the same cue, finally I bought it for $12.00. I stripped the paint off of it and could barely read the name Brunswick. It was a Brunswick cue made by Schmelke, I made a new buckhorn ferrule and matching joint and still have that cue today. The cue is in great shape and straight as an arrow and I figure it to be worth about $20.00. It was fun rebuilding it and I would do it again.

Thanks man, That's exactly what i'm thinking about. I don't expect to find a 2,000 dollar cue for 10 bucks. I'm just thinking that there may be some pretty good cues that can be brought back to life out there. I'm saving for a lathe. I think it would be fun to rebuild a distressed cue butt and throw a nice shaft on it and then maybe you've got something.

 

[Sweet Marissa]

I have found 2 joss cues in 2 different pawn shops here. both were way overpriced. Thats it for anything worth squat and i go to pawn shops quite frequently.

I think that's probably because the average person who doesn't know jack about pool knows that Joss and Meucci are the best cues in the world

 

[poolcuemaster]

I watched pawn stars last night with the 1600's treasure chest and was wandering if they have a few South West in the store. They wouldn't be cheap since Rick pays an expert on anything he don't know for sure.--Leonard

 

[Run the Century]

Pawn Stars

I dont know if any of you guys saw but on one of the episodes I saw the "Blue Book of Cues" third edition on his shelf.

 

[pool101]

My buddy garage sales almost every Sat am., two weeks ago he was right behind a guy who bought 3 ivory cue balls from a woman who's dad had a pool hall years ago.
The price......$3.00....
go figure.

 

[Ball Banger]

I travel allot and love antiques. The thrill of finding a cue or billiard collectible is worth the time of going through many shops at least for me. It is interesting how a person can train himself to quickly see cue stick shaped things in a booth full of crap. I even get a feeling if a store is going to produce a treasure or not. I wish I were right 100 percent of the time. I found a cue in a store in Denver once that someone had stirred a five gallon can of blue paint with the butt end and I decided to pass on it. I went back to the store three years in a row and saw the same cue, finally I bought it for $12.00. I stripped the paint off of it and could barely read the name Brunswick. It was a Brunswick cue made by Schmelke, I made a new buckhorn ferrule and matching joint and still have that cue today. The cue is in great shape and straight as an arrow and I figure it to be worth about $20.00. It was fun rebuilding it and I would do it again.

Cuebuddy

I bought a Brunswick Willie J Hoppe brand new in about 1959. Wished I still had that cue. If I remember correctly it was under $ 50, maybe even closer to $ 25. I seem to remember it had a different kind of Bumper on the Butt???

While we hear a lot of stories about great second hand finds. A guy I know is forever pick up junk. He must have over 50 cues and not one of them is worth a dollar. 5 piece Cues and old Cane cues are interesting to see but never played worth a dam.

Here in Florida AKA God's Waiting Room, there are a number of Estate sales. The problem is the Professional get there first and pick over all the bargains.

 

[Cuebuddy]

I know the feeling Ball Banger, most of the cues here are not worth much. As you can see I am not much for selling cues once they enter the collection:embarrassed2:. I have given a few away over the years mostly to kids who show a early fascination with the game. Of course I don't want to make anyone think that all these were junk store finds but about half are.

 

[Ball Banger]

Cuebuddy

Look at the Butt cap or Bumper on the Brunswick Cue with the Blue Label on the right hand side of your picture. I have never seen a Bumper like that on any other cue stick. Even Predator who copied that Cue didn't keep the same Bumper. They also made the Butt thinner than the original and added a uni lock joint to keep it modern technology.

As much as I loved that Cue, It might be best I never hit with one again in fear of blowing my memories of that cue. However you must like it because you use it as your avatar. Is that your Player????

Actually not being a cue collector myself, your collection is a good one IMHO. I see a few Titlist that are quite old.

 

[pwd72s]

We love that show!

Did you see the guy with the Cobra chassis? He got it for FREE and took it in to pawn.

Something really fishy about that one. You see, Carrol Shelby runs a
semi factory in Vegas, making aluminum bodied re-creations of his cars
made in the 60's. Since they are made by Shelby, they are
"Shelby Cobras", but they aren't really original Shelby Cobras, if you get my drift.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Cuebuddy

Look at the Butt cap or Bumper on the Brunswick Cue with the Blue Label on the right hand side of your picture. I have never seen a Bumper like that on any other cue stick. Even Predator who copied that Cue didn't keep the same Bumper. They also made the Butt thinner than the original and added a uni lock joint to keep it modern technology.

As much as I loved that Cue, It might be best I never hit with one again in fear of blowing my memories of that cue. However you must like it because you use it as your avatar. Is that your Player????

Actually not being a cue collector myself, your collection is a good one IMHO. I see a few Titlist that are quite old.

Interesting observation Ball Banger, I do break this cue out now and then. It plays fine, mo rattles or buzzes. It is perfectly straight and I use the shaft that I made. Having typed that......it is not my daily player although interestingly enough I use a Predator sneaky pete. It is a Hoppe style cue and even has a faux ivory ring, it is on the far left and upside down. I think a thinner butt is a good thing in more then one way. When I play with the vintage sticks they feel so fat that it is on my mind when I shoot(not a good thing). As for my avatar I change that more then my socks and its going to get worse next week. Thanks for the compliment on the collection. When I joined the forum 2 years ago I was proud of it but was quickly humbled by the big dogs. And yes there are three Titlists there that I bought for $4.00 a piece. When I got them I did not know squat about Hoppe or the cues, in fact for a few days I thought that the original owners name was Wilie Hoppe and he put his name on them:embarrassed2:
This cue also has a stamp on it that I have heard that it means that it was made in Europe????. Here are a few more pics.

 

[david(tx)]

Something really fishy about that one. You see, Carrol Shelby runs a
semi factory in Vegas, making aluminum bodied re-creations of his cars
made in the 60's. Since they are made by Shelby, they are
"Shelby Cobras", but they aren't really original Shelby Cobras, if you get my drift.

I like the show , but thats what it is , a show, and some of those are set-ups. Same thing with Antiques Road Show. When you see a person on there that dresses well and seems some what intelligent that doesn't know what something is worth and it just happens to be worth a 100,000 , come on.


I think the show producers get some of the appraisers to get people to show up to spice up the program plus the people who just want to be on television or show of a family heirloom.

 

[david(tx)]

I know the feeling Ball Banger, most of the cues here are not worth much. As you can see I am not much for selling cues once they enter the collection:embarrassed2:. I have given a few away over the years mostly to kids who show a early fascination with the game. Of course I don't want to make anyone think that all these were junk store finds but about half are.

Nice collection Cuebuddy , have you ever run across any cues that promote businesses?Maybe the butt is painted with a company logo or something? I'm not talking Budweiser , i mean a smaller or regional business. I feel that might have some value if not many were made.

 

[9-ball B]

I found a Bludworth cue for $50 at a pawn shop in Salt Lake City years ago. I turned around and sold it for $325 2 weeks later.Never found another deal like that in a pawn shop.
I did buy an original Brunswick Jewel pool table from a guy who found it in a dumpster locally for $2000.I gave it to a friend who had a buyer for it,and we got $18000 for it as-is(it looked like hell too!).

 

[Tommy-D]

> I never found any high-grade stuff in the one next door to The Rack in Memphis,but I'd bet I bought and resold 75 Meucci's over the years and never paid over 100 bucks for them. The nicest one I ever got was the original version of the DH-3 or Star of David,with 2 practically pristine shafts for 100 even and no tax,resold to a local guy at the time for 500.

I bought a bundle of Meucci shafts (pre-dot) for 100 bucks with 6 unplayed shafts in there that I sold to various players for 100 each,and 12 others I cleaned up and resold for as much as 80.

Plain-jane Meucci's were in constant supply there,and in demand in places closer to home. I could usually get a plain-jane for 40 bucks,and not long after they came out with the European series those were usually 50,sometimes with just a few hours of play on them. Tommy D.

 

[LWW]

I love pawn shops and thrift stores.

A PS is much more likely to know the real value of something ... but if you spot something and don't want to pay the desired amount, come back in a month. They are a business where turning their money is key to success similar to a used car lot.

Thrifts are far less likely to have a valuable cue, but far more likely to think it's junk.

I did pick up a Meucci Originals for $15 in a thrift once.

LWW

 

[uwate]

My Mom was big into going to estate auctions in the late 80s/early 90s. I was in school in California at the time. One time she called me long distance (back then there were no cell phones really) and tells me she is at this auction where the DEA was selling off the furnishings of a forfeited drug dealers house on Miami Beach. She tells me that they have this brunswick 6x12 snooker table in the house. She asks me if I want it. Well jeez I tell her...im in Berkeley, what am I going to do with a 6x12 table? She sighs and says well its going absolute auction, no reserve with an opening bid of $1. The table ended up selling for $1 for the only bidder who was willing to deal with the terms of must remove all property within 24hrs. My Mom still reminds me of that deal on occasion. Nowadays that would never happen. People would snap camera phone pics, email/text/call and then just like that there would be 15 people there wanting to bid.

 

[Sweet Marissa]

Something really fishy about that one. You see, Carrol Shelby runs a
semi factory in Vegas, making aluminum bodied re-creations of his cars
made in the 60's. Since they are made by Shelby, they are
"Shelby Cobras", but they aren't really original Shelby Cobras, if you get my drift.

They took it to a guy's shop that knows Shelbys and it was revealed to be authentic. Something about a number sequence engraved on the inner side.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Nice collection Cuebuddy , have you ever run across any cues that promote businesses?Maybe the butt is painted with a company logo or something? I'm not talking Budweiser , i mean a smaller or regional business. I feel that might have some value if not many were made.

No I have not. I have seen many ash trays and 8 ball cigarette lighters that would promote local businesses but never cues. These were common back in the day.