I've been dabbling around with cues for awhile now and have had some interesting finds. Some good and some bad.
Once upon a time I picked up a marquetry cue that was described as a snooker cue. Another time I was playing in a tournament against a guy that had a broken new era Joss cue that was literally taped up on the forearm. The case the cue came in caught my eye. I asked him about it and he told me he'd won it in a pool game where a guy had been short five dollars. He was throwing it around and obviously had no respect for his equipment. He about choked when I offered him two hundred bucks for it. His best friend even caught me as I was leaving with the case and asked if I was crazy because his friend would have taken twenty bucks for it. He was literally laughing at my foolishness as I drove home with my newly acquired Harvey Martin case.
I've had a few experiences on the flip side, too. Once, a big collector and I bid on a very nice old cue that was supposedly ebony points on an ebony body. He beat me at the last minute and later called and said he'd give me the cue for what he had in it. When I got it, it was a painted cue! Sometimes greed just gets a guy...
I recently found this lot of three cues that just screamed "wrong", but I figured I'd go ahead and gamble, as there were some features that also had me curious. I just received the cues and frankly, it now has me wondering if I might have actually picked up something interesting.
The story I got was that a friend of a friend had lived next door to a well known cuemaker, who modified some old house cues for him. This cuemaker certainly doesn't usually do this kind of work and I have a feeling that what I bought were rejects or practice pieces. The only thing I don't understand is why the maker would have signed one of them. Maybe it was just an autograph for a neighbor? I have seen the maker's signature and there's a copy of it in the Blue Book that seems to have the same characteristics and looks pretty legit to me.
The weird thing is that the cues all have interesting features not usually seen and the maker in question is kind of well known for his innovative ideas.
Two of the cues have natural urethane bumpers and one has a dampening material stuffed in where the weight bolt area is.
One of the cues has what appears to be a thick plastic tape on the joint area and just above the buttcap that looks like an inlay template with pretty intense "ringwork" and tiny little patterns. The urethane buttcap on this cue has a couple initials engraved on it. It also has some hand cut little inlays done over the points that almost appear three dimensional.
One of the cues has a black hard rubber buttcap and bumper that have been turned out of the same piece of rubber. This cue also has some interesting initials that have been stamped into the wood and then ink was rubbed in to highlight them. One has lost the ink, but the initial is still visible due to the stamping.
I'd like to post a few pics with out the signature just to see if anyone has any clues as to the maker. Let's hear some opinions!
Steve
Once upon a time I picked up a marquetry cue that was described as a snooker cue. Another time I was playing in a tournament against a guy that had a broken new era Joss cue that was literally taped up on the forearm. The case the cue came in caught my eye. I asked him about it and he told me he'd won it in a pool game where a guy had been short five dollars. He was throwing it around and obviously had no respect for his equipment. He about choked when I offered him two hundred bucks for it. His best friend even caught me as I was leaving with the case and asked if I was crazy because his friend would have taken twenty bucks for it. He was literally laughing at my foolishness as I drove home with my newly acquired Harvey Martin case.
I've had a few experiences on the flip side, too. Once, a big collector and I bid on a very nice old cue that was supposedly ebony points on an ebony body. He beat me at the last minute and later called and said he'd give me the cue for what he had in it. When I got it, it was a painted cue! Sometimes greed just gets a guy...
I recently found this lot of three cues that just screamed "wrong", but I figured I'd go ahead and gamble, as there were some features that also had me curious. I just received the cues and frankly, it now has me wondering if I might have actually picked up something interesting.
The story I got was that a friend of a friend had lived next door to a well known cuemaker, who modified some old house cues for him. This cuemaker certainly doesn't usually do this kind of work and I have a feeling that what I bought were rejects or practice pieces. The only thing I don't understand is why the maker would have signed one of them. Maybe it was just an autograph for a neighbor? I have seen the maker's signature and there's a copy of it in the Blue Book that seems to have the same characteristics and looks pretty legit to me.
The weird thing is that the cues all have interesting features not usually seen and the maker in question is kind of well known for his innovative ideas.
Two of the cues have natural urethane bumpers and one has a dampening material stuffed in where the weight bolt area is.
One of the cues has what appears to be a thick plastic tape on the joint area and just above the buttcap that looks like an inlay template with pretty intense "ringwork" and tiny little patterns. The urethane buttcap on this cue has a couple initials engraved on it. It also has some hand cut little inlays done over the points that almost appear three dimensional.
One of the cues has a black hard rubber buttcap and bumper that have been turned out of the same piece of rubber. This cue also has some interesting initials that have been stamped into the wood and then ink was rubbed in to highlight them. One has lost the ink, but the initial is still visible due to the stamping.
I'd like to post a few pics with out the signature just to see if anyone has any clues as to the maker. Let's hear some opinions!
Steve
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