Unknown cue with WICO blank

jkmarshall_cues

jkmarshall_cues

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Unknown cue with WICO Points

This cue has a 5/16-18 stainless steel pin and joint collar. It has aluminum inserts in the shafts with ivory ferrules. It also has polished aluminum sleeves as part of the ringwork. One shaft is about 13mm and the other is closer to 12mm. The butt length is 28 3/4" and each shaft is the same not including the leather tip. One of the aluminum rings on one shaft is 3/8" and the other is 5/16" in length. It has what I believe to be WICO points with the plastic veneers and ebony darts. It came from the East Coast and was supposedly won as a prize in 1962 at the Johnson City tournament (according to the widow, the year could be wrong however). The fit and balance is excellent. Any ideas as to who the maker is/was??
Thanks,
John
 

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jkmarshall_cues said:
This cue has a 5/16-18 stainless steel pin and joint collar. It has aluminum inserts in the shafts with ivory ferrules. It also has polished aluminum sleeves as part of the ringwork. One shaft is about 13mm and the other is closer to 12mm. The butt length is 28 3/4" and each shaft is the same not including the leather tip. One of the aluminum rings on one shaft is 3/8" and the other is 5/16" in length. It has what I believe to be WICO points with the plastic veneers and ebony darts. It came from the East Coast and was supposedly won as a prize in 1962 at the Johnson City tournament (according to the widow, the year could be wrong however). The fit and balance is excellent. Any ideas as to who the maker is/was??
Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

The short points colors and joint look a lot like a Viking But there used to be a cue called National that also looked very much like that cue.
 
Looks like a Ricco Cervantes-made cue, under the National Tournament Cues brand. The chamfered machining of the SS joint is very rare but very common on his cue sticks.
Deno
 
jkmarshall_cues said:
This cue has a 5/16-18 stainless steel pin and joint collar. It has aluminum inserts in the shafts with ivory ferrules. It also has polished aluminum sleeves as part of the ringwork. One shaft is about 13mm and the other is closer to 12mm. The butt length is 28 3/4" and each shaft is the same not including the leather tip. One of the aluminum rings on one shaft is 3/8" and the other is 5/16" in length. It has what I believe to be WICO points with the plastic veneers and ebony darts. It came from the East Coast and was supposedly won as a prize in 1962 at the Johnson City tournament (according to the widow, the year could be wrong however). The fit and balance is excellent. Any ideas as to who the maker is/was??
Thanks,
John
Click to expand...


are the inserts steel or aluminum?
 
The shaft inserts are aluminum. The joint pin and collar on the butt are stainless steel. Thanks for your information.
John
 
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Viking 3, National Tournament 4

jkmarshall_cues said:
This cue has a 5/16-18 stainless steel pin and joint collar. It has aluminum inserts in the shafts with ivory ferrules. It also has polished aluminum sleeves as part of the ringwork. One shaft is about 13mm and the other is closer to 12mm. The butt length is 28 3/4" and each shaft is the same not including the leather tip. One of the aluminum rings on one shaft is 3/8" and the other is 5/16" in length. It has what I believe to be WICO points with the plastic veneers and ebony darts. It came from the East Coast and was supposedly won as a prize in 1962 at the Johnson City tournament (according to the widow, the year could be wrong however). The fit and balance is excellent. Any ideas as to who the maker is/was??
Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

As Deno said, most likely one of Ricco's cues
Alum rings and inserts are typical of his work

there were Viking models with WICCO fronts in those days<60s - 70s>
but, IIUC they all had 3 points

Dale Pierce
 
Deno J. Andrews said:
Looks like a Ricco Cervantes-made cue, under the National Tournament Cues brand. The chamfered machining of the SS joint is very rare but very common on his cue sticks.
Deno
Click to expand...

I agree, National Cue with a WICO blank, circa about 1968 Chicago. This was an unusual operation that brought together the most talented Chicago cue makers of the time.

The shoulder-less aluminum shaft inserts, Wico blank, and buttcap style are the give aways. You can find the history in the new Blue Book in bits and pieces, page 551 "National Cues", page 98 Adam Cues (Helmstetter ran it), page 668 "Ricco", and page 517 "Meucci".

These cues were heavily influenced by the designs of Doc Fry, Frank Paradise, and Harvey Martin. If you look at the styles of the first catalog Adam Cues, you will see similar designs that Helmstetter carried over.

Chris
 
WOW!!
Great information everyone. Now, for the rest of the story, is this cue worth restoring? And, who would you recommend do it??
Thanks,
John
 
jkmarshall_cues said:
WOW!!
Great information everyone. Now, for the rest of the story, is this cue worth restoring? And, who would you recommend do it??
Thanks,
John
Click to expand...

I don't think there's any question that it would be worth putting a few hundred into it for a refinish and wrap. It probably doesn't matter who does the work as long as it's a quality job.

Why don't you e-mail Marco Cervantes (Ricco's son) at philo1219@sbcglobal.net or call him at (630) 881-8353 (Illinois) to see if he can positively ID the cue and recommend someone for the work.

Chris
 
TATE said:
I agree, National Cue with a WICO blank, circa about 1968 Chicago. This was an unusual operation that brought together the most talented Chicago cue makers of the time.

The shoulder-less aluminum shaft inserts, Wico blank, and buttcap style are the give aways. You can find the history in the new Blue Book in bits and pieces, page 551 "National Cues", page 98 Adam Cues (Helmstetter ran it), page 668 "Ricco", and page 517 "Meucci".

These cues were heavily influenced by the designs of Doc Fry, Frank Paradise, and Harvey Martin. If you look at the styles of the first catalog Adam Cues, you will see similar designs that Helmstetter carried over.

Chris
Click to expand...
You know you mentioning Chicago, if you look at the butt it looks a lot like a Burton Spain blank, the colors and all.
 
Didn't Burton Spain experiment with WICO forearms, or didn't he try making his own plastic veneers at one time early in his building career?? That is what this cue has, plastic seemless veneers. It's very rare to see these from what I understand, rare but not necessarily valuable. I have an older Viking with 3 points exactly the same color configuration in the points, however the wood in the Viking points are rosewood instead of ebony as is this unknown cue. i know the year would be wrong saying 1962 to be a Spain.
John
 
That is the hallmark of a WICO forearm - there is no miter on the white veneers - they are one solid piece. As far as I know, Burton never built them this way - but he did discuss vinyl veneers in his manuscript I recall, toward the end of it. I left my copy of his manuscript in my office - I can look it up next week if nobody else chimes in.

Chris
 
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