Vintage butterfly cues

[Chopdoc]

Those last two with the brighter veneers...are they European? Maybe Italian?

The ash one is a snooker cue I am sure, and I am sure you know. As for those diagonal cuts, I have seen those before and don't think it is a repair. It's a design detail I think.


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[mr3cushion]

This butterfly carom cue was made for, Willie Mosconi by Frank Rosato to play in the 3C championship here in the USA in the early 50's. It was given to Charlie Ursitti by Willie, in turn Charlie gave it to me.

He also made the oak case.

 

[Mike81]

Most collectors have seen these pop up now and then, I bought two in Denver for $8.00. I thought I would just add them to my wall hangers but decided to make jump cues out of them. They are light and colorful and would be cool looking if done right.

I have an identical cue to yours with the ash shaft, any idea of its value? It’s for sale if anyone is interested btw.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Those last two with the brighter veneers...are they European? Maybe Italian?
The ash one is a snooker cue I am sure, and I am sure you know. As for those diagonal cuts, I have seen those before and don't think it is a repair. It's a design detail I think.


They are Italian as spaghetti:wink: These cues have a sticker on them that reads "Rutigliani". I have others that read Torino, they are nearly identical to each other.
Yes certainly a snoocah cue> with a 8mm brass ferrule. Thanks for your insight.

Here is an earlier link.

https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2624937#post2624937

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I have an identical cue to yours with the ash shaft, any idea of its value? It’s for sale if anyone is interested btw.

These cues pop up on ebay quite often and many times no one even bids. So not much value but hey! in a veneer starved world they are still cool.

 

[Cuebuddy]

This butterfly carom cue was made for, Willie Mosconi by Frank Rosato to play in the 3C championship here in the USA in the early 50's. It was given to Charlie Ursitti by Willie, in turn Charlie gave it to me.

He also made the oak case.

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Holy horizontal scroll 3C man that cue is awesome as is the back story. I will never own such piece of history. Thanks for sharing the info and the pics.

 

[Johnny Rosato]

This butterfly carom cue was made for, Willie Mosconi by Frank Rosato to play in the 3C championship here in the USA in the early 50's. It was given to Charlie Ursitti by Willie, in turn Charlie gave it to me.

He also made the oak case.

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WOW ~ I would love to have a cue made by Frank Rosato. I reckon y'all can understand why!

 

[trentfromtoledo]

Custom Butterfly by Dick Lanz in Toledo.
Dick made this cue for me, I came up
with the design and he made me a great
looking/ playing cue. Lucasi Hybrid shaft,
matched up to the butt.

Have a purple heart one that he is going to
make into a similar custom for my newborn
daughter Hannah. Going to be a special cue
and will celebrate the day I finally
give it to her.

Trent from Toledo

 

[SBC]

My next butterfly cue was found in the Pacific Northwest and it is a very odd cue to say the least. Maybe pt109 can shed some light on its crazy assortment of woods.
The snooker cue is made from a variety of hardwoods, I believe it to be at least 100 years old.

Orme and Sons made snooker tables from the mid 1800's to around 1935. They also made a few cues, this cue has a Ash shaft spliced into Macassar Ebony and Gaboon Ebony on two of the points. The third point looks to be Thuya burl but I suppose it could be something else completely, just a my guess. The last point is the strangest, it looks to be a Walnut point on the top and bottom but it has a piece of burl wood spliced into it in an angular fashion. I guess it could have been a repair but something tells me it was not.

Those are Vuala Torino cues from Italy.

 

[ShootingArts]

Nice finds!

I have always had a thing for butterfly cues, there were usually a few in the wall racks when I first started playing pool. Somehow they seemed a little classier than a four point cue and I always looked them over.

One oddball I have seen exactly one of, had about 29-30" of pro taper. The shaft portion went into the butt portion with a major step there. Looked like it would come apart but it didn't. Warped bad enough for WC Fields to use but it was only warped in one direction so I played with it sometimes just for chuckles. It was warped so bad it wouldn't roll over to check for straightness!

I played an hour or so yesterday with a house cue. Had a little scotchbrite, a brad tool, and a bit of leather in my pocket so I was good to go after the traditional quick roll on the table to see if the stick was more straight than not. The tip was all I really cared about but tradition is not to be ignored. I wasn't known where I stopped so there was a certain temptation to pick up the cue and carefully sight down it from both ends but there wasn't anyone in the side room I was playing in to appreciate my theatrics so I just went about my business.

Hu

 

[Mike81]

Working on my first cue ,the butt is almost complete. Love the butterfly cues so I had to have one. Problem was I couldn’t find one so I made one out of Birdseye and Cocobolo.

 

[Mike81]

One more pic

 

[trentfromtoledo]

One more pic

that thing is gonna be GORGEOUS!

Please post finished pics!

Trent from Toledo

 

[Cuebuddy]

I have always had a thing for butterfly cues, there were usually a few in the wall racks when I first started playing pool. Somehow they seemed a little classier than a four point cue and I always looked them over.

One oddball I have seen exactly one of, had about 29-30" of pro taper. The shaft portion went into the butt portion with a major step there. Looked like it would come apart but it didn't. Warped bad enough for WC Fields to use but it was only warped in one direction so I played with it sometimes just for chuckles. It was warped so bad it wouldn't roll over to check for straightness!

I played an hour or so yesterday with a house cue. Had a little scotchbrite, a brad tool, and a bit of leather in my pocket so I was good to go after the traditional quick roll on the table to see if the stick was more straight than not. The tip was all I really cared about but tradition is not to be ignored. I wasn't known where I stopped so there was a certain temptation to pick up the cue and carefully sight down it from both ends but there wasn't anyone in the side room I was playing in to appreciate my theatrics so I just went about my business.

Hu

Sounds like an odd stick for sure. I bet there are many "hole in the wall" places in your neck of the woods with a table or two. A few years ago Joey A and I traveled north out of New Orleans to stop by and see you and the area where you lived. As we drove next to lake Maurepas I looked down o\from the bridge we were on and saw a cool looking restaurant/bar with a party going on outside. This place looked like a fun time and I bet they had a barbox inside. I looked it up later and it was called "Gators Den" Next time I pass through I may stop just to check it out.

 

[Cuebuddy]

Some really nice custom cues showing up on this thread, thanks. Earlier this year I went through a group of 16 cues I bought on Ebay, there was a few treasures in them and one of which was a super fat Walnut into Maple butterfly joint cue,

This cue was very short so it made sense to convert it as it was straight as an arrow. The Walnut has a lot of figure in the grain with reddish and pink hues in the wood. I have added a Hoppe ring and an Ebony butt cap and will see how it turns out. The odd colors in the walnut accent the veneers colors which are maple/Salmon colored.

 

[ideologist]

Some really nice custom cues showing up on this thread, thanks. Earlier this year I went through a group of 16 cues I bought on Ebay, there was a few treasures in them and one of which was a super fat Walnut into Maple butterfly joint cue,

This cue was very short so it made sense to convert it as it was straight as an arrow. The Walnut has a lot of figure in the grain with reddish and pink hues in the wood. I have added a Hoppe ring and an Ebony butt cap and will see how it turns out. The odd colors in the walnut accent the veneers colors which are maple/Salmon colored.

This should be a fantastic shooter, nice cue and great colors

 

[ShootingArts]

You will need a boat!

Sounds like an odd stick for sure. I bet there are many "hole in the wall" places in your neck of the woods with a table or two. A few years ago Joey A and I traveled north out of New Orleans to stop by and see you and the area where you lived. As we drove next to lake Maurepas I looked down o\from the bridge we were on and saw a cool looking restaurant/bar with a party going on outside. This place looked like a fun time and I bet they had a barbox inside. I looked it up later and it was called "Gators Den" Next time I pass through I may stop just to check it out.

Pretty sure you will need a boat to get to the Gator's Den although you could flag somebody down on the weekend. There are maybe a half-dozen or so bars on Maurepas and in the general area that are only accessible by boat. I am pretty sure the Gator's Den is one of them. As you guessed, they pretty much all have a bar table or two I believe. Not much finer than to have a few brews, let somebody else pay for them hitting a few balls, and watch pretty girls in bikinis everywhere!

My favorite area bar was Ben'n'Nita's. You knew it was a bit different when you stepped in the door and saw that the bar building was built around an old wooden boat with the bar itself wrapping around the boat. The bar had outside seating well above the water and it was in a no wake zone near a boat landing. Looking down into ski boats provided an excellent view! You could drive to Ben'n'Nita's or come by boat. In more benign days I tossed many a beer over the railing to boats below.

Unfortunately, every very high water and named storm caused a major rebuild and the building was threatening to fall for years before they finally went away. I don't know if it was finally condemned or they got tired of rebuilding it. It wasn't within miles of up to code when it was open, maybe their buddy went away and they quit getting a pass on inspections.

I miss the old times, and the old Hu too!

Hu

 

[Cuebuddy]

A distant relation to the butterfly cues are these three Dufferins. These two "Green Maple leaf" cues have the butterfly butts and great handle wood. One with Birdseys and the other curly Maple with great figure. Both these cues will be converted on day by myself or a more respectable cue smith.

 

[rvan]

Im interested in some, pm me.

Thanks Rick