What are these?

RingKing

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What are these rubber bands around these old cues. Are they name tags or support bands. I keep seeing them on old brunswicks.
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I think they are just identification name plates so that the owner could leave his cue at the pool hall he frequented and when he showed back up the hall owner would find his cue. They also had locking cue racks back in the day to use as well. Just my two cents worth.
 
I have seen them called slip on Celluloid name bands. I'm not sure they were Celluloid though. I have seen these on cues for years and I bet old catalogs would show them. Over the years I may have seen two in person and a dozen on old Brunswick pool cues from the 40's through the 50's.
 
Looks like a not too bad of a way to add a bit of weight to a cue or adjust the balance point, slip one over the shaft to the joint area, not really distracting. Never seen or heard of these things before, and people say old people can't teach us anything ;)
 
Wouldn't be surprised this was a custom dating back when pool halls had a houseman taking daily care of the cues. An era when only the pros and really good players had their own two piece cues.
 
In St. Louis where I grew up, some people would buy one piece house cues, put bands like these with their names on them and leave them at the pool hall. It was real bad form to use one if you were not the owner! At Grand-Olive, they had drawers (like map or survey cabinets) and you could lay your cue in a drawer. You could of course put bands like these around two piece cues too.
 
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