What criteria do you use for collecting?

DawgAndy

DawgAndy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
After buying all the D series McDs I like (14-26) and watch them drop in value:rolleyes: It's time to move on. I've decided this will be my new criteria, Plain Janes, in birdseye or Brazilian RW only, only "famous" name sneakies, 6 point cues with a rosewood family forearm. I can't narrow it down by maker & may nix the 6 pointers:p I'm saving money for some other projects & plan to add just one or two a year.

Any one else care to list their guidelines?

Andy
 
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I like to collect older cues by individual cuemakers. Any body want to sell a Balabushka cheap? :)
 
Well for me being from California I was very interested in owning cues by the top California cue makers I have an Ariel Carmeli, Coker, Ginacue, Tad, Prewitt, and a Zylr. My next will most likely be a Kent Davis. The only other maker out here I like but dont own would be a Richard Chudy.

Normally I do not stick to a certain type of wood selection. But I really love ebony cues, and cues with wrapless handles. If it has linen im into white linen with specs. Ive always loved white linen ever since I first saw The Color of Money.

Other than that the way I have learned about other makers was on this forum. Or also the cues I seen dealers carry on their sites.

Most of the people in my area play with Tads, Ariel Carmeli, and Kent Davis. One thing that was funny when I went to play on Saturday night at Hard Times in Bellflower, on 8 out of the 10 tables on the tournament side there were people playing with Tads.
 
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Crooked Meucci's with cracked ferrules at good prices. Personally, I'm in collector's heaven!
 
I'm pretty selective. I want cues that are known for superb playability, and they have to be built with woods that I know are solid playing woods. So far I have an ebony Bluegrass & a very old bocote Thomas Wayne, before cnc when playability was paramount over design. I will eventually have a Franklin goncalo SouthWest, a pre-cnc birdseye JossWest, Harvey Martin and Gus Szamboti. I'm in the process of convincing Wes Hunter to build a cue for me, and am a fan of his pickiness for materials. Other cues i'm interested in are Ron Haley & Blackcreek. I'm not so impressed with the fancy stuff or big names. It's the cues where the playability & performance consistently rises above the rest that gets me interested, no matter the name. There are zillions of cuemakers & nowadays everybody builds a good playing cue. But a few from now and the past clearly stumbled upon something special in terms of playability. That to me is worth collecting.

If I ever get rich i'll broaden my desires but for now i'm only looking for a tiny few. And even then they have to be just the right combination of woods & materials.
 
DawgAndy said:
After buying all the D series McDs I like (14-26) and watch them drop in value:rolleyes: It's time to move on. I've decided this will be my new criteria, Plain Janes, in birdseye or Brazilian RW only, only "famous" name sneakies, 6 point cues with a rosewood family forearm. I can't narrow it down by maker & may nix the 6 pointers:p I'm saving money for some other projects & plan to add just one or two a year.

Any one else care to list their guidelines?

Andy
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If I like it I buy it!!!!!!!!! Thats what collecting is all about.
 
Zirroe said:
Well for me being from California I was very interested in owning cues by the top California cue makers I have an Ariel Carmeli, Coker, Ginacue, Tad, Prewitt, and a Zylr. My next will most likely be a Kent Davis. The only other maker out here I like but dont own would be a Richard Chudy.

Normally I do not stick to a certain type of wood selection. But I really love ebony cues, and cues with wrapless handles. If it has linen im into white linen with specs. Ive always loved white linen ever since I first saw The Color of Money.

Other than that the way I have learned about other makers was on this forum. Or also the cues I seen dealers carry on their sites.

Most of the people in my area play with Tads, Ariel Carmeli, and Kent Davis. One thing that was funny when I went to play on Saturday night at Hard Times in Bellflower, on 8 out of the 10 tables on the tournament side there were people playing with Tads.
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What about Martins!!!!!
 
I decided to focus on Palmers because I like cues from this era. I also have cues from other makers of this era. There was a huge amount of information to find and many examples that surface and continue to surface. There was also a lot of mis-information going around. I think it helps the collectibility to be able to find new, affordable examples of these cues. They will become fewer and fewer as the years pass, and already I've seen this trend in the fancier cues. You could spend years looking for undiscovered Szamboti's or Balabushka's and not find more than a handful.

I now recognize that I like to archive information, to research and to help other collectors to find out about their interests. I am considering doing some research on other brands. I've already started on Brunswick and have a lot of information to publish when I get around to it.

I have one other project in mind for another famous cue maker - it will take time and expense but I am sure it will be worth it.

Chris
 
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Not that I can afford to collect these days...Lol...but my criteria is pretty simple: Full splice wrapless cues made entirely by the cuemaker. Originally it was to be only Bois de Rose cues...which is still an inside goal...but got sidetracked with a bacote player. :)

Lisa
 
Zirroe said:
A little too pricy for me right now, and I've never really seen any for sale
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I know where their are a number of Martins for sale in the $2000 price range. Believe it or not there are a lot of Martins between Califoiria and Seattle.

Have a good day!
 
DawgAndy said:
After buying all the D series McDs I like (14-26) and watch them drop in value:rolleyes: It's time to move on. I've decided this will be my new criteria, Plain Janes, in birdseye or Brazilian RW only, only "famous" name sneakies, 6 point cues with a rosewood family forearm. I can't narrow it down by maker & may nix the 6 pointers:p I'm saving money for some other projects & plan to add just one or two a year.

Any one else care to list their guidelines?

Andy
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I realy have to say, that I pass up a lot of cues that would fit perfectly into my collection of fancy 70's adams cues, and fancy window vikings. The reason is.. I am a bargain hunter! I come across a lot of real steals and I buy them. but i am not a "cue buyer" Some people even jack up the price of their cues, thinking I will buy it anyway. but they soon realize,I am a bargain hunter first, collecter second.
 
I'm not much of a collector as of right now since my entire collection was diminished due to a four month unemployment but my current criterion is that I work with a cue maker to either make a cue I designed or to design a cue together. Regardless, I am trying not to purchase anything that I didn't order custom from the maker.

That being said, I only have my the JMW that I just got and will not be in the position to add any other cues, with the possible exception of trying to get back some of my other cues, for quite a while. Also, to add insult to injury, the two main pool halls here, Rack & Roll and Billiards, have closed so there's no good place to play in town now. Oh well, I'm going to check out a pool hall in Jeff City this weekend that, at least, has GCIVs.

Zack
 
zeeder said:
<snip>..... but my current criterion is that I work with a cue maker to either make a cue I designed or to design a cue together. Regardless, I am trying not to purchase anything that I didn't order custom from the maker.

<snip>

Zack
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This is pretty much my criteria also. I have purchased several different brands over the past few years, trying out their playability, with the thought that I would order a custom from the maker if I liked the feel.

I currently have 2 exceptions to this criteria in my possession. Both are from a maker whose list I am on and they will likely be sold to fund a new cue from him when my name bubbles to the top of the list.
 
jayman said:
I realy have to say, that I pass up a lot of cues that would fit perfectly into my collection of fancy 70's adams cues, and fancy window vikings. The reason is.. I am a bargain hunter! I come across a lot of real steals and I buy them. but i am not a "cue buyer" Some people even jack up the price of their cues, thinking I will buy it anyway. but they soon realize,I am a bargain hunter first, collecter second.
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You might have just been early on the Adam bandwagon. Have you noticed that www.billiardcue.com is now selling old Adam cues?

I pretty much try to buy at wholesale myself now - I only really pay up for models I need but I am quick to jump on duplicates or extras that are a bargain. I also sell cues from time to time, so I keep myself in the game a little.

Chris
 
TATE said:
You might have just been early on the Adam bandwagon. Have you noticed that www.billiardcue.com is now selling old Adam cues?

I pretty much try to buy at wholesale myself now - I only really pay up for models I need but I am quick to jump on duplicates or extras that are a bargain. I also sell cues from time to time, so I keep myself in the game a little.

Chris
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I have noticed, ssshhhh! lol. You realy described my collecting practices better than I did, when you described you'r own.
 
i like to buy cues that play good and I can use, i dont have many cues that i dont play with. I also stick to custom cuse not production, I never owned a Palmer but I do like them.
 
My collection has moved up and down in staggering fashion. I've had as many as 40 cues...but I'm now down to a very meager 6. LOL I'm working on that however. Right now my taste lies in Sugartrees, James White, and Blackcreek. I am, however, having an absolutely SICK cue built for me by Carolina. I'll post pictures as it goes through the motions.
 
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