I think the guy has a valid question. Nobody with any brains wants to potentially lose money. And there's a lot of good advice in this thread. Sneakies from well known makers, used cues (straight and in good shape), mint vintage cues from known makers/companies... If you do your homework, know what you're getting, and can get any of those for $500 or less, you'll almost certainly do ok over time. I wouldn't consider them a good investment but you shouldn't lose much (if any) money so long as you take care of it. It's like buying a car and getting your money back out of it when you sell. It was "basically" free for the time you owned and used it.
For instance, I bought a Bluegrass sneaky (old Dufferin conversion) laser straight and in decent shape around 15 years ago for just under $400. I played the hell out of it (AWESOME cue), had it refinished by Richard with a new ferrule and tip, and sold it for $550 around 7 or 8 years ago. I didn't make any money off of it besides tournaments and gambling (negligible) but I didn't lose any either.
You just have to be picky about your deals.
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