What do I do with these pool cues?

B

BeerBrewer

Member
I was given a bunch (nine) of old pool cues and I am wondering if they are worth anything and what if anything I should do to restore them. Six of them have the Brunswick label on them and four of these look to be very old. The four old ones have numbers stamped in them (22, 21, 20 and 18) which I believe to be the weights. The rest of the 5 cues appear to be from the the 1970s or 1980s. All of the cues are the same length and all are fairly straight. The guy also gave me an antique Brunswick Narragansett table. Its a long story, but he had it the table (taken apart) along with everything else (cues, balls, felt, racks, etc) stored under a tarp in his yard, so the table is bad shape. I'm slowly restoring the table but, that's covered on another thread.

When I first got the table and cues (Christmas eve 2020) some of the cues were quite warped, but as they dried out in the house they all seemed to have straightened out, which amazed me! The finish is sketchy on one of the older cues, it looks like it got more wet than the others. Are theses cues worth anything? Does anyone recognize the two cues on left in the first pic? I also have two sets of billiard balls, one newer and the other looks to be very old, but I don't think they are ivory.

Any info you can provide on them is appreciated.

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BeerBrewer said:
I was given a bunch (nine) of old pool cues and I am wondering if they are worth anything and what if anything I should do to restore them. Six of them have the Brunswick label on them and four of these look to be very old. The four old ones have numbers stamped in them (22, 21, 20 and 18) which I believe to be the weights. The rest of the 5 cues appear to be from the the 1970s or 1980s. All of the cues are the same length and all are fairly straight. The guy also gave me an antique Brunswick Narragansett table. Its a long story, but he had it the table (taken apart) along with everything else (cues, balls, felt, racks, etc) stored under a tarp in his yard, so the table is bad shape. I'm slowly restoring the table but, that's covered on another thread.

When I first got the table and cues (Christmas eve 2020) some of the cues were quite warped, but as they dried out in the house they all seemed to have straightened out, which amazed me! The finish is sketchy on one of the older cues, it looks like it got more wet than the others. Are theses cues worth anything? Does anyone recognize the two cues on left in the first pic? I also have two sets of billiard balls, one newer and the other looks to be very old, but I don't think they are ivory.

Any info you can provide on them is appreciated.

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I don’t think the cues are worth much at all, but the older set of balls would be worth a look, if you could provide a good photo – thanks
 
If the house cues are solid, straight and have good ferrules and such, you could retip them and donate them to a rec center or senior center or such. Or, keep them for visitors once you get your table working. The numbers are supposed to be weight in ounces but those might be off.

I think the jointed cues are suitable for a yard sale. I would not offer them to visitors to use.
 
The four older cues on the right might be original to the table. You could clean them up and re-tip them and guest or friends could use them when playing on your vintage table once its done. The other five are no good. The only one on the left side that I would consider in keeping would be the with the red and blue wrap. It would make an interesting handle for a bridge stick.
 
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Sneak them into a tavern, hang them up on their cue racks, then run out the door!
But really they are not that easy to get rid of other than giving them to a thrift shop. I had a bunch like those and it took quite a while to sell them as a bunch for very little money on Craigslist and I had repaired all the tips. I sold them to someone whose kids destroy cue tips all the time on a beater home table.
One can buy brand new bar cues for about $20 each so not much incentive to buy old discount house cues with bad tips (or none) that may be warped for home use. These days I would take them to a tavern I go to a lot or know of that has a couple tables and just donate them to the cause.
 
They might not be worth alot but I like those old house cues you have. If you want to get rid of them shoot me a PM. I'd be interested in buying them.
 
Sorry, man, I don't think any of these are of significant value. All the jointed cues are of low quality and very limited usability. The one piece house cues are probably ok to use if they're straight and have good ferrules/tips. In my experience, older house cues often have a little bit better quality of maple in them than dirt cheap newer ones. As others have pointed out, they could make good loaner cues, if you have friends over. Get some good tips put on, and they'll work just fine.

You'll find many versions of the two cues on the left. It's a quite old, common design, but that doesn't make it good. Made in China/Taiwan, mass produced to a low standard. They usually have screw-on tips (which is bad), but even if they don't, the segmented handles give them a very poor hit. The ideas of having the possibility of making the cue shorter by unscrewing one piece, or change the balance by inserting washers in between pieces, seem good. However, in practise, the hit sucks. This design of cues were cheap to begin with and made with inferior materials and dividing them into several pieces doesn't help. If you go on Ebay, you'll see many of them for sale, some for unrealistic prices. You can get new ones for maybe 30 dollars that will be similar in quality to what you have. If you get 10 for each, you've done well. I doubt you'll even get that much.
 
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I don't want to get rid of them, especially the old ones. I was just curious if the older ones were collectable. When the table is done I was planning to use them.
 
BeerBrewer said:
I don't want to get rid of them, especially the old ones. I was just curious if the older ones were collectable. When the table is done I was planning to use them.
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Toss any of the cues with a joint, keep the rest with the table.

If you want a two piece cue for travel for cheap, get a McDermott Lucky or Star cue, or a Players.

The house cues will probably have a great hit, but are likely going to be needed to get cleaned up and new tips put on.
 
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