What is the Most Expensive Case Ever Made ? What is the Limit ?

I wanted to add that as far as valuable things goes;

You can come to China and find some of the most incredible burl sculptures you can imagine, intricate pieces with burl like you have only imagined.

You can find the most amazing sculptures and jewelry out of jade. And pay for it too with prices up to a $500,000 dollars that I have seen.

Right across the street from me is an antiques mall but unlike any you have ever seen. All of the stores are high end and the stuff in them is intricately carved furniture and exquistite ceramics and intricate jewelry, all very expensive.

So no, in the near future there probably won't be any pool cues coming out of China which are collectibles that appreciate in value. But China has a long history of providing heirlooms to the world.

I didn't even mention the paintings and calligraphy.

Here you go Justin, I will have a famous Chinese artist engrave poems on tiny pieces of rare jade which we will stitch together with gold thread to make the case. $50,000 ought to cover it.

:-)
 
John, sitt back and relax:wink:
we are very Proud to own your Cases and NOT thinking for the Value in the Future. I need a safely Case now to protect my high end Cues and not a high end exotic Skin Case that can not protect the same Way as YOURS.
If the Case is from China or anywhere is the hole World,it's even for me.
Ralf-love Jacks Cases as well,but not the Protection on his Cases:bow-down:
 
John Cases would be more expensive if John got shipped back the the USA by his primary employeer. But I sure if your PRIORITY is Cue Protection, John can make you a VERY PRICY LOOKING Case for a Fair Price.
 
classiccues said:
. . .Will there EVER be anything from China ever classified as a niche collectible? I mean really, they have been sending over pool cues since the 40's, all relative pieces of sh*t, and even the cues today, no one is collecting new Adam cues (not anyone with a brain anyways)(or Sterlings), the old ones are from Japan have a little following. So my question is if anyone knew a a case or cue was from China what kind of "SECONDARY" market value would you allow for it?

Why I bring this up, is that John is making a nice case. But when someone plops down 5-6-7 hundred what they are doing in their mind is saying, well if Jack built this, or Whitten it would be a 3k case. Yes, John's cases are very nicely done, they might even be the best cue protection device in case Al Queida nukes your town, and they look great, and for the initial outlay a lot of bang for the buck.

Does anyone buy anything from over seas thinking about resale value? (not talking dealers and mass produced items)

. . .
JV
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Interesting post. You really ought to take a look in the mirror. Quality is quality. The Brit's thought that about American stuff. Then White Americans thought that about what Black people from all over made. Now, sure some short sighted people are saying quality cannot come from China. . .but even the short sighted are changing their minds as John posted about the auction item. Frankly it is about racism, or more to the point betterism. I'm better because I'm me. That is crap and sooner or later the better product wins out.

I bought a case from John. I didn't buy a case from Jack. Frankly, I could have bought either or both. I bought the JB. Now, I have seen a nice gator case Jack made. It was nice, but he missed a few subtle design cues that John may not have missed, but who knows.

At the end of the day, even the nicest case is utilitarian in that it is protecting a nice cue. That is what makes the Barton Case superior. I admit, there might be better leather workers, or imaginations like the guy who made the Spiderman case. Really these guys need to get together with JB, and I don't mention anyone else because I haven't seen a comparable to JB's cases. If the greatest external leather work, matched up to the JB structure, and great pieces of leather, this could be maxed out price wise. JB cases such as Elements are achieving such high levels of design and art, I think the others would have to approach JB to make a joint case. Frankly, I think the need is limited. At the end of the day, they are the holder of art, even if they are art themselves. Call me short sighted.

Nothing bad intended here, I wish John, Jack and all the others the best at advancing their craft.
 
I have the opportunity to buy any case maker I chose. I could spend the cash with many makers, including Jack, Whitten and the like. I chose to go to John because he can and will provide a case that is the best of quality and will represent ME. I didn't want a cookie cutter. I don't want to have someone say "I've seen one like that". I want my case to echo my personality and no other. I don't think of it as investment but as an extension of me. My only plans for the case and the cues are to hand them to my son one day.
-Doug
 
To get back on topic, I think a case just has to be dope or represent a person to the point where they want to drop more than $750. It's all about the quality of the material and how it is tooled and inlayed but ultimately we personalize too much of our cases for them to generically be worth big money. Efren's cases are probably worth the most to a true pool nut. Maybe someone rich would buy a gold/silver/platinum case but that would prob be how you raise the price.
 
mikeyfrost said:
To get back on topic, I think a case just has to be dope or represent a person to the point where they want to drop more than $750. It's all about the quality of the material and how it is tooled and inlayed but ultimately we personalize too much of our cases for them to generically be worth big money. Efren's cases are probably worth the most to a true pool nut. Maybe someone rich would buy a gold/silver/platinum case but that would prob be how you raise the price.
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I disagree Mikey. I think that you can decorate any piece of leather just with carving and put hundreds of hours into it with tons of intricacy.

The Wild Rose I showed above is such a case, the Palace Garden is another one. We have done a number of cases without a customer in mind that have been $1000 and up.

In the other thread I posted a link to Peter Main. If he does any work for you then it will be very pricey. There are toolers who do such fine work that it's out of this world. Cases can be made with silver engraved pieces. Just last month I was at the ICCS and in downtown Sarasota is a silversmith whose pieces are super pricey. Imagine a case with silver all done by this man. I could see it easily going over 10k.

Whether or not the pool world is really ready for 10K plus cases is another story. I have to say that I didn't think I'd ever make one that was $1000 ten years ago and two years ago I didn't think I'd hit $2000.



www.skyhorse.com Check out their $10,000 saddles.
 
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This is true JB, I just think people would be more inclined to pay more for a personalized type of case rather than a generic fancy one unless they were into collecting. Cues are different because of the market. For $1k you can can get some really nice cases.

Maybe all the case makers could get together and just raise their prices...that's the other way to do it. If everyone doesn't undercut each other and price as competitively as possible maybe everyone makes more money...the case making business is certainly different than most.
 
Realizm said:
Come on down to sc we hunt gators . Get them while there still moving.
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Hate to derail a derailed thread but isn't hunting gators about as challenging as hunting cows here in Nebraska? Don't they either hang out on the banks, sit motionless waiting for food, or swim looking food?




<~~waiting for someone to offer a paid trip to hunt gators! I guess I could drive to Colorado and get Tebow.....
 
The most expensive case wouldn't be a case at all.

It would be a shipping tube! An origional tube for a Szam or a Balabushka would have to be the most expensive case. Depending on the buyer the shippig case could really add value relitive to the cue shipped in it.
Cardboard.
Nick :)
 
nick serdula said:
It would be a shipping tube! An origional tube for a Szam or a Balabushka would have to be the most expensive case. Depending on the buyer the shippig case could really add value relitive to the cue shipped in it.
Cardboard.
Nick :)
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I think the value there would be seriously affected by who it was originally sent to. A cue & box sent to someone famous would definitely bring more money than one sent to an unknown.

I know for a fact that Jack Justis & the Whittens have both sold $3500 cases. They may have sold some for even more, I don't know.

While I don't dispute an original shipping tube is valuable, I just don't see my 1980 Szamboti box being worth an extra $3500 on top of the cue.
 
Well, looking for something else I came on this thread again. We hit $2500 for a case this year. Re-reading Justin's question I guess I'd have to break it down into whether the case is truly useful or just meant to be a piece of art. As a piece of art there is really no limit to what sort of "case" can be created. Earlier I said something about pieces of jade stitched with gold thread (real gold) and I wasn't kidding. There is a famous suit that a Chinese nobleman was buried in that was made of thousands of small jade pieces stitched together with thread made of gold.

It would be possible to use exotic and expensive materials and make a case which would be hugely expensive. On the other hand one can simply cajole Hermes or LV into making a case and drop 10-20k easily. A Hermes purse costs 15k and up. Here is one for $280,000 (but you can get a coupon for 10% off) http://www.mydesignerbrands.com/hebiha35blsa.html?productid=hebiha35blsa&channelid=FROOG

I will check back in if we hit 5k for a case.
 
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