Whats the best STEAL you got a cue for and what is it?

BillardBill said:
And no i didnt mean steal as in stealing.lol I mean like have you found something that was worth a lot and paid little for it? I always hope to find some old school custom cue at a yard sale or something one can always hope. Share your cue finds here please. :D
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Balabushka for $100 got it around 1980. I still have it. Got another for $500 around 1985 and I still have that one also. I will be selling both of these cues before the end of the year. We are moving and I am getting rid of everything I own except my tools. Art, books, furniture, collectibles, everything, 35 years of collecting, it's all going. I don't want to own any of that kind useless of crap anymore.
 
macguy said:
Balabushka for $100 got it around 1980. I still have it. Got another for $500 around 1985 and I still have that one also. I will be selling both of these cues before the end of the year. We are moving and I am getting rid of everything I own except my tools. Art, books, furniture, collectibles, everything, 35 years of collecting, it's all going. I don't want to own any of that kind useless of crap anymore.
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I tell you what. Ill give you what you paid fer the Bushka and maybe then some!!!! :) THe first one that is :)



Jamie
 
I had 3 big steals over a 6 month period of time a few years ago. The first was an AE 4-pointer with 24 ivory inlays, cocobolo points, and a leather wrap for $400. Later that week, I picked up a Lambros sneaky pete with 2 shafts, what appeared to be an early version of the ultra joint, and a half-wrap, for $100. Then about 6 months later, I picked up a beautiful Kersenbrock 4-pointer with some really nice ringwork for $130. I ended up getting rid of them all within a year or so, and I really regret letting go of the Lambros and the Kersenbrock; the AE was very sharp looking but I never got used to the hit.
 
cajunbarboxplyr said:
I tell you what. Ill give you what you paid fer the Bushka and maybe then some!!!! :) THe first one that is :)



Jamie
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I know you are kidding but the cues will most likely go to Rick G. I have sold him other Balabushkas and it was quick and easy, no BS.
 
Wow, I am jealous. The pawn shops around here charge 100 bucks for cues that you can buy at my store for 80....lol

Best Steal two deadbeats got was lifting 1600 worth of predators out of my store while I was engaged in a presentation with another customer. That was the last time I only had one salesman on at night!
 
Good deal

Back in about '76, I had just gotten back to Vegas from Houston where I visited Richard Blacks shop. A few weeks later one of the local Vegas players had just received his brand new Richard Black cue which he just paid $350. He started right out giving another player the 7 and proceeded to loose over $500. Everyone left the pool room and I was the only one left when the player who just lost the $500 asked if I was interested in buying the cue..."for any price"...I only had $63 in my pocket and he sold it right then. I kept it for a couple of months to see if he wanted to buy it back but he said ...'it was unlucky"...so I sold it a few months later for $300.
 
Schon R-2 with two shafts, ivory ferrules and a grey ostrich leather George case - $150. I might add though, this was in about 1986. I guess this is more in the line of "wish I still had the cue at that price". I remember at this time Gus' cues started at $450 new, if you could get one. Yeah things have changed:
 

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I know of a good player, Doug Wright from Wyoming that bought a Southwest in a pawnshop back around 1990 for $70. It was wrapless and beautiful. I tried not to cry when I saw it. I have had pawnshop fantasies ever since....
 
I just picked up 6 antique cues in a billiard supply store yesterday. All one piece. 2 were titlists, but not Hoppes, one was a butterfly cue with two veneers, two were french made really nice bar cues, and bought one just because it had an ivory bridge head! bought the lot for 160 plus tax!

In the past, I have purchased the following:
Schick - no points 1984 cue - honey stain with two shafts melamine ferrules in a 1X2 It's George case with the word Schick embossed in it. All for $108.

Two piece Hoppe Titlist - $15

Adams 4 point Cicero Murphy cue and McDermott D-7 both for $55 (about three months ago). Sold the Adams for $300 and the Mcdermott for 100.

Schon Ltd - 6 points with veneers, about 50 inlays and leather wrap $375

Joss no points - $75

Hunter Classic - 6 pointer - early cue when he signed the butt and wrote the serial number on them $130
 
pawnshop cues

I owned a pawnshop for 6 years and many of the cues I have I got from there. I also sold quite a few from my shop and saw many decent cues for sale at other pawnshops.

Best "steal" I've gotten was off of ebay. The cue wasn't actually listed. The sale was listed as a McDermott case (with a cue thrown in). Cue turned out to be an all original Eddie Laube cue from the 60's. The whole shebang cost me $85.00.
 
I was playing an APA7 last night during league (beat him 5-1) who had a new cue that I hadn't seen him shoot with. He bought it from a guy who got it out of some small town pawn shop. They guy paid $80 for it. It was a Frank Paradise cue, ebony with nice dot and diamond inlays. An early model before Palmers came out. Lucky.
 
Played a couple of guys for their cues... Lucasi's and Schon's.

I had a backer who baught me a Preditor 4k3 a few months back -- that cue didn't last long. I've got a bad temper :(
 
A couple of good deals I remember.

I used to scour the classifieds looking for pool tables for sale (to resell later). Mostly looking for Gold Crowns or Valleys, and found several in the $500 to 1,000 price range (Valleys as low as $100).

But one deal in particular stands out. A lady in Beverly Hills had bought a home and wanted to get rid of the pool table left behind. She didn't know what kind it was. So I go out to see and it is a Gandy Big G. Not a bad table and in excellent shape. She wants $500 for it and I agree to this price. On the wall is a cue rack with several cues in it. She asks me if I want the rack and cues as well. I said sure, how much? She says $50. Okay, no problem I take the cue rack and five or six cues, including one old GINACUE!

I sold the table for $1,250 and had the Gina cleaned up and sold it for $1,500.

Owning poolrooms, you will encounter many people who want to sell a cue. Usually it is a player who knows the value of the cue. Sometimes it is someone who inerited a cue and wants to get rid of it for any price. My best deals include an original Corsair in perfect shape for $100 (Tang Hoa plays with that cue today), a plain Tad for $200 (sold for $1,100) and a super nice hitting Schrager for $300 (sold it for 1K).

I have to start checking out the pawn shops. LOL
 
This thread makes me think about all the cues I let go!....I did get a few Black Boars for 1/2 price. The room I worked at was a dealer. I bought and sold MANY cues working there. Back then I had no idea to keep all the Phillippes, Boars, Blacks, Scruggs.....they were literally everywhere at the time, and Szambotis were just starting to take off in price. Until I got into real estate, I didn't know the meaning of "buy and hold"!:D

Gerry
 
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