What's Your Best Barn Find?

[Jeff]

We all hear the stories of the guy who finds the rare Corvette sitting under a tarp in some old barn, or the rare painting bought for a few dollars at a garage sale.

Any stories out there about finding a special billiards related object at a steal or grabbing something like a Balabushka for 50 dollars?

 

[Inferno]

Mine wasn't a barn find. It was a parking garage find.
One day I saw a cue case just leaning against the wall in the parking garage. I had my own space there so I parked every day.
In the case was a well played but stunning nice Adams AH10 (ritz) WITH the lion logo.

I DID place a notice in the elevator saying I found a cue in the garage and all anyone had to do was identify the cue. Nobody came forward. The cue became mine, officially, the first time I played it many months later.

Sadly, after much more than 15 years, someone stole it from me. It was my fault it was stolen but it was stolen nonetheless.

 

[Adam Brown]

I came across a pawn shop locally that I went to often. They always had a few cues and one day I went in and asked to see his cues. He said he had a McDermott that was pretty cheap but in good shape. He told me he would sell it for 80 bucks and that was bottom dollar. When he pulled her out I was shocked. There she sat, a beautiful Bill McDaniel, and I didn't have any money until pay day. Needless to say I was borrowing some money about 15 minutes later and hurried back. I took her home that day and kept her for about 6 years and decided it was time to sell. I get sick now when I think about it but hey someone else is enjoying it now. I know I did.

Thanks, Adam

 

[HereWeGo]

There was an ad on Craigslist for cases of Masters Chalk for $10. I got to the gentleman's house and this is what I found.

- 20 New 2 piece Titlists some in the original black tubes with paperwork.
- 6 New 1 piece Titlists, 1 was purpleheart.
- 96 New in boxes of 12, 1 piece Brunswick Tru-Balance cues.
- 100 Cases of Pre-Flag Masters Chalk in original shipping boxes.
- 10 Sets of old Centennial Balls in boxes.
- 24 Individual Hyatt Red Dash Cue balls in boxes.
- 2 Complete rolls of the old directional cloth.
- 3 Antique Brunswick tables.

Turns out this older gentleman's family owned a billiard supply store in the 70's and when it closed they moved everything into the fathers house. They found all of this because the father had passed away and they were cleaning out the house.

When I told him about the value of some of the things he had he couldn't believe it. I encouraged him to join AZ at the time but I think it shocked him that I didn't try to take advantage of him so he asked me to help him sell everything that I couldn't afford to buy at the time. I contacted a few AZ members and was able to help with selling everything except for the tables.

I know I am forgetting a few things but these were the highlights.

 

[JTs cuerepair]

Must read this story.

I always go to the flea market on Sunday mornings. As always I'm looking for any old pool cues or any Billiard related items. I have been doing this for more then 20 years. As far as cues go I see tons of one peice house cue most are complete junk, Never found anything till this one day. I went to a different flea market that was about 45 Min drive from my home, It was my first time to this Flea market. I walked in and started going up and dowm each row of venders/dealers. I asked each one, Do you have any pool cues or Billiard items. Most said no but some showed me some junk house cues that most likely came from a person who had a table at home. I just kept asking each dealer till one guy told me go to the last row of dealers and see the old lady. I just kept going dowm each row thinking I will get to the old lady soon enough. I kept asking and the more I asked the more I was told to go see the old lady in the last row. Now my interest was peaked. I turned the corner and was walking dowm the last row, There sitting in a chair, Nitting was this very old lady who looked to be about 80 years old, She had pool cue, cases, Balls everything you could thing of as far as billiard items. I'm looking around and just cant believe what I am seeing. Most of the cues she had for sale was cheap junk but she did have one wrack that had three cues aside from all the others.
I walked over took a look and saw a Dale Perry, and this cue I was looking at and thinking Dam This looks like a Richard Harris, It was mint new and unplayed, I'm looking at it trying to determin if in fact it was a real R H cue. I pulled out the bumper to look for Richards info. I did not have my glasses on me and had a hard time seeing in there. I saw some writing but could not make it out, I was about 90 % sure it was a real Blue grass cue. I looked at the price tag the lady had on it, she was selling it for $250, That made me think maybe it's not a real Richard harris because it was priced so low. At that point I said I will take a chance, I asked her if she could do a little better on the price. She said I can give it to you for $200, I said I'll give you $150 for it and she said ok I'll take $150. I asked her how is it that you have all this billiard stuff. She told me that her husband collected pool cues and things for 40 years and had just passed away. She was bringing his collection little by little to the flea Market to sell everything. Man did the wheels start turning in my head, I thought there could be a gus, Rambo or some other big cues there. I asked her if I could go to her house and take a look, She said sure. We exchanged phone numbers and planned on the next day. I went home called my friend between the both of us we gathered up $40,000 cash ready to buy the old lady out if she had some good stuff. The next morning she called me and said she changes her mind and could not sell her husbands stuff because it meant to much to her, I took cue I did by from her home put my glasses on, pulled out the bumper and read RH #of cue and year, I called richard gave the info I read under the bumper he confirmed and told me over the phone just by the info exactly what the cue looked like, Paid $150 for A mint unplayed Richard harris cue and posted it and sold it for $1,500.

 

[skierlawyer]

Harvey Martin

My buddy picked up a Harvey Martin cue for $1. Yup a buck! Estate sale find.

 

[desertshark]

Does a drilled and tapped 8 ball on 4-speed shifter inside a 1969 Mustang Fastback count? (Picked up for $1000... Expensive black ball, cheap old muscle car )

 

[seven_7days]

We all hear the stories of the guy who finds the rare Corvette sitting under a tarp in some old barn, or the rare painting bought for a few dollars at a garage sale.

Any stories out there about finding a special billiards related object at a steal or grabbing something like a Balabushka for 50 dollars?

wow,i'd never thought i'd post this here but here's mine...

-1967 Red/Red Corvette Roadster in Guam

-original #s matching motor/drivetrain
-4spd
-2 tops
-original 8-track...jk
-24,987 original miles
-sitting since '74-'75

Destination:Restoration

 

[Rhale100]

Not a damn thing ^&^%$#. Killer thread though, makes me wanna go dumpster divin. Ya never know

 

[Maniac]

I was rummaging around my grandad's barn back around 1965 or so. I was movin' some hay around with a pitchfork when lo and behold........I found Betty Lou Parmenter's favorite pair of lace panties she had lost the night before :wink:!!!

Maniac (does that count???)

 

[seven_7days]

1963 SWC Corvette

Sold this one. :frown:

I'm posting this one because I found it in Saipan like this>

...and ended up like this

1963 Split Window Coupe

-fully #s matching
-early build
-rare Black/Tan color combo

 

[vapoolplayer]

When I used to have a real job(shutters)....I was working for a construction company installing underground gas lines. This was probably 8 years ago I'm guessing.

We were in a bad part of town, bad enough we had to have police protection with us the entire day, everyday. There was a local crack head who would always be trying to sell us something. Most of the time, we didn't want to mess with anything, as it was surely stolen.

The guys I worked with knew I liked pool, so one day they call me over to look at what this guy was selling. It was a leather 2x4 cue case that looked like it had a water stain on it. Inside was an old McDermott Cue and another plane jane cue. I rolled the plane jane over and noticed it had a Parrot(parrot cues in Richmond Va) on it. So I asked him how much he wanted. He wanted 15$.

I gave him the 15, knowing he probably stole it, my intentions were to take it to the Parrot Cue shop and hopefully someone had been by there and asked if anyone had seen the cue, and I'd return it.

Turns out, the case was an old Jack Justice and no one ever came around looking for the cue. I asked around at Parrot Cues and several local pool halls. Judging by the look of the case, it was probably sitting in someone's garage or storage unit and they have no idea it was there or even missing.

I gave the McDermott away to a guy who really needed a cue bad. I either gave away the parrot or sold it really cheap to another guy who needed a cue, I don't remember exactly. I can't remember what I did with the case. I'm sure it went with one of the cues.

 

[oldplayer]

back in the 60's my wife and i responded to an ad in the paper for an "old" brunswick table....went to this old guys house and he had it set up in his garage....i looked it over closely and there it was, stamped on one of the underbelly railings..."buffalo model 1864".....he was asking $1,500 and all i had was $1,000....never know what happened to it after that. :frown:

 

[Stones]

Back in the mid 80's, a guy asked me to play some 8 ball in a local bar. I said OK and he went to his car to get his cue.

When he walked back in, my eyes bugged out a little bit. He had what a appeared to be a Felini custom case.

My heart skipped a beat when he pulled out a Joss West with ivory everything. The design on the butt of the cue matched the design on the case.

I asked about the cue and he told me it had belonged to his father who had passed away a few years earlier.

We started playing for a beer which went to $5 and then $10 a game. Every game I beat him, he got more angry, started slapping the cue against the rail, throwing it up against the wall and kept racking the balls.

When I had him stuck $135, he threw the cue past two Valley bar boxes into a wall and yelled, **** this! I ain't never playing pool again!"

I bought him a beer and when he'd calmed down a little, I asked him if he was serious about quitting. He said he was.

I offered to buy the cue from him. How much? I told him I'd give him his money back.

He went for the deal and I'm such a nice guy, I gave him $150.

Best hitting cue I ever had. It was stolen from me by a "friend" along with 5 other cues who I let stay at my house when he was down on his luck.

But that's other story.


Stones

 

[PA Has Been]

Any more stories of barn finds?

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

here is mine . . .

On eBay, a while back I noticed a listing from a guy who said he was selling his grandfather's cue and case. The pics were taken with a phone and were so horrible that I could barely make out what he had. The lighting was very bad and the cue and case were leaned against a black office chair but something caught my eye that I could barely make out. It appeared there was a pearl plate in the butt sleeve. It also looked like the wrap was done with silver duct tape.

The opening bid was for $400 and the auction ended with not one bid ever being placed.

I had been in touch with the seller and received some additional info including that the cue was in great shape, and he assured me that what looked like a duct tape wrap was actually some pearly gray plastic also in great condition and *** that his Grandfather's name was indeed on a pearl plate written in fancy script **" in the butt plate. And oh yeah, the case was in pristine condition and was the old brunswich fishing rod holder style from the early 1940's.

I was pretty excited over what I was learning about this cue and case and thought to run it by fellow AZ'er TATE who is well versed in these old cues (understatement). He said he actually saw this same listing, but thought it was an old junker with duct tape and all. Again, the pics were just atrocious.

When I told Chris Tate what I had learned, he, too, became excited at the possibilities that this might be an important cue. With his guidance I asked a few more questions, made an offer, and ended up the proud owner of the combo pictured below.

Just when you think a hidden treasure can not possibly be found on ebay, one appears. It's a Herman Rambow.

I feel very lucky to have spotted this and along with Chris' generous advice, I got my billiard equivalent of a "barn find". :thumbup:

Worth noting is that according to the grandson, his grandfather had mosconi and fats over to his house a number of times and there are pics of the three of them sitting on a living room couch which he was trying to locate for me. Said his grandpa played pretty sporty and was in tourneys against the likes of Irving Crane.

best,
brian kc

 

[billf59]

about three years ago me and a buddy were in a place were they sell a little of everything they had a barrel with a few cues all wall mart mart stuff when my buddy pulled one out and it looked really good we could tell it was not junk bought it for 10 bucks got it home check it out and found out it was a blood worth he found it and was the one who payed the money so it was his just my luck

 

[EDRJR]

Great deal

My wife was friends with an elderly couple across the street from her mother's house. I met them a few times and the guy was deaf, so we couldn't talk much. He had arthritis of the spine and was in constant pain. He lifted the cover on his table in his dining room. A 9 ft Brunswick Monticello III. After he passed, his wife couldn't bring herself to sell it to me. I told her I understood. After she passed, I bought the table from their niece for $400. She threw in the crummy house cues and 3 Karl Mayer cues. 5 shafts, two with micarta ferrules. 4 pointers, no veneers, probably conversion cues. One is missing it's clear tube at the butt sleeve. Someday I'll have someone make me a player out of it since it isn't original. When I retire, I'm definitely cruisin' the garage sales looking for gems. Lots of 70's retirees cleaning out their junk around here.

 

[pooldawg8]

I remember hearing of a guy that bought an old Its George case at a garage sale for $10.
Through it in the trunk of his wifes car & forgot about it for a week. After remembering about the case he gets it out & looks over it & opens it to find a cue inside with G.S. on the butt cap.
Don`t know if this is a true story or not, but I would love to find a garage sale $10 cue with G.S. on the butt cap. Lucky SOB anyways

 

[Maq1679]

Finds

I've had a couple but my latest was at a pawn shop, I bought a real nice Centennial case with 1976 Palmer cue in it, I believe it was the P11 model and I'm fairly certain it was made with one of the red,white,blue Gus Szamboti bicentennial blanks anyhow I paid $100 for the case and the cue