I do not think I owe it to my customers to identify which hands did what work on their case.
This is where we disagree, and it is the exact reason many people hesitate to purchase things from large shops with multiple employee's. I can only speak for myself, but if I buy a case from John Barton, I would want John Barton to make the case I ordered. I would not want a case made by some one else, that you inspected and will stand behind. To me John, if I am going to buy the best of anything, in my opinion I am buying two things and both are equally important. First, if I am going to spend $700 plus on a cue case, I am buying the craftsmanship of a specific pair of hands. Leather is leather John, just like wood is wood for pool cues, part of buying anything that is custom hand made is buying an item that the Master craftsman fashioned himself. Second, when evaluating a purchase in my opinion is craftsmanship and materials involved, you see John all of the above two paragraphs reflects the price and value of any item that is custom made.
I know John I am not the only one who feels this way, I have seen $3000 cues sold or returned because after the sale the buyer found out that an apprentice actually had built the cue. John I think most people who buy Custom Billiards items whether cues or cases feel the same way, this is a major part of something being collectible. You see John, there are many people who are very creative who are building these items today. In many cases it takes a very trained eye to see any difference, and this is where a name plays a major part in a custom items value and the items cost. Trust me on this John, people do care and in most cases want to know, however, they forget to ask the right questions because they think they already know the answer.
We will have to agree to disagree on this subject John.
Have a good night!!!
I guess we do have to disagree then because most of the world's expensive super high end luxury items are made in studios and companies with many employees.
Do you think that "Mr. Gibson" makes every guitar that comes out of their shop? Do you think that Patek or Philippe are the only people who make all the Patek Philippe watches? Do only Enzo Ferrari's sons build Ferraris?
I think that your point of view is shared by some but not the majority of collectors. I could of course be wrong. In my case I can only go by my orders which are from some of the most notable collectors and all of them know that I don't make each case all by myself. They all know that a JB Case is the result of my vision brought to life by the team I assembled and trained.
Let's be clear about something, just because something is made by just one person from start to finish does not mean that it is better than something made by many people.
The product stands alone all by itself and is judged by how good it is. Now if you want to put a particular criteria on thing YOU buy and say that it has no value to you IF it's not made by only one person then that is YOUR personal assessment and has nothing whatsoever to do with how good the product is or how much it's worth to anyone else.
I respect your view and I doubt that you will ever purchase a JB Case as long as you hold it. I wonder though what you think about the Huebler cues you just featured in the Cue Gallery section. You talked about how Huebler cues are underrated as collectibles, about the quality and so on. Someone else said that Huebler had 37 employees at one time and still he turned out many one of a kind collectible cues. Do you think that Paul Huebler should have provided a list of exactly who made those cues?
Do you think that people like Bill Stroud, Tim Scruggs, Jerry Franklin, Barry Szamboti, etc.... have no RIGHT to hire people or have apprentices?
The history of making things is almost always one of learning in the shops of others. One becomes a master by apprenticing under masters. What does the apprentice do in the master's shop? He does the tasks that he intends to master according to the directions of the master himself. The master owes NO ONE any disclosure what part of the product was done by his apprentices or hired help.
I would like to hear one collector stand up and tell us that he returned a cue to a cuemaker because the cue was made all or in part by an apprentice IF the cue was indistinguishable from any others made by the same cue maker and flawless.
And I also like to hear if people really think that cue makers owe customers full disclosure about who made what in their shops.
I think it's clear that James White made all or significant parts of Mottey cues. Has ANYONE ever returned a Mottey cue because James White made it?
Craig I think that the examples of fine things in the world bear out my point more than yours. One man shops are in the tiny minority and what they can make is limited. What they make should be great but it's not a guarantee "just because" there is only one person doing all the tasks.
The fact is that great and valuable and collectible things can come from one man shops as well as from shops with multiple people doing the work and also even from large companies. Fine things are fine no matter who made them.
