Why do you collect

PoolCueSickness

PoolCueSickness

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I?m just a bit curious, Why and how did you get into cue collecting.
And do you really expect to make much cash , if any from them when
you do Go to sell them. I personally don?t know of anyone who has bought a New cue and then sold it for more than they paid for it. I love cues BUT, I don?t think cues are really a good investment at all.
So lets hear your take on cue collecting.

Thanks
 
In my opinion, there are only a handful of cues that would provide a return on your investment, but even that would take a number of years. I think you nailed it with your screenname: poolcuesickness. I've got it too!
 
Got into because there are so many of them. :)

A , actually MANY , wise collectors will tell you to never buy anything you don't like for the sole purpose of making money. That's a sure way to end up broke and unhappy with your purchases. Alway buy what you like as the first rule.

Except for the rare exceptionally good deal that comes by from time to time , real money won't be made on anything that is considered 'collectable'. True collectables you don't ever know are collectable till they become so. Then you can actually make money but the vast majority of the time even then , with the cost of inflation and current market values those gains are often subjective. For example , you bought a customs cue 20 years ago for $500 , today it worth $2000. How much is a new custom going to cost you ? $2000 ;) at least. What have you really gained over 20 years of investment ?

I went thru the same thing with Harleys over the last few years and then muscle cars before that. Have a gain of $15K ($5K invested) on a classic Harley and then a new one runs $20k. Big profit huh ?

Same deal in cues , only worse usually as the cue market gets fulled with more and more custom cue makers biulding cues at or exceeding the quality of the old collectables. Why spend $10K -$20K on a high end colletable now when you can have a better cue biult for less by a dozen different builders.

So where does that leave you ? Collecting because you can afford it , cause you take pride in your collecting effort and the finacial investment you have made and/or cause it's a hobby like anything else.

Pretty much my thoughts on the whole thing.
 
cue

For me, the reason I buy cues is I love playing the game of pool. I also like trying great cues from different cuemakers. I feel like there are so many great cuemakers out there that one should be able to experience using different cues.
 
PoolCueSickness said:
I personally don?t know of anyone who has bought a New cue and then sold it for more than they paid for it. I love cues BUT, I don?t think cues are really a good investment at all.
Click to expand...

Tell that to Dennis Searing :cool:
 
A love of cues!

My reason for collecting is an insatiable love of custom cues. Just can't get enough of them and I ain't afraid to say so! :D :D

A custom cue is an object of affection

The Woim
 
PoolCueSickness said:
I?m just a bit curious, Why and how did you get into cue collecting.
And do you really expect to make much cash , if any from them when
you do Go to sell them. I personally don?t know of anyone who has bought a New cue and then sold it for more than they paid for it. I love cues BUT, I don?t think cues are really a good investment at all.
So lets hear your take on cue collecting.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Cue collecting may not be a great investment, but it's a great hobby to invest in. It's a hobby that can return a profit, but like all investments, it takes knowledge and carries risks. You must understand what is collectible and why, understand the market, and keep avenues open for both intelligent buying and reliable selling.

A while back I did a study with some A-Z members where we compared random samplings of prices from 10 year old cue dealers flyers with today's market. The cue dealers had the uncanny ability to zero in on which cues were collectible to push (although they were not 100%).

Here's what we came up with:

http://palmercollector.com/CuesAsInvestments.html

Collectible cues considerably outperformed inflation over the time of the study and appereciated at a simple rate of 10% annually.

Chris
 
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PoolCueSickness said:
I personally don?t know of anyone who has bought a New cue and then sold it for more than they paid for it.
Click to expand...

I've bought several and sold them used for more than I paid for them. Used to happen with Southwest all the time.
The cue I play with now and have owned for 12 years, I've been offered over twice what I paid.
I don't collect, by they way.
 
To me, they are works of Art ...

I ordered my first Custom Cue in 1964 from an old time maker in San Jose, California named Willard Dicken ... It was a very plain cue, but the wood was fabulous ... Some of the finest figured Birdseye Maple I have ever seen (even today) with a perfect pigskin wrap ... Up to that time I had played exclusivley with Willie Hoppe Titleist Cues (having won 10 of them at a local 14-1 Tournament on Friday nights ... The winner could choose between $50.00 cash or a new Hoppe in the zipper case, and I took the Cues every time) ... Sorry to say, all of those Hoppe are long gone and the Custom Dicken was stolen from a friend's house in 1968 ... My next Custom was a Palmer Model "M" with my name in the window, which I truly cherished until it was stolen in 1981 ... Since that time, I have bought, sold, and traded hundreds of Customs including a complete collection of Custom Palmers with some being previously owned by famous players ... I imagine many of those found their way into Chris's collection ... I now collect only one-of-a-kind customs, made to my specifications ... As for why I collect, to me they are Objects d' Art not unlike any other art object, be it a Painting, a Sculpture, are even a Fine Classic Automobile ...
 
It depends on what you buy and how long you can hold them in most cases, but if you buy right and put 10%-20% mark-up on a cue its an easy business, I did it alot before the internet i had a good reputation and awalys had cash to loan, that was a good gig-guys would give me their cue and we would make a deal, some cues i had 3 or 4 times. But it was a business for me not a hobbie.
 
PoolCueSickness said:
I?m just a bit curious, Why and how did you get into cue collecting.
And do you really expect to make much cash , if any from them when
you do Go to sell them. I personally don?t know of anyone who has bought a New cue and then sold it for more than they paid for it. I love cues BUT, I don?t think cues are really a good investment at all.
So lets hear your take on cue collecting.

Thanks
Click to expand...

After I bought my first cue when I started playing I would see another cue that I liked and bought and then I saw another cue and I bought it and ..... I never had any intentions of becoming a collector( I've been buying cues for about 25 years) and didn't realize I was a collector until about 7 or 8 years ago when someone in the pool room told me I was a cue collector.

As far as buying a new cue and seliing it for more than you paid for it here is a list of some (living) cuemakers cues that are worth more:

Dennis Searing
Barry Szamboti
South West
Joel Hercek
Pete Tascarella
John Showman
Bob Manzino - high end
Ginacue - Most of his cues

These are all excellent investment cues. In fact the first 6 on the list you can buy a cue new and use it everyday and sell it later on down the road for more than you paid new. Now that's a excellent investment.
 
Cues

I think a lot of people buy and sell cues trying to find one that will make them a better player while others buy them for their appearance. Then they get bored with the design after they've owned the cue for a while and when they see something that they like better then the cue they are bored with is for sale and they buy the cue that caught their eye. This cycle will be repeated over and over for a lot of pool players. I have been caught up in it myself until I finally figured out what I wanted in a cue and which cue maker's cues suited me.

I've owned as many as 8 cues at once and gradually sold them and bought others searching for the cue that suited me best along the way. I now own 2 cues made by the same cue maker and I don't have that urge to buy and sell anymore. The urge may come back, but for now i'm happy with the two cues I have and the way they play.
 
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I do it because I just like the cues. As Jay said "I'm a sucker for a good hitting cue". Some I buy because I just have to try them out, like my SP Predators... 1 with a 314, 1 with a Z2. Some because I know the cue builder, like the Blackhearts and the Sailors I have. I had 12 South West's but have managed to reduce that to 5 and will get it down to 2, maybe 1 that is "special" to me. I've got 4 j/b cues now and need to get that down to 2, one leather tipped and 1 phenolic. Just got a Sugartree and now I'm a believer! The collection will grow slowly I'm sure... as I find another I absolutely have to try. It is a sickness.... a fun sickness. It's a better place for my $$$ than my old passions of drinking, weed, and cigarets.
 
Pushout said:
I've bought several and sold them used for more than I paid for them. Used to happen with Southwest all the time.
The cue I play with now and have owned for 12 years, I've been offered over twice what I paid.
I don't collect, by they way.
Click to expand...

......If you had put that money in a bank 12 years ago, you would have more than double now also-so there!
 
I collect them because I love them. Cues aren't liquid investments. Unless you have a truly spectacular and focused collection (like TATE, for example) you'll have quite a job selling off your cues one at a time. That being said, if enough time has gone by and you have carefully chosen and carefully taken care of your cues you'll turn a profit eventually. For me it's just a lot of fun. Any profit I might make is icing.
 
Cue collecting started as a passion, and has turned into an addiction. If I see the cue and like it, made by a known cuebuilder, the cue hits good, the price is right, I buy it, but no production cues other than a few Schons, maybe a Pechauer, D-series McDermott. I am in a little too deep but there are worse things you can spend your hard earned money on
 
Everybody has a different reason for why or what they collect.

Bottom line

You don't need a reason for anybody. Collect what you like and don't worry about what others think. Collect what makes you happy.

Regards,

Scott
 
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