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One of the best aspects of collecting Billiards
and Snooker memorabilia is that occasionally you get the opportunity to get
hold of something that someone you know wants.
Perhaps I better back track for a moment, I have
got to know many people who have acquired hard to find artefacts from the past
such as Old Cues, Old Books, Cigarette Cards and so on. These people usually
require something for their collection and may have other items that I would
like.
Networking with people as far apart as the West
Country and Scotland can turn up some interesting items but can also lead to
building up friendships and the opportunity to share information and yet more
contacts.
I have recently bought two old cues from a
gentleman in London and another from a friend of mine in Bolton.
The cue from Bolton is a Burroughes and Watts Ye
Olde Ash Cue. The unusual thing about the cue is the wording on the badge, as
you are no doubt aware the usual wording mentions that the Ye Olde Ash Cues are
from the London workshop of Burroughes and Watts. In this case the badge
implies that the cue was at least sold in “Newcastle on Tyne. I am curious
as to whether the company made this type of cue with badges that refer to their
other sites in such as Glasgow and Sheffield.
Returning to networking, I recently enjoyed
searching out a cue for a gentleman from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, this
gentleman was a particular collector of Charles Dawson items and wanted to get
hold of a Burroughes and Watts Charles Dawson Champion Cue. It took some time
but I managed to get a very nice example for reasonable price with a complete
badge and lacquer on the butt. The gentleman was delighted with his acquisition
and as he is a high quality Billiards player himself will give the cue a try to
see how it felt to play Billiards at the turn of the 20th
Century.
I myself would like to get a Tom Newman cue with
the Word Newman printed in inverted commas on the badge and a front splice of
beech on the butt. I have seen a number of these cues but the owners rarely
wish to part with them, which I of course respect.
The most common type of Tom Newman cue has his
signature reproduced on the badge along with his 1,370 break commemorated and
the words, "champion cue" inscribed on the badge. It seems strange to go into
such detail about what a cues badge should say but to a cue collector these
details are as vital as the correct number of perforations on a stamp are to a
stamp collector.
Other factors to bear in mind are the overall
condition of the cue, the length of the cue and the tip size of the cue.
Going back to the turn of the last century it
was not unusual for cues to be 55 inches in length but by 1910 most cues were
manufactured about 58 inches long. It was rare for cues to be made with a tip
size of less than 10 millimetres in diameter.
I have a George Gray cue made by Riley’s of
Accrington from 1911 which is 58 inches long and has an eleven millimetre tip
size.
This does not mean that shorter cues were not
available as a special order, but as a rule of thumb if I was to be offered two
cues that are almost identical, I would almost always purchase the longer
one.
I hope that if you are considering starting a
collection of old cues the suggestions that I have written in this article are
useful to you. I am not really looking for very many more cues for my
collection but if you have something to sell let me know, I may be able to put
you in touch with a potential buyer? Let me know what you have and how much you
want or even whether you would consider a swap and I will see what I can
do.
David
Smith
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