Presented by Simon "The Diamond" D'Vali
The UK's foremost authority on collectable cues
TheDiamond@Pro9.co.uk
Collector's Cue Gallery
Click the picture to download the full size photograph by Simon D'Vali.
Cue Gallery 3
Here we have the third instalment of the Cue Gallery. These are some of the best looking cues I have owned that’s for sure.
"Read More..." for the details.
Click the picture to download the full size photograph by Simon D'Vali.
From top to bottom:
1) James White: This incredibly fancy White was designed by my friend and famous collector, Mark Kulungian. Mark owns the club Pool Table Magic in America, one of the finest Billiard Clubs in the country and runs his own website, classiccues.com. Mark based this cue on a famous Gus Szamboti design. It consists of 4 points of Brazilian rosewood with striking veneers into a Brazilian rosewood forearm. The joint is piloted ivory and has a 5/16-14 pin. The ring work at the joint is ivory ‘chain link’. There is an ivory and rosewood ‘Bushka’ style ring just above the wrap. Gus Szamboti was famous for changing the ringwork at various locations on cues. He did what he felt was right for the aesthetics rather than match ringwork for the sake of matching. The wrap is brown lizard and perfectly compliments the cue. The butt sleeve, wow…where do you start? The most amazing piece of Brazilian rosewood with ivory inlays galore. All done in a classic Szamboti style, the inlays to note are the lazy Ss below the wrap and above the butt cap along with the large split diamonds. All trade marks of the great man. The butt cap is solid ivory. James was taught the art of cue building by the great Paul Mottey. This cue really does showcase what he is capable of.
2) James White: ….and now for something completely different. A cue James made for himself. This is made in the style of a Southwest cue. James likes wrapless cues and 59” cues, both traits are on this one. There are 6 staggered ivory points with black, powder blue and white veneers into an ebony forearm. Solid ivory block joint with a 3/8-8 Radial pin. Typical Southwest style ringwork at the joint, above and below the wrap and above the butt cap. The ringwork consists of stacked veneers and notches (with 2 veneer colours). It’s the attention to detail that sets James apart from other makers, the ringwork all lines up to the points exactly and is staggered perfectly at the joint and butt cap. Between the butt cap and the butt sleeve is a large ivory ring. The wrap area is like a woven carbon fibre material (I must get round to asking James what this is). Quite a heavy cue, 19.7oz but its very solid and the workmanship is as good as it gets.
Click the picture to download the full size photograph by Simon D'Vali.
3) Paul Mottey: As per the first article, one of my favourite playing cues of all time.
4) Art Cantando: Here is something you don’t see everyday. Art is in his 80s and is the only person to apprentice under the great Barry Szamboti, Gus’s son. Art only makes a very small number of cues per year; I believe it is less than 10 so they are extremely rare. Here we have one of his masterpieces, a study in ivory and cocobola. The joint is very unusual, not that it’s a 3/8-10 pin but the whole joint is steel. Not something you come across very often. The forearm is cocobola and what a piece of wood it is, super swirls and curves in the grain. It contains elongated ivory diamonds and dots set in an unusual pattern that really works. Small ivory diamonds for the ringwork bordered by silver rings. The wrap is black ring-tailed lizard. A repeat of the ivory design in the buttsleeve and an ivory butt cap completes the cue.
5) Dennis Searing: Orange Crush. Needs its own article really.
6) James White: The Diamond Cue. So does this.
Click the picture to download the full size photograph by Simon D'Vali.
7) James White: Rosewood on rosewood. Prior to me knowing about the Kulungian White, I asked Jim to make me a rosewood cue with rosewood splices. Nothing fancy, just a players cue. Here is the result of that conversation. Rosewood points with 4 veneers into rosewood. Szamboti style maple stitch ringwork. Ivory block joint with a 3/8-10 pin. Chocolate brown lizard wrap, rosewood butt sleeve with matching maple stitch ringwork. Delrin butt cap and a brown bumper. I specifically asked Jim to find me a brown bumper as I didn’t think black would work. He did but it took him ages to find one and I bet I was cursed a few times during his search. This was my main playing cue for a whole season. In recent times, I decided to spruce the cue up so I asked Jim to inlay the rosewood White in the same pattern as one of my Szamboti cues. He obliged and the results can be seen below. Abalone notched diamonds with abalone dots and yellow veneers in a barbell pattern. This wonderful cue is now in the possession of Lee Hersey (Rackrunner on Pro9). Good choice of cue mate.
Click the picture to download the full size photograph by Simon D'Vali.
There we go. Hope it was interesting, tune in again soon, cue fans.