Heritage Cue Collection

The Cue Collection is quite extensive and so we have split off the artilce on the Signature Cue, The Peradon Cue Plates and the French Maruetry Cues to try and make it more easly to view the items. So this section contains some interesting examples of cues made by a variety of Cue Makers. Some are cues endorsed by the famous players or celebrating major occasions. Other are by well know Billiard and Snooker firms but from the late 1940's intil the 1980's one firm dominated the U.K. and Commonwealth cue making - Peradon made and sold the cues to the  Export trade and used the name Weildings name for the U.K. market, they also kept the MacMorran name alive as well. To learn more about Peradon click on the name.

 

Peradon's made a range of Joe Davis Cues and the Collection has a few example of some of that range. The first two cue, above, show te change in plates from the 'Red' 600 to a 'Black' version. The other pictures are our examples of the Joe Davis Club cue, oneof which has the disc for a Chester Sports Shop.

 

The Joe Davis '20 years World Champion Cue' was made by the Canadian Cue makers Duffryn and was sold exclusively in the U.K. by Peradon. The Joe Davis 'Great Players' is a Peradon made cue from the late 1980's. The Joe Davis signature cue is a Peradon model from their current (2012) range.

 The two examples of the Joe Davis Champion Cues only record his Billiard record break of 2501. The next plate , still a Champion Cue, also records a 100 'World Record' break at snooker. Joe almost made a maximum with a 'World Record' 146 at Snooker and the Champion Cue then becomes a 'Snooker' cue. The finale example has the 147 World Snooker Record. note this cue has a Clare-Padmore-Thurston disc insert. These thre businesses now trade as Thurston and their histories/stories can be read in the 'Histories & Articles' section of this web site.

 

The Cannon Match Cue shows the Weilding (now Peradon) Cannon Trade mark. The 'Standfast' Cue has the trade name for Clare - Padmore-Thurston (now  Thurston). Two examples of the 150 limited edition cue made by Peradon for Thos. Padmore & Sons to celebrated their 150th anniversary. In the late 1980's Peradon offered a bespoke cue making service to the trade and the 'Specially Made' plate is an example. The final cue has a simple Peradon trade mark in the disc which was used on a cue made for the snooker club market.

The Peradon cork wrapped butt was made in about 1983 by Vince Bendon (who had started as an apprentice with Peradon and later becoming a Director of the business) to show what the original model looked like.The middle picture shows a 'trial' pattern butted cue circa. 1950 and the last cue is another 'trial' cue which had a central splice which goes full length of the cue. Webelieve the idea was for the 'splice line' to bea sighting line. Both the 'tria;' cue were made by Peradon.

Peradon, as can be seen from these plates, also made cues for special celebrations and promotions. The professional player enorsed cues make up a significant part of the collection. It would almost seem that the Sydney Smith Professional Billiard Champion plate was put on up side down, so to make it eaier to read it is shown again as if the cue was being held for a 'shot'.

 The Collection has four examples of the Horace Lindrum Champion picture cue by Peradon - note the saving of two screws in the midel two examples which are of later versions of the plates See also the Horace Lindrum Signature Cue article). The Walter Lindrum World Champion cues again made by Peradon show the same 'saving' by only using two screws in the later plates.

The 'NONPAREIL' Lindrum -McConachy Cue is also made by Peradon.' The World's Record Break  Cue'  December 7th 1929 is probably a Peradon Cue.

Examples of both Peradon & Fletcher and Peradon Cues. The 'Royal' Cue with the 'Centenary Year' overprint celebrates Peradon (Peradon & Fletcher as it was in 1985) 100 years of manufacturing Cues. The 'Consul' plate is a Clare - Padmore - Thurston model Cue made on their behalf by Peradon. The 'sticker' with the Peradon & Fletcher trade mark incorporates the MacMorran, Weildings and E.L. Fletcher trade marks. The carbon fibre cue with the 'Permac' trade mark was not made by Peradon but was their branded version of this style of cue which was marketed in the 1990's.

Some models from the 'Terry Griffiths' range of Snooker Cues made by Peradon shortly after he won the World Snooker Championship. They also madea range of endorsed Snooker Cues for that great Liverpool Professional John Parrott.

Two examples of a Peradon 'Clubman' cue. The first with the model name also has stamped onto the shaft 'Clare Billiards & Snooker Hire Service'. The other branded with a disc stamp for Clare - Padmore - Thurston.  A plain ash cue with a disc insert showing it as a 'Tournament' model. Two other plain ash cues  the first plated as 'The Popular Cue' the other branded for NAAFI (Navy,Army, Air Force Institutes.

Smith & Nelso was a Leeds based Billiard & Snooker business which also had at least one Snooker Hall. These two cues are probably made by Peradon.

Peradon produced a 147 range cues endorsed by Willie Thorne who had mad more maximum breaks at snooker than the other players of his generation.

The cue below, on the left,  was donated to the collection in 2012 by a customer of E. A. Clare. It has special significance to the collection as the plate only has the E.A. Clare name on it and the early 27 St. Anne Street address. Which indicates it was made by Weildings?peradon some time before Norman Clare was made a partner. So Peter Clare was delighted to add it tio the collection. The cue Frank Cox on the right was donated to the collection by David Smith of Cuesnviews. It is a peradon/weilding made cue.

        

 

Power Glide was a cue manufacturing business set up by Rex Williams (Snooker Professional) and his brother Ken Williams. Power Glide for many years had a sales stand at the Embassy World Championships in Sheffield and the Embassy cue is one of their models recognising the association.

Power Glide Snooker cues produced since the Williams left the husiness, which is now owned as is part of the Unicorn, Gunn & Moore group.

Some old Thurston Billiard Cues. A simple one piece Ash cue with the '14 Catherine St.' address stamped onto it (circa 1820). Another old Billiard cue is the ebony butted with name inserted in a light wood. The Royal and Prince of wales Warrants celebrated on another cue butt. The 'Split Cane' cue is quite a rare example. The silver plate on the Joseph Bennett signature cue by Thurston reads - The Billiard Handicap 1st. prize presented by Joseph Bennett 'Ex Champion' won by F.Osborne 1887.

The three Thurston one piece Ash cues are all shorter than a standard cue and are stamped with the 14 Catherine St. address so are quite early examples. The inlaid'Thurston & Co' might well indicate that this cue was made prior to the date that Thurston became a limited company in about 1815. So the inlaid 'Thurston Ltd.' cue is probably later than 1815.

Three Cues from the range of models made for Thurston, by Peradon,  in 1999 to commorate the establishment of the business in 1799. The machine splice ebony butted cue with the Thurstons (!) showing the address as 33 Cheyne Walk dates this cue to the period between 1901 & 1965. Probably made by Peradon but sold via the Weilding.

Two versions of a Burroughes & Watts W. Cook signature cue. The second one has the additional disc which reads - 'patent secret jointed cue'. The joint on the cue is shown in the next picture and the Collection also has a copy of the sales leaflet promoting this type of two piece billiard cue.

Professional Billiard players endorsed cues by Burroughes & Watts. These examples include a Diggle record Break, A W. Cook World Record Break and a Stevenson Champion. The two Burroughes & Watts 'Club' cues seem to have additional disc inlaid on which the owner could have their initials engraved. 

Further examples of the range of models of Billiard Cues that Burroughes 7 Watts offered.

The Mannock cue on the left of the Burroughes & Watts catalogue page is an original. The page from the catalogue shows the Mannock cues sold for £2-5-0 and the Eureka at £1-17-6. Some of the other models already illustrated can are also listed in the catalogue. The Mannock cue on the left is in fact a facsimilie made by Peradon circa 1990.

Further examples of Burroughes & Watts professional Billiard player signature cues. The Burwat Champion by Burroughes & Watts Cue is alongside the same model but with the Riley Billiards version from the period when Riley's took over the Billiard & Snooker interests of Burroughes & Watts and for a period they traded as Riley Burwat.

Examples of E.J. Riley Billiard Cues when the business was based in Accrington and where know as Rileys Accrington. A George Grey signature cue is also shown.

The two cues above show the Riley logo that was develioped after they aquired the business interest of J. Bennetts (Based on the Old Kent Road). This logo / trade mark was used until they moved to their Network 65 address, which was their last address before closure.

  

The above Riley cue is a two piece cue which has a graphite top shaft. The 'Net Work 65' logo which replaced the old ex Bennet one is shown on the butt.

 

A Riley Cue probably made by Duffryn of Canada - which has Steve Davis signature on butt section of shaft.

A range of examples of John Roberts Billiard Cues with four of the Roberts  'Champion Cue' that are in the collection.

Professional player enorsed cues - Melbourne Inman, Tom Reece, C. Haverson, Sydney Lee and Walter Donaldson. Walter Donaldson and Sydney Lee are two of the signatures on the Signature Cue pictures of both players are in that article.

Two Claude Falkiner Club Billiard Cues probably made by Peradon

The Billiard cue on the left has a very unusual shaped butt. It seems to be a one piece maple cue with an ebony insert and the name T. Flemming Edin(burgh) stamped on the shaft timber. Another one piece Ash cue with a conventional butt shape again with an ebony insert by T. Fleming. A more conventional looking hardwood butted cue again with the T. Fleming stamp on the butt. 

The two cues on the left of the picture are Long & Co of Cork. The 'Match Cue' is a worn out cork butted cue. It looks like the John Taylor of Edinburgh cue disc has  been fitted so that it was to be read when the cue was held ready to make a stroke as it is a right angle to how most discs are fitted!? The gold print on the International Cue is somewaht worn and there is a hint that a name or crest was also printed on the butt. The 'mother of pearl' like in-lay on the last cue is match on the opposite side with another flat and a hardwood insert, indicating that it is probably a European made Billiard (Carom) cue.

The ebony butted Ashcroft Billiard cue is clear to read and so is the stamping of teh name on the plain Maple cues. The Plain Ash cue has 'Liverpool' stamped on it but the other wording can not be read but it is probably an Ashcoft cue.

A range of examples of cues with business names from arround the U.K. F.H. Ayres is one that is know as a part of the Billaird Trade.

A few more examples of business selling Billiard Cues

Most of the Collection of Billiard & Snooker cues are either from well know firms that have been associated with Billiards & Snooker or are player endorsed cues.

Our collection of Orme & Sons cue is quite small considering they were based in Manchester. Ormes & Sons business was absorbed into Burroughes & Watts.

There are cues from Blackpool Billiard works either side of the Jelks cue. W.Baliff an early Liverpool Billiard business. The Elston's of Nottingham cue is prior to this Nottingham business becoming Elston & Hopkins (the cue was donated by Mr. Chris law) The black painted butted cue has stamped onto the 'flat' the follwoing - Cox & Yeman, 184 Bromton Road,  W.Cook model.

Five examples of the Peall Record Cue - the picture plate is a nice example.

The first two cues, we believe, came in with a Billard table that was bought from a 'Gentleman's Club', The have the light coloured wood insert with the names inlaid in black. The Professional Cue based on the plates appearance would probably have been made by either Peradon or MacMorran.

The three snooker cues (circa 1990) were made by McDermott in the U.S.A. and were marketed in the U.K. by Matchroom. They had an unusual finger 'machine' joint between the shaft and butt, as shown in the picture. The Gibney Hawk Eye vue has an ebony splice at the tip, as illustrated, the idea being that it gave a sight line to help with cueing /strike accuracy. 

 

The Tele-Cue has a telescopic butt section and was a U.K. patented idea.The cue showing the telescopic section with a 'B' on the plate is an imported cue from a firm called 'Biltop' 

The Buffalo cue is an import sold in Europe by a firm in the Netherlands. The 'International' has a butt with no 'flat' but is otherwise a conventional snooker cue (based on its tip size). The bottle shaped butt with the machine cut decoration and 'mother of pearl' inlay is a Carom cue made in Belgium. The other machine cut Caron cue has a more conventional 'standard' shape. The cue with the ribbed rubber sleeve is an 'Apollo' cue. It is a tubular aluminium snooker cue which was extensively promoted in the 1960's /1970's as a cue which would not warp. The glass fibre cue was an early experimaental snooker cue.

Examples of Snooker Cues from U.K. manufacturers who produced cues in the later part of the 20th Century. Barracuda was based in Kirkham in Lancashire but when manufacture cease merged with Master Cue Makers. Cannon Cue Ltd. were a Midland based cue makers as were Aeon, whose factory was in Coventry. The second Aeon cue shows the brass wieght which could be unscrewed and either a heavier or lighter weight screwed back in to adjust the cues weight to the players preferance. The cue with the 'black' insert is an Askrod Harlequin model - the name can oly be just made out when carefully examined. Britannia  cue 'Illustrious' was another Midland basedmaker.

Some further famous names in the Snooker trade - BCE based in Bristol, Lewis & Wilson made by Master Cue Makers in Telford and Glover based in Derby. Stuart Surridge, the well known sports goods suppliers - Cue Craft based in Nottingham. The Gravity cue was made under agreement by Peradon for the Liverpool based inventor.

The disc palte says it is @Patent Inflexible' and it seems to have a steel star shaped rod down the length of the shaft. The idea being not only to help prevent warping but also to improve the striking of the ball. As you can see the cue shaft would have had a circular hole drilled though it and the 'star' shaped metal had to have wood fillets inserted to take up the gaps. It is quite a feat to bore a hole such a length and then insert the rod and fillets. The next picture features the Thurston split cane cue, which has an unusual six pointted butt section. Hopefully the split cane of the shaft can be seen. The final two pictures are of the same cue which is unusual in having a 'pine' shaft.

A Snooker cue made by Andy Hunter, an expert on old cues. He presented the cue to the collection on one of his visits.   Finally was someone trying to say they had a Mannock Cue ? 

This cue donated in 2013 raises a couple of questions. The story was that the owner 's father had bought it of Ray Reardon. The plate looks like a Powerglide but the cue looks like a Peradon made one? After showing it to David Smith of www.cuesnviews@yahoo.co,uk he agreed that it didn't look like a Powerglide Cue and it was more like a Peradon one but that the butt plate was a Powerglide plate.

 

 

We do not deal in old cue but please check our LINKS page you will find some links to sites who may be able to help you. Those whho want to buy good quality 'new' cues should if possible call into the Thurston showroom in Liverpool or if that is not possible visit the Thurston eshop - www.thurston.co.uk

or phone - 44(0)151 482 2700

If you want to design you own 'bespoke' cue made by the U.K.'s leading and most experienced cue maker - vist www.cuewizard.co.uk

and if you let them know you have visited this site claim a 5% discount.

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© E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. 2018. © Peter N. Clare 2018
Reproduction of this article allowed only with the permission from E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.