Why are Hunt & O'Byrne Cues so desirable?

[qc2]

What makes them so special, so collectable and so much more so than anything else available at the same time? Will Hunt on his Facebook page in response to a question about his current cues vs his older cues stated that his cues now are better than they ever were before owing to 'picking up knowledge over the years'.

But with all the suspicion around the origins of the cues in question (even the genuine ones) and question marks over Will Hunt's actual cue making abilities, how can they fetch the money they do?

[narl]

Because of Jimmy White mainly, he was the first to have one of their Butt Jointed Cues and it just seems to be the cue people want, particularly as the company has been out of business near 25 years.

The main ways of identifying a legit one are the shape of the butt and in the case of a jointed cue, the brass joint itself, they also usually have slightly longer splice fingers than most 3/4 cues. With the joint only Robert Osborne and Ray Cohen use the same joint that the original company used.

Funny that Will Hunt "just happened" to have "made" a 1 piece cue in the time that 3/4's were all the rage. Or in all likely-hood he couldn't source a proper original joint (as evidenced by the ones on "his" current cues) so that one on ebay that sold for stupid money was made as a 1 piece.

Oddly enough i'm awaiting one arriving on Thursday,

[Stevie1]

So what you getting a 3/4 CUE ?

[warren132]

Because of Jimmy White mainly, he was the first to have one of their Butt Jointed Cues

It was Alex Higgins that actualy sold this cue to jimmy.

[narl]

Because of Jimmy White mainly, he was the first to have one of their Butt Jointed Cues

It was Alex Higgins that actualy sold this cue to jimmy.

There's numerous variations of this story, one is that Higgins sold him the cue, another is White was looking around their workshop, liked the look of the cue and bought it.

It wasn't his first 3/4 though, he had that one with the white collar around the joint before he had this. Not sure how he tells it in his book or if he even touches on it but I've heard at least 2 different ways of how he got it. Another is that he played Higgins for it.

[narl]

So what you getting a 3/4 CUE ?

Yup, if the pics are anything to go by it's either a refurbished real one or a replica with everything 100% on.

[Stevie1]

Well hope its the real deal pall hate to see you get your trousers taken down

[narl]

I've went over the pics of it quite a few times and compared them with ones i had from when i had a legit one a few years back and other known real ones. Looks dead on to me, obviously with cue making there will usually be very slight variances from cue to cue, but to me it looks the real dead.








Joint looks right, bottom of the butt looks right with that rounded shape, the crossover (that piece of ebony the splice fingers come out of) looks right, perspex covered badge is right. The butt looks to be pretty much Jet Black, though still have to get it into my hands to know for sure.

[Stevie1]

I dont no how to spot real or fake but the shaft looks to modern for a old cue if that makes sence but am sure you no what to look for

[RogiBear]

could be wrong, but the flat on that looks a bit odd

[narl]

I dont no how to spot real or fake but the shaft looks to modern for a old cue if that makes sence but am sure you no what to look for

I've seen good looking shafts on their older cues as well, its very possible it got a recent refinish to bring the grain out more, the first one i had the grain was very subdued until it was refinished then suddenly it popped out more.

[narl]

Another view of the butt and flat. The flat looks a lot like Robert Osborne's cues, which in turn looked a lot like the H&O Cues. Could be the reflections making it look much more angular than it actually is.

[Stevie1]

Nice the myth of these cues are nuts people say there rubish but they do comand money in far east

[narl]

Nice the myth of these cues are nuts people say there rubish but they do comand money in far east

The first one i had, the shaft was pretty average, but i played really well with it, this is it below. Before the refurb you could barely make out the grain arrows. As you can see that shaft isn't all that different in terms of what people want just less arrows with not as good spacing compared to the one on the way. The cue pictured below originally had the flat offset so badge up it was side grain you were seeing, so whoever owned it must have preferred sighting that way,



Anyway, looking forward to it arriving, a quick retip and off to have a game with it

[narl]

Here's another pic of a flat on one of these cues.



As you can see the shapes pretty much the same, only real difference is one is much shiner than the other making the edges more obvious. And i think it's fair to say not every cue would have exactly the same flat, some might have been shorter, longer, not as deep cut etc.