Chris,
I'm not sure of the date, 1964-65, I accompanied a local pool hall owner and a business man to New Jersey, because they wanted to buy Palmer Cues. I was only 19 yrs old, but I was hooked on pool shooting. After Eugene Balner himself took my friends orders, he asked what I wanted to order.I told him that a $125.00 cue stick was out of the question. I was 19 yrs old, married, and had 2 children. Mr.Balner asked me, if you could afford a cue what would it look like? I told him Ebony,in-laid pearl in the butt,pearl in the end of the stock with red & black wrapping. He said wait here, and went to the basement. He brought up a raw ebony piece of wood, told me it had been laying around the basement for a long time and he wanted to get rid of it. He would make it to my description pearl on the butt and in-laid pearls, red & black wrapping and two shafts for $125.00. He looked me in the eye and said to me, you buy this now and you will never be sorry you did. I didn't know where I was going to get the money, but, how was I going to say no to this master craftsman? It has the dimple in the screw to the shaft. It has my name in the bottom of the butt and also says "Original by Palmer". It is still in very good shape, with the original red & black wrapping, there is a small chip out of the piece of the pearl on the end, due to a careless friend setting it down on the floor too hard. One shaft is a little warped, but, everything else is fine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I am enclosing pictures. Please tell me what you think the value is today. I have no intention of selling it. I am as excited today when I hold it in my hands as I was 40 yrs. ago when I purchased it. Thanks for the web site and history about Palmer Cues. It is very nice and informative.
Richard (Lee)
