Crystalate balls circa 1920

[vmax]

Just bought a complete set of snooker and billiard balls from around 1920-30, original crystalate balls, the precurors to super crystalate that took their place in 1973. They were very dirty, see pic of pink and yellow, but cleaned up very nicely in hot water and washing up liquid. Weights are as follows
Billiard set
White 151 (grammes) spot 152 red 149
Snooker set
white 150 yellow 149 green 149 brown 150 blue 151 pink 150 black 151 red 152 red 152 red 151 red 151 red 150 red 151 red 151 red 150 red 150 red 151 red 151 red 151 red 152 red 151 red 152.

Colours are quite opaque, could be age could be material, they are noticebly heavier than modern balls, probably not as elastic either, going to give them a go at the weekend

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[itsnoteasy]

Great stuff Vmax, I'm guessing they will be very harsh sounding but a great set to play with, just for the nostalgia if anything.

[vmax]

Great stuff Vmax, I'm guessing they will be very harsh sounding but a great set to play with, just for the nostalgia if anything.

Yes, I want to know personally just what the difference is. What I find incredible is that there's only three grammes difference across the whole set of balls that could be a hundred years old. Will be counting the kicks and the thick contacts

[vmax]

Well I gave them a go last night, a revelation , they played beautifully, no problem with screwback, less deflection and throw but that's to be expected with a heavier ball. A very crisp and clear click on contact and not one single bad contact or kick. My sunday practise partner, a young lad of about thirty also loved them and made a 60 + line up clearance first go, far easier to control especially with run through, angles were as they're expected to be, no strange results, you got what you put on the cue ball, really true contacts.
One wonders why even super crystalate balls were needed to be introduced when these were being used.

I retire at the end of this month and then will have time to take them down the club and film myself using them, upload it to youtube and link to the video.
One thing that bugged me was that the cue ball picked up colour from the black ball on every hard contact so that it was speckled at the end of the session, could have been the polish I used to shine them up, cleaned off alright though.

[100-uper]

One wonders why even super crystalate balls were needed to be introduced when these were being used.
.

The change to 'supers' wasn't voluntary and they certainly weren't an improvement (in my opinion). The base constituent of the old crystalate balls was powdered cow shinbone, and the industry relied on using the waste from button manufacturers to get the cheapest ingredients (after the buttons had been punched out of the bone). When the button-makers switched to using plastic the source material dried up, and ball-makers were forced into finding a replacement.

[Cue crafty]

Great insight - thank you.

[Cyril]

vmax — thank you so much for your posts — absolutely fascinating. It makes perfect sense that when you watch footage of Joe, Fred, Lindrum and others using the old crystalates… although they always seemed to have excellent control over the cueball. Despite this, there wasn’t so many big breaks. This must be largely down to the heavier balls making splitting the pack far more difficult, coupled with the thicker cloths in those days.

[vmax]

The change to 'supers' wasn't voluntary and they certainly weren't an improvement (in my opinion). The base constituent of the old crystalate balls was powdered cow shinbone, and the industry relied on using the waste from button manufacturers to get the cheapest ingredients (after the buttons had been punched out of the bone). When the button-makers switched to using plastic the source material dried up, and ball-makers were forced into finding a replacement.

Good job I'm not vegan

[itsnoteasy]

Good job I'm not vegan

I don't think you're meant to eat them, licking is as far as I'd go.

[vmax]

I don't think you're meant to eat them, licking is as far as I'd go.

Vegans have nothing whatsoever to do with any animal product, it's not just diet, no leather clothing or shoes so that should include leather cue tips. Wonder if Neil Robertson uses faux leather tips, you can get them, I've had one for years but haven't yet tried it, any takers out there ?

[vmax]

vmax — thank you so much for your posts — absolutely fascinating. It makes perfect sense that when you watch footage of Joe, Fred, Lindrum and others using the old crystalates… although they always seemed to have excellent control over the cueball. Despite this, there wasn’t so many big breaks. This must be largely down to the heavier balls making splitting the pack far more difficult, coupled with the thicker cloths in those days.

Alex Higgins was the last crystalate world champion in 1972, the supers came in the next year. I think the fact that big breaks weren't so regularly made by the Joe, Fred, Lindrum and co is that they played on tables with billiard cut pockets. The pocket openings were changed to straight cut when snooker went professional in 1969 so the likes of Higgins, Reardon and Spencer were making big breaks then and continued to make them throughout the 70's and 80's until aramith's phenolic resin ball took over, whenever that was as there's no official notification of a change of ball by the WPBSA.
Some of us old timers still play on tables with billiard cut pockets, it's much, much harder and at our club we laugh at the balls that drop on modern tables, this years worlds especially.

[strobbekoen]

Interesting video. Quite shocking actually, no way those go in on my table with match pockets, not even close, and not with a new cloth either

[vmax]

Just found this, Ray Reardon making a clearance in 1971 using the old crystalate ball. Listen to the sound the balls make on contact.

[Neil2726]

Interesting post which brought back many memories! I worked for the composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd for 26 years. When I first started in 1964 the old Crystalate balls were still manufactured, and has already been said they were made from a powder containing crushed bones. The process was a lengthy one as the ball were pressed individually and made in fairy small amounts. |A shortage of materials led to the Super Crystalate balls being made in a similar way to the Vitalate balls. A phenolic resin chemical material which was reacted in stills and the "syrup" poured into flasks, much like a light bulb. These were made in much larger volumes especially to satisfy demand due to the game becoming more popular when colour TV came in, and more tournaments were televised. The syrup/flasks were hardened in ovens for approx 20 hours, then hand turned to shape in lathes and then going through grinding machines, before being hardened again for 42 hours, before being ground to their final size. They were then mainly individually hand polished, inspected and made into sets. The company then produced the Super Crystalate Deluxe balls which were slightly heavier and weight matched to be closer to the sets used in professional tournaments. The company was bought out by BCE around 1982 and many more automated machines were brought in which increased production, but sadly the quality suffered across the many sizes and types of balls produced. Remember all sizes of balls were manufactured from 1-1/2" up to 2-1/16" for snooker - 2" to 2-1/4" for pool and 61 - 62 mm for continental table games. Arimith balls took over the company in 1992 and all production was transferred to Belgium and the Cheshire factory closed. Crown Green and Flat Green bowls were also made from similar materials.

[itsnoteasy]

When did Lignum Vitae stop getting used for bowls and resin start, in the eighties?