arguement about balls

[SnookerfromtheThatcherEra]

Same box as mine so if they're genuine SC's this shouldn't happen. Now it could be that some old Aramith balls have been put in old SC boxes and sold as SC's either through ignorance or because there's a genuine movement to find these balls for players that are pretty annoyed with the way the Aramith's play on basic club tables and cloths. Maybe I'm to blame for that but it certainly might be something to look out for.

I went on the Aramith website and they say that their balls have a hardened coating on the outside that makes them polish up nice and shiny, if that's the case then this 'coating' might contain the colour and be easily damaged through heat and detergents. They can't be recognised simply by sight, weight or size, you have to play with them to notice the difference, the sound on contact is the give away, a sharper click but what might be a sign is a light blue colour rather than the aramith dark blue which is what yours seem to have so I'm somewhat flummoxed.

Vmax! Found a close-up photo on my hard drive of my Super Crystalate balls *before* I cleaned them with fairy liquid and they went mottled, wondering if from this pice you can discern whether or not they in fact are SC?

(Won't have a chance to dig them out and give them a new clean/restoration until April, will report back on that then. Thinking of going to Craftsmans Cues in Leeds with them, to get their opinion on what cleaner to use. Many thanks!)

[vmax]

Vmax! Found a close-up photo on my hard drive of my Super Crystalate balls *before* I cleaned them with fairy liquid and they went mottled, wondering if from this pice you can discern whether or not they in fact are SC?

(Won't have a chance to dig them out and give them a new clean/restoration until April, will report back on that then. Thinking of going to Craftsmans Cues in Leeds with them, to get their opinion on what cleaner to use. Many thanks!)

I can't tell from that picture, sorry.

[SnookerfromtheThatcherEra]

I can't tell from that picture, sorry.

No worries - I thought maybe the very light shades of blue and yellow balls might signify their age/SC-ness...

[vmax]

Crystalate were of course still in production when I started to work at CBBC in 1964. As I recall there was an area where the bones were crushed, and another where the materials were made into a powder. This was pressed individually into rough ball shaped castings. They were then placed in two part rubber moulds and baked in boiling water in metal cages. They were then transported on a hand cart - often by me _ to the lathes. Only one lathe was used for the production of Crystalate balls and they were hand turned to shape before being ground, polished and finished. If the Crystalate were not turned quickly enough the waste could catch fire! As has been said animal bones were in short supply and the process was too slow and involved to meet demand. I apologise for any errors but this is how I recall things back in those days. There were many different areas in the production processes and you tended to stick to one area of production.

Neil,
these are my Crystalate balls from around the mid 1920's, note the mottled finish lke a birds egg. Is this how you remember them or is this due to their great age.

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[Neil2726]

In great condition! They always had a slightly mottled appearance from new as I recall, but the colours did fade a little with age! Yours would have been made at the old factory in London as the company only moved to Congleton in the war years to escape the bombing!