Need help identifying Tony Wilshaw cue

[laverda]

Hi,
I have the opportunity to buy a 3/4 Tony Wilshaw cue supposedly made for Australian Billiard Champion Matthew Bolton. The cue bares the oval Tony Wilshaw plaque on the butt but the joint is well below the splice which I have not been able to find on any Tony Wilshaw cue I have seen.

Here are the pics I have of the cue in question





I have sent the pics and details to Tony via email but I have not heard back yet. I am in Australia and these opportunities don't come along very often but I don't want to waste my money if this is not genuine. I have no reason to suspect that there may be a problem other than the old saying, if its too good to be true then it probably is...

Here's what the seller told me via email -

'The Cue is a fantastic cue, it was made for the 8 times Australian Billiards Champion Matthew Bolton, we had one 3/4 joint and one 1 piece Matthew selected the 1 piece. This is a great deal and you will appreciate it a lot more if you know how to play the game, we asked for the best ash Tony had and he has told us that the ash the shaft is made from comes from his old stock 50 year old British ash, it took over 9 months to get the cue.'

Any help confirming the identity of this cue would be most appreciated.
Cheers,
Mick

[jrc750]

These cues don't seem that popular over here, ie they don't sell for much on ebay/never get mentioned on this forum.
So on that basis i would say it was genuine, as what would be the point of faking one ???
So if you get a good deal on it, buy it, looks nice enough

[Maverick54]

Looks genuine. I live in Stoke on Trent and pass Tony's old shop every week. Stood empty a couple of years or more now but still has his name up.

He's been in the game a long time and does make good cues but charges Parris prices. If your paying that sort of money, do you want a cue with a Parris badge or a Tony badge? If you come to sell it I know which will fetch the best resale value.

There was a Tony Wilshaw 2pc cue in our local paper a few weeks ago. Seller was looking for £100 and cud have been knocked down.

[grimreaper]

Where in Australia do you live .

[old school]

Tonys partner is not well at the moment so replies are taking longer.The badge in your j.pegs is a more recent badge , his old badges were round , so if this cue was made recently ( I cant remember what year he changed the design)then the badge is right.Tony will completely custom build a cue to customer specs and that includes the jointing process , perhaps easy transport options were foremost in the original owners mind, just because it is not on his site it doesnt mean to say that it is not one of his.If it is pool spec , say 55.5 - 57.5 " , 8 - 9.25mm , and say 16- 18 oz and is of a slimmer taper than you would expect , then this is also a sign of Tonys work.A lot of his " pool spec " cues are of a slimmer taper than normal.I have to agree with " maverick54 " , in that Tonys work is expensive and allthough re-sale value is good , it could be better.Personally it depends what the seller is asking and whether or not you agree that it is " value for money ". Tonys prices for 3/4 plain ebony and ash , hand spliced can start north of £300 ( + 440 AUS $ ) . I hope this helps.

[laverda]

Where in Australia do you live .

Hi Grim, I am not far from Wagga Wagga in NSW... are you down under too?
Mick

[laverda]

These cues don't seem that popular over here, ie they don't sell for much on ebay/never get mentioned on this forum.
So on that basis i would say it was genuine, as what would be the point of faking one ???
So if you get a good deal on it, buy it, looks nice enough

Thanks, I guess that is my concern... there are only a couple of hand made cue makers down under and cues out of the UK only pop up every now and again. As such our market could easily be subjected to cheap asian copies without the easy ability to properly identify them...

[laverda]

Thanks Maverick, that's the sort of info I am looking for. By the time you add freightfrom the UK I'll be looking at a similar price to the one you mention listed in the paper only this one is 2 years old NOS
Cheers,
Mick

[laverda]

Thanks heaps Old School! The specs of cue are:

Length 56.75"
Weight: 17.75 Oz
Butt 30 mm Tip & Ferrule 9.8 mm
Balance @ 17 "

How does that compare to what you know of Tony's work?
Cheers,
Mick

[laverda]

I also meant to mention I've contacted Matthew Bolton's dad, neil, and he has passed on my questions to him and he said to expect an answer later today or tomorrow.
So I guess all will become clear soon

Thanks everyone for your help so far,
Mick

[grimreaper]

I am in Perth W.A was going to suggest you get in touch with Matt but i see you have done that its the only way to know for sure.

[laverda]

Yes, just waiting to hear back. Neil said Matt was in a tournament at the moment so it may be a day or so before he gets back to me.
I visited Perth once as a teenager, would love to bring the family over there for a holiday - I always remember it as being very beautiful and relaxed.
Cheers Grim,
Mick

[old school]

Seems like a " snooker spec " , as I said before Tony will make any cue to any spec , the difference tends to be in the taper.Two cues of identical spec i.e. length ,weight, tip size etc , Tonys cue would usually be the slimmer of the two , without seeing two cues of similar spec together its difficult to tell , but if you could see them together Tonys work is easy to spot.I am lucky in that I know players and have played in the Trent Trophies and Afford League in Stoke-on-Trent and a lot of the top English Pool players use Tonys cues so I have probably seen hundreds down through the years , in machine and hand spliced patterns.Only the original owner or Tony could confirm if its a Wilshaw cue or not.One thing I will say is that if it is not Tonys work , but it is your spec and a reasonable price , why not buy it anyway.You did mention that good handspliced cues are hard to come by in your neck of the woods so if its a player , why not ?

[laverda]

I heard back from Tony and he has confirmed it is more than likely one of his, he would like to see a closeup photo of the joint undone to be 100% sure. I'm hoping the seller will send me the pic to forward to Tony... but in the meantime I may have the opportunity to physically tryout another quality cue from a another UK maker that has come available nearby...
Mick