![]() ![]() The application of a varnish fix decal is a bit more difficult to apply but if one is to accurately restore a cue you must use a varnish fix decal on these early Brunswick cues. It is easy to recognize an old unapplied varnish fix decal as the image that you see when you look at the decal is from the back side. All of the decals used by Brunswick up through the round eagle decals in the late 1930’s were a silk screen lacquer decal printed on duplex paper and adhered to the cue with a thin layer of varnish. If you have such a cue, please send me a picture and I will update this section of the website.Īt some point in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s the Brunswick cue went from pressed stamp identification on the cue to a cue identified with a decal. Brunswick and Balke or Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company but they likely exist. I do not have an example of a billiard cue with a pressed stamp J.M. Collender merged with the other two companies to form the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company. ![]() The cue in Picture #2 was manufactured some time before 1884 as this is when H.W. The cue in Picture #1 can more easily be given a date range when produced since it was before the J.M Brunswick merged with Julius Balke in 1873 to become J.M. ![]() In pictures #1 and #2 below you will see the cues are stamp J.M. The very first Brunswick billiard cues that identified the manufacturer had a pressed stamp rather than a decal. Without being specific as to the date when Brunswick made a change from one style of decal to another, here is what we do know with some certainty. It is likely that more than one type of cue decal may have been used in the same year so one must be careful to not use the decal to date-specific a Brunswick Cue. I suspect there was no across the board change in the cue decal in a given year. I have not been able to find credible evidence as to specific years when Brunswick changed cue production from one cue decal to another. This 1928 color catalog shows the outer ring to be white, which I have yet to see on a Brunswick cue. In 1928 the color Brunswick Supply Catalog for the first time, that I can find, shows a Brunswick cue with a decal without the decorative outer bell design. Here are a few of the other catalogs that I have and the color of the decal shown: 1917 – white 1924 – white 1926 – red. The 1915 Brunswick catalog with a color foldout shows only white decals. If the Blue Book of Pool Cues was correct one should only see the red ringed decal in the 1912 book. In the 1912 color Brunswick Supply Catalog there are cues with both the white or the red decal with the bell like outer design. See the white and red Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co. The two early white and red decals are both distinctive in that at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions around the outer ring there is what appears to be a decorative bell like feature that is not seen on the later Brunswick decals. The 1908 Brunswick Supply Catalog has pictures of billiard cues but none are shown to have decals. I have less than a complete collection of Brunswick Supply Catalogs, but from those that I do have I noted the following regarding the dating of cues by their decals. On page 194 the Billiard Encyclopedia indicates the eagle decal with the red outer ring was introduced in 1912 and rather than 1906 as indicated by the Blue Book. This Blue Book information is not consistent with the Billiard Encyclopedia, Third Edition bound book. And from 1926 – 1939 this same eagle decal had a green outer ring with either a red or yellow field. Blue Book of Pool Cues publication also indicates from 1921 – 1925 an eagle decal with a gold outer ring and red field was used. The eagle decal with the red outer ring is indicated to be in use from 1906 – 1920. This publication says the eagle decal with the white outer ring was only in use from late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Furthermore, information that has been published by one source or the other is of differing opinionsįor example, the Blue Book of Pool Cues third edition page 189, gives specific dates when the early Brunswick billiard cue decals were in use. Unfortunately, from my research thus far, I have found that there is little literary information available that address how the billiard cue decal design evolved. I also reasoned that knowing when Brunswick changed from one decal design to another could also be useful in dating antique billiard cues. Thus, early on as I restored vintage cues it was necessary to address the need to replace badly damaged or missing Brunswick cue decals with a decal that was correct in every regard. My goal has always been to restore billiard cues to their original look and condition. ![]()
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