A. Old cues with registered trademarks: Identifying vintage billiard cues is generally difficult. Indeed, most of them never bore inscriptions or lost them during their use or repair. In addition they sometimes look quite similar. Cues with the fewest problems are the ones that are stamped (*) or for which one can find documents (catalogues, advertisements, newspapers articles…). Here are some of them: La ROYALE, La VICTORIEUSE, La TECHNIQUE, La St. MICHEL, L'UNIVERSELLE, La MONARCH, La GALLIA, La REFORM and La St. MARTIN. Most of them were created in the early 1900s (the dates are given between square brackets) and some of them, such as the La VICTORIEUSE and the La St-MICHEL were manufactured for more than 50 years. 1. La ROYALE [1906]. This registered cue is characterised by a short '2-piece' butt (56 cm) and a long shaft (83cm). The weight of both can be modified by using a set of hexagonal bolts. Here are some of them whose weight decreases from 40 to 10 g. The butt is provided with metal joints, a textile thread 'grip' and a logo. The shaft has a metal screw and is signed ADORJAN. Below, the logo of the 'La Royale', patented in 1906, and the advertisement published in the Belgian newspaper 'Le Billard Amateur' No. 22 of January 1908. ....... Translation of an extract of the introduction of the book entitled 'Todos los SECRETOS del BILLAR' written by Julio Adorjan and published in 1919. 'The author has set up a manufacture of billiard accessories, in particular a cue invented by him, called La Royale, patented and rewarded with a gold medal at the Exhibition in Brussels. This cue is used today by the majority of professionals and many amateurs and it is an advantageous substitute for the famous Hiolle.' For more models of the La ROYALE, see Sections J. 3 and G. a. This cue is mentioned in the catalogue GOBIN Frères, Manufacture de billes de billard, Bagnolet, France, 1912. 2. La VICTORIEUSE [ca 1920]. Sentences taken from pages 21 and 22 of the book '3 BILLES aux reflets tricolores' written by André Heurtebise in 1984. '…The cue of variable weight, whose butt is divided into several parts allowing the interposition of plastic or of steel discs, depending on the heaviness or the lightening wished, still very widespread nowadays, was all the rage for many years...' '…To come back to the various models of variable weights, it is funny to point out that one of them manufactured by a great and old French manufacture, is called La Victorieuse (the victorious), splendid, definitely engaging brand name; astonishing publicity stunt at the time when it was revealed, since it suggests that the instrument should have the magic power to make its user triumph, whereas the origin of its name precisely comes from the man who invented its principle and carried it out in the years 1920: Louis Victoire...'. The advertisement comes from page 15 of the French newspaper 'Le Billard Sportif' No. 16 of 1923 and the photo showing billiard cue buts, from Hénin Aîné catalogue of 1925. Here are two very old '4-point' carved La Victorieuse, signed and manufactured by Hénin Aîné, Paris: and 3. La TECHNIQUE [1924]. Translation of news on page 4 of the French newspaper 'Le Billard Sportif' No. 27 of 1924. 'A new billiard cue. Very new... very beautiful ! Perhaps ! In any case, the appearance of the Laprévote cue created a sensation among our champions. Derbier and Faroux keep swearing by it, and Grange does the same. Only Conti remains faithful to the classic cue. This billiard cue, whose model is registered, is characterised by a special shaping which, while preserving its rigidity, makes it very handy and, as people put it, is 'favourable for cannon'. It is with it that cue that Derbier beat the series record in a match, during the last game of the Championship of France. The advertisements come from the same newspaper and from page 12 of 'Le Billard Sportif Illustré' No. 1 of January 1926. You notice that the brand name La Technique was added in the latter. S.G.D.G. means Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement (no guarantee of the government). Those inscriptions are engraved in the forepart of the butt and are often illegible.The numbers of the French and Belgian patents are 594.111 and 324.316 respectively. The butt end of the cue bears three billiard balls one of which being red and a logo composed of two wings with the letters LL inside them (this motive is also stamped on the shaft) ................ Below, a signed 'La Technique' bearing a German decal (Billard Braun, Saarbrücken) on the side facing the logo. 4. La St-MICHEL [before 1940]. This 'bottle' shaped cue was one of the florets of the famous Belgian firm Van Laere, which was founded in 1906 and ceased its activities in 1990. The St-Michel déposée registered trademark is engraved on the butt and the shaft. .... The decoration through the years of the St. Michel is described in Section F. d. 5. The UNIVERSAL [before 1907]. Dorfelder created the Universal in Mainz, Germany. The weight of this '3-piece' cue can be changed. Indeed, one or more aluminium tubes filled with lead can be put into its butt. Here are three '4-prong' specimens of it together with an explanatory drawing taken from the German newspaper 'Das Billard' of February 1907. These were probably built by Hiolle. Indeed, a Hiolle decal (**) has already been seen on another copy of the first and the second butt. As far as the third one is concerned, the floral motive of its dark points is the same as that of another Hiolle from the collection. Note that a new model with weight regulator, registered 'Universelle' and made by Hiolle, is mentioned in the French Gobin Frère's catalogue of 1912. 6. The MONARCH [before 1940]. This cue of variable weight and equilibrium point, signed Monarch (see Section L), was created and manufactured by Brunswick (France). It is a '4-piece' one. Its butt contains 2 cavities, one located in the back part and the other one in the fore part, in which wooden or metal cylinders of different weights may be inserted. Its shaft is provided with a ring. Proust (France) pursued the making of this cue after the closing of the Brunswick company. (excerpt of an old Proust's catalogue) Here is probably an unsigned copy of it. Notice the existence of a similar model provided with a Castor decal (see Section L) and a rubber bumper signed 'Queue Brunswick'. .7. The GALLIA [ca 1900]. This registered '4-point' bevelled cue was manufactured by the Société française de matériel et d'accessoires de billard, located at Clichy (Seine, France). More than 320,000 copies of it were sold by the Maison française de la Compagnie Brunswick-Balke-Collender of Paris yearly in the early 1900s. Various handles, weights, ferrule diameters and decoration levels were available. Here are the base model and one of its carved versions The bevel is situated at the back of the red decal. 8. La REFORM [between 1884 and 1913]. This cue contains a weight distribution system made of a metal threaded rod for ballasting with nuts and short pipes. Below, another view (without short pipe) and an excerpt of a Schröder & Kartzke advertisement (Billard-Welt, 1, p.15, 1913) ....... . where DRGM stands for Deutches Reich Gebrauchsmuster. It is cue No. 267 of the Schröder & Kartzke catalogue of Section F. Lists, miscellaneous. 9. The St. MARTIN [1900 or before] Below, an advertisement from the Munich branch of the St. Martin-Palisson billiard firm (Paris), page 22 of the German newspaper 'Internationale Billard-Zeitung' No. 3 published in 1900. The St. Martin cue and its rubber butt end are already mentioned there. Here is its model. It is a '2-piece' one. The butt has 4 points and is signed St. MARTIN PARIS PATENT. Its black rubber bumper bears the inscriptions QUEUE St. MARTIN and QUEUE St. MARTIN PATENT. .............. The shaft is provided with a wooden screw. The collar (diameter D = 20 mm), ferrule (D = 11.5 mm) and rosette are in ivory. The shaft and the fore-arm of the butt are made of ash and the butt end (D = 35 mm) probably of pale palissandre. The St. Martin shown above is 140 cm long and weighs 450g. Tthe first undoubtedly identified cues of the whole collection were:. 1. La ROYALE 2. La VICTORIEUSE 3. La TECHNIQUE 4. La St-MICHEL ._____________________________________________________ (*) Note that marks and decals are not necessarily those of the maker but may be those of the cue seller. (**) It is topped by the inscription 'L'Universelle' and shown in Section L. | Menu |