Cues that feature the name of W J Peall
By Andy Hunter & David Smith
I have seen several cues over the last few years that have the name of W J Peall on their badges. By far the most common of these cues is the W J Peall cue that commemorates his break of 3,304. The badge on this cue reads from left to right if you place the cue on a table with the tip to your left. This badge also contains a representation of Peall’s signature as well.
This cue came in either Ash, Maple or Pear wood in the shaft and ebony for the Butt. I have not as yet seen a Peall cue in Hornbeam but it is possible that they were produced in this wood type as well.
The badges were often placed on the Butt of the cue facing in the opposite direction; perhaps to enable a left handed person to read it more easily. We have seen these cues with a thick badge made from Ivory, with a thin badge made from Ivory and with a thin badge made from Bakelite. As Ivory was less used from, the mid 1920’s it is reasonable to assume that these later cues with the Bakelite badges were made in this period.
These cues are considered by collectors to be well worth owning so no collection is complete without one. We recommend that you pay around £150 for your Peall cue however if the cue is in excellent condition, you may consider paying as much as £200.
This cue also came in a pear wood shafted version, this cue is very attractive and in good condition is considered to be worth in the region of £350. Jim Clarke a collector from Peterborough, he has an immaculate Pear wood shafted Peall cue in his private collection which is the best cue of this type that we have seen.
Other Peall cues that we have seen were all made from either Maple or ash for the shaft and ebony for the butt; the only pear shafted version that we have seen is the 3,304 badged signature cue previously mentioned above.
Another Peall cue recalled from memory has the writing printed on the badge in a portrait style which was designed to be read with the tip facing directly straight up or away from the reader, this cue appears with the writing written either right to left or left to right.
This particular version of the Peall cue has the date of Peall’s break written on the badge along with a representation of his signature, the badge also includes the figures that represent the break itself, these cues are worth £180 to £250 depending on the condition.
The dated Peall cues are far less numerous than the standard Peall cues and so are quite sought after by collectors. David Smith a collector from Huddersfield has an excellent one in his private collection, this cue is of additional interest from a collecting point of view as it still has the original ferrule, which was designed to take a screw in tip circa 1890.
Continuing on the theme of Peall cues, another version is the so-called Picture badged Peall, these cues came in both Maple and Ash for the shafts and Ebony for the butt. The badges were again fixed with traditional brass screws and in the portrait position. The picture shows W J Peall’s head and shoulders along with his signature, the 3,304 break and the words regd trade mark beneath all of the above. We have only seen these badges in black print on a white background. These cues are valued between £250 to £350 as they are particularly prone to wear, making a clean easy to see picture something of a rarity.
Other Peall badges that we have seen on the most common variety of Peall cues appear in orange, black, green and red printed versions, they all have black butt’s that is not to say that brown streaks are not visible in the ebony as well however.
Early Peall cues often carry a badge that is still made from Ivory and is much thicker than later versions also the lettering often appears to have been hand cut due to the roughness compared with later cues which were obviously cut with a machine. Both the Picture badged cue and the later record cue badges appeared as Lithographed as well as standard printed versions.
We have seen Peall cues with other names stamped above the badges, actually on top the ebony butt. These names include Burroughes and Watts whose stamp appears in the same form as they do on Roberts cues and also the name Ashcroft which appears in a much cruder form as though hand engraved on the butt of the cue. The weight stamps on both Peradon Peall cues and Burroughes and Watts cues appear in the usual place above the splice directly in line with the badge, however the weight stamp on an Ashcroft version appears on the butt, again above the badge.
Andy Hunter & David Smith