Schon Ltd Cue Identification
This article is more than 2 years old
If you found a Schon and wondering if it is worth good money then you have to first figure out if the Schon in your hands is really an original piece or not. The first point is to figure out if the cue really is a Schon production. The way to figure that out is through testing the ebony on the shaft or the butt. Rip-offs are not made out of ebony. The way to check if there is ebony or not can damage the pool cue so be ready to take the risk. Only 12 Cues of an LTD model were made. So you are lucky already to hold one in your hands. Besides LTD, Schon also made SP, STL, Elite and Unique series cues as well. This post is focused on LTD cues only! If you need help with other series then drop a comment. So let’s start!
The luckiest way to find out the limited cue in your hands is by checking and finding a matching cue from the Schon ltd cues I have tried to find over the internet. It can save you time and money. Schon will hate me for doing because they make money from cues identification service.
The best way to figure this out is to email Schon through the contact tab on their website. Bear in mind that they can charge for identification. The charges are justified given the fact that this is a request that they receive in big numbers each day. Hence they have placed an identification fee on the Schon ltd cue identification service.
The second solution you can do is to contact Evan Clarke the man who took in charge of the craftsmanship in 1992 after the retirement of Bob at Schon Cues. It may take some time and can be hit and miss but if you get a response then it will be 100% accurate. Evan has spent quite a lot of time looking after the Schon Custom Cues.
The third method you can do is to post on the Facebook group of Schon Cues Collector Public Group. The community is quite big and you can get a response very quickly. Some real experts are on this group and they trade for the Schon Cues. If you have a good cue then it may sell for some quite good money. Schon Cues range from $600 to almost $6000. That is a lot of money given that even you have the basic cue in your hands.
The fourth method would be to post on pool forums and get the opinion. People at AZBilliard are experts and can give you a very good insight.
The fifth method is to get in touch with the Palmer Collectors. If you have got a really nice piece they would be really interested in buying the pool cue from you. The identification process would be resolved and you will get a confirmation from a genuine collector.
The Last and luckiest Method is to find the limited edition cue from within this list I have tried to compile after intensive research to find limited edition Schon Cues. I hope that you can find the cue you are trying to find from this big catalog. If you can not find it from this list drop me a comment I will try to find the cue or you can try the other methods I have mentioned within this post. Many LTDs are covered within this list but still, they are cues that are missing. So do not feel worried if you can not find a matching piece from the image attached. CLICK/TAP ON THIS IMAGE IT WILL OPEN IN NEW TAB AND ZOOM IT THERE.
Back in the day Schon cues were easy to identify thanks to the sketches of the models available. Ever since Schon has updated its website, the archive section is no more available and it is not difficult to find the sketches like the above.
One point that can help you is to classify the cue if it belongs from 1994 till the 1998 era. The identification marker is the S written on the bumper of the pool cue. If the S is curvy and it matches like the one in the attached picture then it can surely be a nice find.
Sometimes a back image search of the inlays can give really good insight. Google image search has really become more powerful and a back image search can traceback the ad where the cue was sold such as on Ebay. The ad may have the model number and can open up the history of the cue.
MY SUGGESTION:
Take the Facebook group route if you cannot find the cue picture from the big picture above. There are genuine collectors in that Facebook group who can quickly identify the cue for you. Not only the identification but you can also get some really good price of the cue because the competition in those groups is always in the mind of the collectors. You can get a real good return on investment when the competition is visible to everybody.
I hope my effort helped and saved you money!
