Way back when dirt was rocks, a friend came to me. He was a pool fanatic, I (then and now) a mere casual player. But, oh what a deal... He was hot for a certain pool cue, a "custom" he called it, dubbed it the best in the world. Actually, the only thing really "custom" was that the buyer could select the weight, the shaft dia. and have his name embossed on a metal foil band displayed under a clear plastic ring, helpful in discouraging theft.
As I said, Tony was really HOT for this cue, but the only way he could get the wholesale price of $150, (This included 2 shafts and a hard case, also with your name embossed.) he had to buy TWO of them. Jeeze, I didn't even know if I was good enough to even have a 2 piece cue, let alone "the best in the world". But to help him out, I relented, gave him the money. In 8 weeks or so, he gave me the cue. When Cindy & I were dating,we'd play now and then. But after marriage, with both of us working, a child to raise, pool got dropped, the cue & case placed in a closet. 30 years later, the child grown & gone, we decided to bring our old cues out of the closet, try our hand at playing again. Gosh, it was embarrassing...neither of us could shoot worth a damn, but we'd draw a crowd whenever I'd uncase my old cue. I figured out why in short order, so I bought a modern cue, an entry level Jacoby, to play with. I placed my old cue back in the closet, not caring for the attention. Today, I discoved a website...here's a link to the page with pics of an old cue like mine:
http://www.palmercollector.com/Model-M-page.html