Cue Decal Recreations
I have restored many antique billiard cues for others over the years. Where possible I have always restored a cue leaving the decal in place if it were in decent condition. However, many times the decals were all but gone and thus they needed to be replaced. In the interest of creating an accurate cue restoration I developed a series of decals for many antique Brunswick cues through time. I am no longer restoring cues for other but continue to restore cues for my collection. Many of these cues come to me from those of you who find my web site. I sincerely than many of you for finding me. I do not sell any of the cue decals that I have recreated and that are shown here. I have added this section to my web page to the just to show the effort I went to many years ago when I first began restoring billiard cues. My recreations are quite accurate. If you have an antique Brunswick cue you can compare your cue to the decals below and determine not only what you cue decal looked like but you can also get a general idea of the approximate age of your cue base on the descriptions and dates of the decals below. If you have any question regarding age do reach out to me.
Decal #1 and Decal #2 below are the second-generation red Brunswick decal. The two decals have subtle differences. The gold in the second eagle has a greenish look indicating the decal was done without actual gold dust in the lacquer. The eagle’s eye is different on each as well as the feet Decals #1 and #2 were on billiard cues from about 1910 to 1925.
#1 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
#2 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
Decal #3 below, is the first Brunswick decal to be put on a cue which would date to about 1910. The picture does not do this decal justice. The gold in the eagle and the outer bell shapes are actually quite bright.
#3 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
Decal #4 below is the first of the decal changes made by Brunswick in the 1930s. Note those outer bell shapes are on and the eagle is quite different.
#4 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
Decal #5 below differs from #4 only in that Brunswick background made a slight change in the shade of green in the outer ring and the print in the outer ring is bolder. Pick the decal that best matches the decal on you cue.
# 5 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
Late 1930s Brunswick made a change in it cue decal. Cue decal #6 is the first change. The background behind the eagle is much brighter and the outer ring is gold rather than green as seen in #5. There are other subtle differences as well like the line over the eye does not extend to the left and the eagles’ toes above the trade mark banner are different.
# 6 is a Varnish-Fix Decal
Decal #7 came later and has only slight variations from #6 as there is a line extending to the left over the eye and the toes are different and there are less pronounced lines in the feathering of the body.
Decal #7 is a Varnish Fix Decal
From 1940 on all Brunswick Decals were Water-Slide decals. Decal #8 is the first of the Willie Hoppe Decals which came out in 1940.
Decal #8 is a Water-Slide Decal
Decal # 9 is the second Willie Hoppe Decal which began to be used late in 1941 or 1942 up to about 1951. You can see many changes from the first Willie Hoppe Decal. The font style is different, the dot on either side of the word “cue” is not white and the patent information has move from the bottom of the cue to just below the word Brunswick.
Decal #9 is a Water-Slide Decal
Willie Hoppe decal #10 is the third generation Hoppe decal in use from approximately 1951 to 1959. As compared to the #9 decal the font has changed in the Brunswick name, Willie Hoppe signature is changed and the white dots either side of the word “cue” are back.
Decal #10 is a Water-Slide Decal
The Willie Hoppe decal # 11 was used from about 1960 until the end of the Willie Hoppe production early in the 1970s. The font for the Brunswick name changed once again from decal #10. The print for “Professional Cue” is bolder and interestingly there is no hyphen between Brunswick and Balke name at the bottom of the cue.
Decal #11 is a Water-Slide Decal
Willie Hoppe Titlist Decal #12 below is the first decal used for the Willie Hoppe one piece cue first manufactured in 1940. It is the same style as the Willie Hoppe Professional cue decal from that period except that the background is green.
Decal #12 is a Water-Slide Decal
Brunswick Tru-Balance Snooker cue decal is #13 below.
Decal #13 is a Water-Slide Decal
If you have questions regarding your cues base on one of these decals do reach out to me.