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ARIEL CARMELI
15TH ANNIVERSARY SET
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| Complete Set |
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This is a rare opportunity to obtain a cue set that is highly collectible, and at the same time, highly playable. Its collectibility is enhanced by the fact that only FOUR of these sets were made, and each was slightly different. This was the only one made with silver veneers. It has a solid ivory butt sleeve and long ivory points, adding considerable value.
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| There is so much to this set, that it's difficult to know where to start in providing a description. To begin, it is a two cue set, made up of a beautiful playing cue, and a matching, but different, breaking cue. The break cue is not as fancy as the playing cue, but nonetheless, is very fancy. Rather than the ivory butt sleeve and the points, it has a solid ebony nose and sleeve, but still has all the fancy ivory rings at all locations with lots of abalone inlays in each.
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| Cues Have Matching Leather Wrap |
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There is an incredible number of abalone inlays in these cues. In fact, the amount of overall work in these cues, combined with the amount of ivory and silver, makes this a great bargain. Simply put, it's a lot of cue(s) for the money.
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The amount of work and detail in this cue is extraordinary, by any standard. Moreover, if this was done by some cuemakers, the cost would be two to three times as much. When Ariel makes up his mind to put some work in a cue, he doesn't fool around.
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Not only does this cue have the long ivory points, it also has a solid ivory butt sleeve. Except for a solid ivory-handled cue, this one has about as much ivory as you can get.
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| With all the silver, ivory and abalone, this cue needed just a touch of color and Ariel added it with subtle veneers of red and blue inside the long silver veneers. They really bring out the rainbow colors in the abalone.
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| In addition to all the other great things about this set, it has a beautiful set of custom joint protectors with matching ivory and abalone rings for the playing cue. The break cue comes with a set of plain black delrin caps.
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He signs and numbers this one under the rubber bumper. It's number is "2 of 7", even though he eventually only made four.
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I hope the pictures of this set do justice to it, but the silver and abalone don't show well in photographs, so I hope my description helps. It is an unbelievable cue in your hands, and I promise it will get a ton of attention wherever you show it or play with it.
In addition to everything else, it comes with a black leather Whitten case with an engraved brass plate indicating it contains a 15th Anniversary Carmeli set. (The case alone is nearly a $500 value.)
This is a tremendous opportunity for someone to buy a great playing set by a big name cuemaker for an excellent price. At the same time, it's a good investment. The original owner of this set played with it some, and as soon as I bought it I sent it back to Ariel for a complete refinish and rewrap of both cues. For the most part, it looks like new. However, the ivory rings on the jump cue have a couple of minute cracks that are visible to the naked eye under close examination. I assume this is from the impact of breaking. The cracks are really very small and help keep the price down on this set to a very affordable $4750.
If you compare just the playing cue to other Carmeli cues (even on this site), it would probably cost this much or more. With the set, it's like getting the matching jump cue and the Whitten case free.
It's a huge bargain at that price. Ariel tells me that if he made this set today he would charge $8,000 for it.
Each cue comes with two 13mm shafts. The playing cue weighs 19.9 ounces, and the break cue weighs 18.8 ounces. If you want a playing set with some "flash", or one to add to your collection, this is it.
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| Carmeli Anniversary Playing Cue |
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| Carmeli Anniversary Break Cue |
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