DAVE KIKEL
SNAKEWOOD & CURLY MAPLE
EIGHT POINT WITH IVORY & SILVER
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It seems like I've been using the words "rare opportunity" here on Recollection Cues a lot lately. But it's all been true. We've been finding (and buying) a lot of rare, sometimes old, cues from classic cuemakers, and many are still in "new" condition - frequently never played and, in fact, never even chalked. Here is another one to consider.
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If you've followed this website for any length of time, you already know that Dave Kikel is one of my favorite cuemakers. (I could say "was", in that he really isn't making many cues anymore, and those are only for a couple of friends.) I believe he was always one of the top cuemakers in the country and his work never received the kind of credit it deserved. His work was always as close to perfect as this craft gets, and his cues play circles around most cues.
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You may have read elsewhere on this site that I think Dave took more care with his shaft wood than any other cuemaker I know. That's not to knock anyone else, it's just that he was obsessive with his shaft wood, taking about fifteen years to age and cut his shafts before finishing them. And don't underestimate the importance of that. Shafts have a tremendous impact on the way a cue hits.
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This cue is a beauty. It's a very traditional design, dressed up to its fullest. He started with a nose of very pretty curly maple that just comes alive when the cue is in motion. Then he surrounded the butt sleeve with "razor blade" windows outlined with the same veneers as the points, and filled them with tasteful ivory inlays. Between each window is a series of ivory dots.
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The four long snakewood points are framed with beautiful black, green and white sycamore veneers. The four shorter, "shadow points" are all snakewood. Each long point is inlaid at its base with a long, elegant ivory spearhead, with a small ivory dot suspended just above.
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This is a very pretty and very subtle cue. Classy, but not overly flashy.
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All the white in this cue is ivory, including the inlays, the ivory butt cap, the ivory joint, and the long ivory ferrules on the shafts.
As usual, he engraves his famous "KQ" logo in the butt cap.
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He uses a very subtle ring pattern on this cue. It's made of two simple double silver rings, and is used at all positions.
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This is a very classy cue overall, with an earthy feel to it - not flashy, but with lots of fine work and meticulously built. Great work by a cuethier at the top of his craft.
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He finishes it up with a wrap of smoothly textured, very high quality black leather. It looks and feels great.
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It is built with Dave's favorite, a 5/16X14 pin in a piloted joint. The ivory is sleeved over a core of wood, resulting in my favorite joint configuration, always giving an excellent hit. It comes with two 13mm shafts of what I believe may be the best shaft maple wood in the world. Each is topped with an ivory ferrule and (probably) a Sumo tip. It weighs 19.5 ounces.
PRICE: $4200 PLUS SHIPPING
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This is a cue that, although very collectible, was very much made to be played. I don't even have to hit it to know that it will hit remarkably well. All Kikels do. This one is just too good to lock up in a safe. Even though this one was locked up for almost 20 years on the other side of the country, I frequently thought I heard it crying out "Play me. Play me!"
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