HERCEK FINE BILLIARD CUES
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Built in 2007, the "Eyes of Picasso" was built by commission  from collector Deno J. Andrews. Andrews, an avid collector of Hercek's work,  asked that the cue be inspired by the works of Pablo Picasso. Hercek is adamantly against taking other artists designs and reproducing them in  his cues. Andrews doesn't like to micro-manage the cue design process. He prefers to give a cue maker a theme or genre, a budget, and let the cuemaker have total control over the end result. This relationships resulted in an ivory-handle masterpiece appropriately named  "Eyes of Picasso" as the inlay elements of the cue were inspired by the ubiquitous almond-shaped eyes  in Picasso's work.  

Joel  Hercek learned the art of cue making from the late master Burton Spain,  who
specialized in building  full-splice blanks, with four points and veneers.  Hercek continues that  tradition today, and every cue he makes has the full-splice construction.  However, when looking at this cue, no spliced points are visible. The reason is that in certain art- themed cue sticks, the  traditional look of  four spliced points with veneers is not desired. Since  Hercek will not  make a cue that is not a full splice, which he (and many others)  believes is the best way to splice cue parts together, he remedies this  problem by placing an ebony sleeve over an existing full splice. That means that despite the appearance of inlaid ivory points for decoration, the insides of  the cue contain the core construction belief 
 that has made Hercek's cues some of the most sought after cues today.

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The forearm begins above alternating long boxes of solid  ivory and  snakewood. All inlay material is pre-treaty ivory and finished  by hand. Inlays are finished so that corners and points come to a razor-sharp edge, a detail  unobtainable by  machines. Points that are inlaid in the forearm feature two  eyes that contrast  each other with  alternating pupil colors of black and  white. The almond shape is referenced as  the point components traveling up the  forearm wrap around the vertical eye.  Homage is paid to Picasso's use  of  black and white and playful use of  contrasting shapes and space.  Alternating  boxes in the handle area introduced a  third and subtle  color to the cue's  otherwise black-and-white palette. Snakewood  is a fickle wood with which to  work. Splitting and cracking are common attributes that make working with Snakewood frustrating to cue  makers. Manipulating pieces as long and large as  these proved to be time consuming for Hercek. The color and texture of the Snakewood was initially a design risk  because black-and-white cues do not commonly have other colors. In this cue  stick though, the color  and texture  of the Snakewood is subtle enough to act as a compliment, but audacious enough to be in the style of Picasso, and Hercek.


The butt section is beneath another section of  alternating boxes. Again, contrasting eye elements  of alternating color  are  visible with every other eye being framed inside large geometric shapes. The butt section itself is framed by  alternating geometric  shapes. The butt cap is solid ivory with the name  "Hercek" engraved.  The joint is also ivory and its   configuration is a 5/16" screw  piloted construction. There are two shafts,  neither of which were ever chalked.

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • Descriptive
    • Picasso
  • Burton Spain
  • Contact