In 1993 Mike Hallett the former world number five from Grimsby commissioned Glover Cues to make him a matching pair of custom made cues to suit his playing needs.

These cues were completed and he selected just one of them, the other now belongs to me and is in my opinion a real gem. One has a name plate that has the Mike Hallett legend picked out in red the other has the name in green along with the words "custom built for" and the then address of the company who made the cue, mine is the red plate version.

Incidentally I believe that Mike now uses a cue made by my friend David Coutts alos hand-spliced in maple.

You may remember seeing these two custom built Glover cues in the photographic advertisement in Pot Black Magazine in Early 1993, if you are anywhere near as old as me.

At the time Mike Hallett was looking for a new cue following his defeat in the 1991 Benson & Hedges Masters final from 8 frames to 2 up, first to nine in a match against Stephen Hendry the defending champion. I suggest that "there was very little wrong with a cue that could help him accumulate such a lead in the first place", especially as at the time Mike was renowned as a tremendous long potter and capable break builder and was one of my favourite players to watch.

So disappointed was I that his lead was dwindling away that I went out to clear snow from the path rather than watch as Stephen clawed back frame after frame. I am not sure whether Mike had been having cue difficulties for a while but as a spectator from afar this match seemed to be a key point in his decision to seek a new and more suitable piece of equipment to compete with.

To describe the cue in more detail the cue is 58¼ inches long with a tip size of 11 millimetres, the shaft is a lovely piece of maple with a four point ebony butt. The cue has a very smooth finish and is in as new condition even though it is approximately eleven years old.

As I do with many of my new acquisitions, I took the cue to my club and gave it a try, even though I have little intention of using the cue for more than the odd, very infrequent session. The cue played very well even though the length took a little getting used to, I am used to a 57 inch cue as you may already know.

This cue with it's plaque which explains that it was custom built for Mike Hallett along with the photograph from the original advertisement in Pot Black make this one of the few cues commissioned by a former leading professional player that has become available to collectors in recent years.

I feel lucky to have tracked this cue down as it was one of the images that inspired me to seek out cues with screwed in plates those eleven years ago. Up until that time it seemed to me that almost all "new" cues had disk badges in place of the traditional plate, which as you know I prefer being a traditionalist.

Glover the company, who made this cue are still in existence, so if you would like to know more please feel free to make contact, I will be happy to pass on your requests. They make personalised name plates for fitting on their cues but of course are not in a position to reproduce this particular plate.

I feel delighted to have tracked this cue down and added it to my collection as it is such a fine piece of work and has such a significant place in cue collecting for me that I am glad to have been given the opportunity to share it with you as part of the Cues n Views web site.

Regarding value, which is iunderstandably one of the first things on the minds of many a Cues n Views reader, I believe that this cue must be worth quite a lot due to it's rarity and condition, as well as it's place as a cue that was used to publicise the excellent work being carried out by Glover.

David Smith