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THE NORMAN CLARE BILLIARDS & SNOOKER HERITAGE COLLECTION

AT THURSTON, LIVERPOOL

A SHORT GUIDE

The Norman Clare Collection at Thurston (formerly E.A. Clare and Son), St Anne Street, Liverpool, is probably the largest collection of billiards and snooker memorabilia in the world. Only the Heinrich Weingartner Museum in Vienna compares with it, and that is devoted to carom billiards (the European / American version of the game played on pocketless tables).

Anyone who visited the Snooker Heritage Room, which used to be set up each year at Sheffield during the World Snooker Championships, will have seen items from The Norman Clare collection, as Thurston not only supplied many of the items on display but also help set the room up each year.

Yet only the keenest collectors and snooker cognoscenti are aware of it and of the vast range of fascinating and historical pieces to be found there. It includes the weird and the wonderful – ancient cue tips, a variety of tables, ivory and early composite balls, Eralc chalk, maces and even pocket plates damaged during prison riots! So for those of you previously unaware of this collection, perhaps a little background information will be of interest.

Norman Clare

The founder of the Billiard & Snooker Heritage Collection

Norman Clare, who died in 1990, was Chairman of E.A. Clare & Son Ltd having followed his father (Edward Arthur) into the business as a young school leaver in 1930. The company [whose interest in the billiards and snooker industry encompasses the historic Thurston name as well as those of Thos. Padmore and Sons, Ashcrofts, Peradon, Weilding, and many others] is the home of Norman’s collection. His interest in setting up this collection stemmed from when E.A.Clare & Son bought Thurston & Co. and he found many interesting items at their old factory site at Waterloo Works, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. For example, he recognised this original and rare wooden billiard table bed which was being used to board up a broken window at these premises and so he rescued it!

Here are some of the other highlights of the collection, some of which were on display in the Billiards & Snooker Heritage Collection in 2008. Due to space limitations the cast iron table was not on public display. (after 2008 the display in the Liverpool showroom will revert back to being a Snooker & Pool table showroom. Visits to see the collection can be arranged, please see note about such visits at the end of this article)

TABLES

Modern tables are rectangular, standard-sized and made of wood and slate, but in the past tables could be as long as 15 feet, circular or triangular, and made of marble, metal, or even concrete! The museum has an octagonal table made by Thurston in 1908 to fit into a room with a bay window; a table with a cast-iron frame made by Harris and Son of London; and a Thurston portable table with a wooden base rumoured to have been used by the Duke of Wellington and his staff officers during the Napoleonic Wars.

Section of end rail of Cast Iron Table showing manufacturers name

BILLIARD AND SNOOKER BALLS

Ivory balls replaced wooden ones in the early 1800s but by the 1880s about 12,000 elephants a year (mostly female) were being killed to supply Britain with billiard balls. By 1890 artificial balls, invented by an American, began to be available in Britain. Ivories were last used in professional games in 1928, though they are still sometimes used in “artistic billiards” played in Europe. Snooker, invented in 1875, became popular after 1900 mainly because it became cheaper to buy full sets of artificial balls. By the late 1930's it had outstripped the older game of billiards in popularity .

The museum has many set of ivories including a magnificent box of billiard, pyramids, and life pool balls. Note that life pool and pyramids, were killed off in Britain by snooker. Modern pool is an imported version of the American 8-ball game.

CUES

Cues were invented in Europe in the 18th Century and began to replace maces in the early 19th Century, especially after the invention of the leather tip and cue chalk, which made side and screw shots so much easier. Most cues were imported from France until about the 1860’s. Although highly decorated individually designed cues are made in the United States, most British players still prefer traditional unadorned ash cues.

The museum has a particularly fine selection of maces of various sorts. It also has several beautiful 200 year old French cues with intricate marquetry designs, and virtually all the “signature” cues that have the names, and sometimes the photographs, of famous players on them. A glass case contains the cue and set of travelling balls used by the great Joe Davis, World Snooker Champion from 1927-1947.

Picture showing the shape of the Billiard Mace Heads

'French'Marquetry Cues

Joe Davis Cue and Snooker Balls

A portrait of Joe Davis on loan to the Collection since 2007

OTHER ITEMS

Among the thousands of other artefacts in the museum are a large collection of books and magazines, mostly English but including some on carom billiards and American pool; a unique collection of trade catalogues; hundreds of photographs, pictures and prints; trophies, including the cup awarded to John Roberts Junior for winning the Championship in 1870; scoreboards (some of which are quite spectacular); a lathe for turning ivory balls and other old tools; and cue-racks, cushions, posters and personal memorabilia, the finest of which is a copy of a large portrait of the Australian billiard player Walter Lindrum (the original has now been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery of Australia).

Walter Lindrum Portrait showing him at the THURSTON Match Room table

by the Australian artist, Captain Will Longstaff

Part of the display shown at Thurston Liverpool as their contribution for

Liverpool's 2008 year as The European Capital of Culture Year

Unfortunately, the Norman Clare Collection is not, generally, open to the public on a regular basis. However, appointments can be made to see the collection by contacting the office on 0870 607 1336 to arrange a mutually agreeable time. Please note that no more than 4 persons can be shown round at one time and a visit should take about an hour.

THURSTON

Thurston makes, renovates and maintains all types of snooker and pool tables. It also has specialist departments for bowling green bowls, darts, table-football, bingo, table tennis and trophies.

Please contact Thurston Sales Department if you have any enquiries. Thurston has the most comprehensive range of tables and accessories available, see our

e-shop – www.thurston.co.uk

email - thurston@eaclare.co.uk

Phone – 0870 607 1336

© E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. - All items displayed are from the N. Clare collection. reproduction of article allowed only with permission from E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.