I love this photograph of the old wooden ball-return system on the antique pool table that Scott and Alex Mueller sent us.
It was made by August Jungblut in San Francisco before the earthquake (1890-1906). It was made for a family who lived in Pacific Heights. In the early 1920’s, the woman of the house gave it to her sister who lived in my grandma’s neighborhood (Inglewood Terrace). It was gifted to my dad in ’65. The pool table resided in my grandma’s basement until 1990 when my dad moved it to his house in Sonoma County. From 1994 until just a few days ago, the table had been in pieces in a storage unit. My dad drove his motor home from Santa Rosa to Spokane with the pool table in the back.
One of the cooler features of the table is the ball return: it was a newer feature at the time and no nails are used. All of those runs are perfectly angled to just slide in and stay in place by their own weight.
The Muellers, who run a B&B and artist’s retreat near Spokane called Moosicorn Ranch, are in the process of restoring and recovering the table. Check their Flickr set for progress shots.
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