Wendt Co. Pool Table

3/5/2013 5:46:11 PM

Wendt Co. Pool Table

I recently (finally) set up my family heirloom table. We were not the original owners, my grandfather bought it on the sidewalk from a pool hall going out of business (for $50!) in 1955. Table was recovered and refinished in 1963 and was moved back and forth to a couple different family members houses until it ended up back at grandma's. Upon her passing several years ago I was willed the table and finally got around to setting it up. Now that its up and running, I have been looking in to the history of it.

The manufacturers plate has been replaced by a service company which was about 25 miles away (and is out of business). My local billiard shop believes it to be a Wendt carom table converted to pockets, but to my untrained eye it doesn't look to be converted, it looks like its always been a pocket table. I am fairly sure it is a Wendt table due to the pocket design, I found the patent by sheer luck on a patent search website. I am hoping someone may have one similar that knows the age and model name of the table. Maybe it isn't a Wendt and I am way off, but here's a couple pictures and description:

8' table; 3 bolts between pockets (4 on the ends); pockets attach from beneath with irons mortised in to the rails, ends of irons where the threads are located are flat, not round (you can see one at the top right corner of the close up picture); didn't measure slate but is at least 1" thick and is screwed to wood frame beneath.

Any help that anyone can give is greatly appreciated. I contacted the A.E.Schmidt Co in St. Louis (who apparently absorbed the Wendt Co.) and all they said was yes, it looks like a Wendt and that style was popular around the turn of the century. I was hoping for more than that.

medic8ted

Wendt Co. Pool Table

Replies & Comments

Zeke on 3/7/2013 8:59:54 AM
The web is an awesome place.

If you get no replies here, not to worry. Somewhere someone knows the history of your table.

Even today's big names, e.g., Brunswick, Valley, Olhausen, etc. have been bought, sold, went out of biz and the name(s) revived making lineage tracing a crap shoot at best.

Few of us are interested in a table's "breed" or history. On any given year, all of them make junk, get bought out, leave no history or have stunning reviews - only to cut costs and maximize profits, going to Asia, for cheap labor.

Then too, a ho-hum tech working on a great table can be even more detrimental than a great tech working on a ho-hum table. The setup is equally as much a part of a table's playability as the brand.

I'd love to hear what you find regarding the Wendt "family heirloom." But try and remember, just because it's YOUR family's heirloom, doesn't make it ours...;-)

allanpsand on 5/2/2013 10:08:07 AM
On any of the search engines, enter "pool table restoration".

This will give you a few of the businesses that specialize in restoring old and antique tables. They can help identify the table and even provide original or manufactured parts - even the nameplate.

Wendt Co. Pool Table

Title: Wendt Co. Pool Table
Author: medic8ted
Published: 3/5/2013 5:46:11 PM
Last Updated: 3/5/2013 5:52:41 PM
Last Updated By: medic8ted