This is a John Roberts Snr Champion Cue. It has an ebony butt hand-spliced onto an ash shaft.
The badge is ivory. It carries the "crossed cues" symbol, which was the Roberts' family crest.
The Burroughes & Watts stamp (on the butt of the cue) faces in the opposite direction to the badge. This was not uncommon for this type of cue.
This style of badge was originally trade marked by John Roberts & Co in England in January 1887 and in New Zealand and Australia in the early 1890s. The trade mark was sold to Burroughes & Watts in 1899, after John Roberts and his partner, Frederick Hotine, went bankrupt.
The cue shown in the picture was made by Burroughes & Watts, probably in the early 1900s.
