Table that Discussion
As Eric Sprouse walks around the Dilworth Billiards private club he owns on Tremont Avenue in South End, he’s like a proud papa. He rambles off details of some of the many antique pool tables that surround him as if he’s recounting a child taking his first steps. He’ll even whip out baby pictures—photos of some of the finest tables he’s sold.
A passion for pool allows man to work where he plays
As Eric Sprouse walks around the Dilworth Billiards private club he owns on Tremont Avenue in South End, he’s like a proud papa. He rambles off details of some of the many antique pool tables that surround him as if he’s recounting a child taking his first steps. He’ll even whip out baby pictures—photos of some of the finest tables he’s sold.
Dilworth Billiards serves as both a private club, where at any given time you’ll find a dozen or more members (many of Charlotte’s elite) enjoying a game of pool or sitting at the bar inside the pristine 2,800 square foot club, and a storefront for Sprouse’s antique pool table buy-sell-trade business. He’s sold hundreds of tables during the last twenty-seven years, but it all started from one.
“I had a table in my house, that one over there actually, and I went to buy another one and I didn’t like the new ones that were being sold,” Sprouse says. “They were just made of particle board.”
Sprouse sells quality stuff—the tables he sells come from an era when they were handmade and made from solid wood. His customers appreciate that craftsmanship, like the guy in Myrtle Beach who recently purchased an 1870 Royal Medalist from Sprouse for $90,000.
“It’s a functional investment. These tables only appreciate in value, and it’s something they can use, they can play with.”
Sprouse, who can often look at a table and tell you when it was made, acquires many of his tables after being contacted by sellers (from around the country) who’ve seen his ads in trader magazines. And his list of buyers, many who are members of his club, grows largely through word of mouth and repeaters.
“I have several customers on their third table,” he says. “I used to sell about two a month when I was selling ones in the $4,000 to $5,000 range. Now that I’m selling more expensive tables, I sell about ten to twelve a year. I would like to sell more, but they don’t come on the market fast enough.” -J.H.
