(FORTUNE Magazine) – Unless you're a loan shark, you wouldn't normally associate shooting pool with diamonds, rubies, and six-figure stacks of money. But the traditionally seedy sport has entered the realm of conspicuous consumption, thanks to a group of artisans crafting handmade, custom-decorated pool cues that can easily cost ten times more than the tables they're used on.

The most lavish of these cues is the diamond-and-ruby-encrusted Sultan (pictured to the right and left), made by the grand master of cue makers, Bill Stroud of Austin, Texas. The price "starts at $100,000, but it really depends on what kinds of diamonds and rubies you want on it," explains Stroud. "The sky's the limit." Stroud's next project is a $250,000 Egyptian-motif cue made out of coral, ivory, turquoise, and 24-karat gold. It will also come with a glass pyramid for storage.

Other highly regarded cue masters include Thomas Wayne of Anchorage (whose cues are used by Keanu Reeves) and Dale Perry of Orange Park, Florida. Both claim that they're having trouble keeping up with demand, even though their prices start in the mid-five figures. All that for something that essentially does the same thing as the beat-up cues hanging on the wall in the local dive. Makes you wonder what you'd have to pay for something that actually helps you make a bank shot.

--Ed Brown