Clay Pipe

[mike b]

This is a pipe I found in the water yesterday at a 1800's beachside resort. Its a clay pipe front in a hard as glass mouthpiece. The pipe is attached to the mouthpiece by the brass piece in between. I'm sure its not as old as most pipes I've seen here but would anyone have an idea how old it might be.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Nice pipe. I would put it somewhere between about 1880 to 1920 at the latest. When not carved from wood, the bowls for pipes like this were usually carved from ‘meerschaum’ (the mineral sepiolite), which progressively darkens as the pipe is used from accumulation of tars. Meerschaum can also be ground down to a clay for making cheaper moulded pipes and there’s another smectite clay (know as ‘stevensite’) that was used, plus cheaper-still substitutes including plaster of Paris.

Usually these pipes push together ‘mortise and tenon’ fashion, with the metal band providing strengthening against snapping. I don’t think I’ve seen one with the mouthpiece made from glass but they often used materials such as agate, onyx or amber on quality pipes, and things like amberoid (pressed amber) or hard plastics such as Bakelite (from around 1910) on cheaper pipes.

Below is a similar meerschaum pipe which can be reliably dated to 1898 since the band is silver and hallmarked for that year. If yours has a base metal band (which might have been silver-plated at one time) then it’s probably going to be at the lower quality end of the materials I mentioned.

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[mike b]

That would make sense since the bowl is so broken up. Thanks, its not a showpiece so when I get a chance Ill clean it and see if there are any markings on it .

 

[Wildcat1750]

Very nice pipe!
Did you find that locally?

 

[Calabash Digger]

nice!

 

[mike b]

Very nice pipe!
Did you find that locally?

Very locally.

 

[ticndig]

It looks like a show piece to me , I've dug old pipes but not that nice.

 

[tinpan]

Hi, nice

 

[mike b]

It looks like a show piece to me , I've dug old pipes but not that nice.

Mine is the top one, nothing like the condition of Red Coats.

 

[ticndig]

yes I know the top one is the dug one , very nice indeed.