Steatite Pipe found at garage sale. Found in NJ

[Get-the-point]

Real or fake found in NJ??

I was driving around one day heading home from PA and saw a garage sale, so I decided to stop. Glad I did....although it has a broken stem it is real nice. Got it for $5 and looking it over I am pretty sure it is good. Let me know what you all think.......GTP

 

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[Get-the-point]

Wow thought for sure this would get some opinions....

 

[Cosmo]

Looks fake to me

 

[Get-the-point]

Not so sure about that Cosmo, but I'll respect your opinion. Blow up the photo's and look at the incising and residue around the pipe. Plus mineralization evident on the break. I think it may be good. I am going to send this one out and find out. If it is good....well then it is a score and ready for Dr. Gomer!!!

 

[joshuaream]

I would have bought it for $5. Does it match any local styles?

 

[Get-the-point]

I've seen some out of the Kraft collection at Seton Hall university coming from the Delaware river area. I've also seen them come from NY in Iroquois territory. I saw it and was like man it looks good but hard to tell with so many fakes. I've looked at it blown up in pictures and through magnification and I think it may be good. Joshua blow up the pic and let me know what you think on it..........Chris(GTP)

 

[joshuaream]

I've seen some out of the Kraft collection at Seton Hall university coming from the Delaware river area. I've also seen them come from NY in Iroquois territory. I saw it and was like man it looks good but hard to tell with so many fakes. I've looked at it blown up in pictures and through magnification and I think it may be good. Joshua blow up the pic and let me know what you think on it..........Chris(GTP)

Chris,

I don't see anything wrong in the pictures, but I don't recognize that style. (That doesn't mean much for the PA/NJ area, I haven't seen a lot of material from there.)

Pipes are rarely one-off unique examples, most of them follow a pretty clear pattern and there are almost always other examples around from different sites in the area (in museums, old books, old journals, some old collector everyone knows who has a couple of examples, etc.)

Those knobs are unique. There is a style called a bean pipe in Georgia that were made by the group that made Etowah mounds that has them, but they are different. I'd see if you can find similar pictures that can be traced back to a type/group (like the ones you mentioned from the Delaware River area.) With the influx in international material, a lot of authenticators won't paper unique artifacts like that if there isn't a documented example somewhere else.

Bean-Pipes

It's certainly not a common style that is regularly faked, so something that is documented but not well known probably makes the chances someone would fake & break, and then sell it for $5 unlikely.

Joshua

 

[monsterrack]

It looks like it was carved by hand, but like josh said the style looks odd, it almost looks like a African item and style. It's still a cool find.

 

[jamey]

cool buy,would like to see where it came from,has those poppy eyed birds eyes.thanks for sharing.

 

[Get-the-point]

Interesting Joshua....maybe this piece was misrepresented. I know I have seen examples but without the knobs. So this makes it interesting on possible location. Going to have to look at some more examples from the area.

 

[austin]

Ok, so I had to look up the word steatite. I am academically challenged. I only have a Master's in History. Of course, it's from a Texas college so I should be forgiven for bein plumb stupid. The only thing below that is "bone yard stupid" and that would be just a bachelor's from a place like Texas A&M(just kidding). The pipe is real, old and made by a craftsman. Show it to any anthropology prof at any university and he'll tell you the same thing. Fantastic buy for $5.

 

[laidback4sho]

Looks like the same material as this mystery stone found in Moultonborough, NH. Á farmer found this stone while he was working a pair of post hole diggers in his field, not far from Lake Winnipesaukee some years ago.

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[Charl]

Just a brief intrusion to say that stone head, highly interesting, was likely at least partly created by power tools, according to the state archaeologist of New Hampshire:

New England's 'Mystery Stone' - CBS News

 

[laidback4sho]

Just a brief intrusion to say that stone head, highly interesting, was likely at least partly created by power tools, according to the state archaeologist of New Hampshire:

New England's 'Mystery Stone' - CBS News

Says here that the stone has been in the possession of the New Hampshire Historical Society since 1927. They barely had power back then, much less power tools. But who knows. Guess that's why they call it a mystery stone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipesaukee_mystery_stone

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[rock]

I didnt reply due to it looked more like a reproduction or a modern piece. Ive never seen anything like it in any of the books I have looked in or read. Now it could be from another country which I have no experience in those. That is why I didnt respond.

 

[gunsil]

Says here that the stone has been in the possession of the New Hampshire Historical Society since 1927. They barely had power back then, much less power tools. But who knows. Guess that's why they call it a mystery stone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipesaukee_mystery_stone

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I surmise that by "power tools" you are thinking about hand held electric power tools. Well there have been treadle and belt driven power tools for centuries, and there were certainly plenty of electric tools available in the 1920s. They were usually bigger and bulkier than modern ones but they were made and used in that time frame. People across the world have used treadle powered lathes and drills to carve stone for centuries, largely in Asia.

 

[laidback4sho]

Says here that the stone has been in the possession of the New Hampshire Historical Society since 1927. They barely had power back then, much less power tools. But who knows. Guess that's why they call it a mystery stone.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipesaukee_mystery_stone

Sent from my SM-S975L using Tapatalk[/QUOTE

I surmise that by "power tools" you are thinking about hand held electric power tools. Well there have been treadle and belt driven power tools for centuries, and there were certainly plenty of electric tools available in the 1920s. They were usually bigger and bulkier than modern ones but they were made and used in that time frame. People across the world have used treadle powered lathes and drills to carve stone for centuries, largely in Asia.

True...

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[RGINN]

What ever about it led you to post it here? (It's not politically correct to say why did you think it was Indian)

 

[Buckleberry]

Pattern looks almost African...Bambolse, Pupurego

 

[stefen]

Since there is no provenance, it could be Inuit, African or any number of societies...

I'm guessing Inuit...that's eskimo, if you have a question...