For the past 5 years or so I have assisting a very good friend of mine with the restoration of his class pipes. I did it without charge, because he is a great friend and because I saw him as, essentially, a curator of a museum of American History (as it relates to tobacciana). He is the author of the Pipedia page on class pipes and, from what I gather, likely has the largest collection of class pipes in the USA. For reasons I will not go into here, he has decided to sell off his collection of over 50 class pipes. The collection will go up for sale sometime before Christmas.
Around 1900 and slightly earlier, pipe smoking on college campuses, by faculty and students was an important rite of passage. From the 1890's through the 1950's, the pipe signified "big man on campus" status. Class pipes were also a keepsake for memorializing an important point of a young man's achievement of earning a college degree. Here are a few interesting class pipes from my friends collection...
Around 1900 and slightly earlier, pipe smoking on college campuses, by faculty and students was an important rite of passage. From the 1890's through the 1950's, the pipe signified "big man on campus" status. Class pipes were also a keepsake for memorializing an important point of a young man's achievement of earning a college degree. Here are a few interesting class pipes from my friends collection...