Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes

[sablebrush52]

Yep, that must be the 5th or 6th of these fakes that's shown up. All with the same stampings. As fakes go, it's a really bad one.
eBay is loathe to interfere with any auctions. It took repeated reports from me and others to temporarily shut down that Chinese fraud last year, who was selling $600 pipes for $15. He's back, by the way.

 

[ssjones]

This ones a bit of a puzzler. It looks like one of the carved Comoy's Extraordinaire's on John Lorings website. John only shows one side of the pipe and no nomenclature. This ebay pipe has a band, but it's not a Comoys band. The stem looks like it might have just been stuck on,and shows signs that it wasn't original. The stem on the Loring pipe fits a lot better.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Rare-Comoy-039-s-Extraordinnaire-Specimen-1930-039-s-Pipe-Wow-/202572133671?nma=true&si=wi9zET0dTW2skNGa4QaUjw%252BDNjk%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Loring Pipe

 

[donjgiles]

Here is one I missed today, I really wanted this pipe. I do not know if it is old or uncommon but I have a feeling it is both.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-BBB-England-Estate-Pipe/173753643059
All briar BBB

Don

 

[snagstangl]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Merchant-Service-Pipes-/143106718657?_trksid=p2047675.m43663.l10137&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true
A couple clapped out Merchant Service special pipes. $560

 

[ashdigger]

Snag, that's crazy talk!!

 

[donjgiles]

Snag,

I was stalking that listing for a week and I am the one who alerted the seller that one of the pipes had a cracked shank. I hope the buyer knew what they were getting, I would not have jumped into that pool.
Don

 

[jpmcwjr]

Whoa! I am guessing the collector needed one of those to round out a collection.
Anyone know what the white spots are?

 

[donjgiles]

Looked like paint to me.

 

[sablebrush52]

Merchant Service pipes don't show up that often, but until a few years ago, nobody cared. They went for a fraction of what they're getting now. That does look like paint. When two collectors are determined, the seller benefits.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, it looks like paint, but could it not be fills which have lost their stain?

 

[donjgiles]

I did not see any fills on those 2, but that is about the only thing that was not jacked up on them! ☺

 

[donjgiles]

Here is a good one, some love for Loewe...

Loewe Cased

Don

 

[ashdigger]

There are some gorgeous pipes going off this weekend from the John Fabris Collection.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F372530467497

 

[ashdigger]

We posted at the same time

 

[donjgiles]

Nice piece, way out of my price range.

 

[sablebrush52]

This exquisite Barling from 1883 sold for $2027.99 Considering both rarity and condition, not a bad price.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

I was about to post the above cased Loewe. That finishing price blew my mind. It wasnt that long ago I bought my 1915 on ebay for around $115.

 

[sablebrush52]

I was about to post the above cased Loewe. That finishing price blew my mind. It wasnt that long ago I bought my 1915 on ebay for around $115.

You did very, very well. Prices on Loewe pipe have been on the rise, though the price on that cased Loewe from John's collection seems a bit high, especially when 2 and 3 pipe cased sets recently sold from the same collection have gone for considerably less.
When you have two or more bidders obsessed with the same pipe, market value tends to go out the window.

 

[snagstangl]

So How do you get obsessed? List and then run up the price and cancel the auction five times before you actually sell?

 

[sablebrush52]

So How do you get obsessed? List and then run up the price and cancel the auction five times before you actually sell?

There have been a few sellers accused of shilling, though it's yet to be proven conclusively. But repeated auctions usually work in the opposite direction. When relisted, the pipe more often sells for less than the first time around. I'm assuming that buyers who are aware of the original auction become more wary when the pipes shows up again.
In the case of this auction, we had a "creeper", one of those types of bidders who make a bunch of small increases in the hope of paying no more than needed to "win". Many years ago I got really irritated with a creeper, so I led him into the financial stratosphere and left him dangling there. Those guys can really drive up an auction as another determined buyer reacts to being outbid. I wonder if it's occasionally an ego thing, like losing the auction is a reflection on their manhood. And occasionally there are buyers for whom cost is unimportant.