An Old Comoy With A Provenance

beefeater33 · May 7, 2015

I've had a few old Comoy's and always liked their classic billiards. I bought this one on the bay, wrongly listed as a "Camoy's".....CAMOY'S PIPE

I like it when sellers make mistakes like that!!

So the pipe arrived in good order, unsmoked and very nice, with a cool old wool sock too!

I spent some time marveling at this beauty with my 7X loupe. What tight grain these old briars have.

So I decide to give the pipe sock a few shakes, to rid it of any dust, and out falls this little piece of paper:

How cool is that? So I looked up Professor Schealer, turns out he was born in 1887 and died in 1956.

He was a prof. of electrical engineering @ Duke.

I found an obituary where his step daughter just passed away in 2013. This pipe probably came from her estate sale.
As I sit here and fondle this old pipe I can't help but to wonder.....

When did he buy it?

Why didn't he smoke it? Did he put it away and forget about it?

What blends did he smoke?

Did he smoke during his lectures at Duke? (most likely considering the time frame)

Did his health fail shortly after he bought it? Was it a gift?
I don't think I can bring myself to smoke this..........and thats OK. It will occupy a spot in my collection, with the little piece of paper and I'll often wonder what professor Samuel Raymond Schealer was like.........

voorhees · May 7, 2015

Beef, that is sooooooo. Cool. Lovely pipe and a what a great thing to know.

bigpond · May 7, 2015

What an amazing score! It's clear he treated the pipe with love, you should do likewise and put it back in service. Enjoy it. Or sell it to me.

and I'll enjoy it!

beefeater33 · May 7, 2015

you should do likewise and put it back in service

That's the rub......this pipe was never put in service! Its still a virgin, after all these years.........

and I don't think I can do the deed......... :roll:

misterlowercase · May 7, 2015

Jawdroppingly incredible.

8O

:!:
Congrats,

that pipe oozes appeal and it's such a fine specimen of Comoy's artfulness.

agnosticpipe · May 7, 2015

Wow, awesome pipe! A real classic beauty, with some very interesting history. Like you say, lots of questions to ask about it, but I might have a hard time resisting smoking it!

pepesdad1 · May 7, 2015

Beautiful pipe. I have its sister... a Grandslam pencil shanked billiard.

Beautiful grain in most Comoys.

bigpond · May 7, 2015

That's the rub......this pipe was never put in service! Its still a virgin, after all these years.........

and I don't think I can do the deed......... :roll:

8O :| :crying: :worship:

gloucesterman · May 7, 2015

Great find, great story. And an unsmoked old Comoy is worth it's weight in gold. Maybe just admiring it is enough. But somehow I think temptation would overcome me.

stickframer · May 7, 2015

That is cool. Personally I would try not to smoke it. Pieces like that are hard to come by.
I have a railway conductors training book from the 40's. It's got the names of each person who used it as well as the date. There was even a romantic Christmas card inside that was never sent. I can't help thinking about the people who used it and wondering what they were like, etc.
Good find with that beautiful pipe.

dulgunz · May 7, 2015

Awesome find on FleaBay!! I am happy for you that this pipe comes with a bit of a backstory. I would admire it and I would smoke the hell out of it. After all it is a pipe made for smoking! JMO

jackswilling · May 7, 2015

As a Comoy Fanboy I am envious and jealous. Seriously, that is so cool, the provenance and the pipe itself are ultra cool. Good for you.

pitchfork · May 7, 2015

Great story. Great pipe!

gregprince · May 7, 2015

Gotta love those old Comoys. You have other pipes for smoking, nothing wrong with having one to cherish.

settersbrace · May 7, 2015

If you don't care to smoke it send it on to me and I'll lovingly smoke it and care for it until you want it back. It'd be a shame NOT to smoke it if for no other reason than to pay homage to the former owner who never got to.

jkrug · May 7, 2015

A great looking pipe and a very cool piece of pipe history too. Enjoy. : puffy

:

papipeguy · May 7, 2015

That's a great story and a wonderful pipe. Whatever you decide to do with it will be the right thing.

magrathean · May 8, 2015

I could certainly respect any decision to keep this pipe pristine. It's a gorgeous pipe (and I'm not exactly a big billiard fan) with a great back story. Then again, I could see smoking it, too. I've invested in a few estate pipes, and quite often, as I sit puffing on them, I find myself musing about the previous owner(s). Who was it? What did they smoke in it? Was it a favorite pipe, or just a beater? To actually know and have that connection would really be something, IMHO.

fnord · May 8, 2015

What a terrific story. I'm glad it happened to you and even more grateful you shared it with us.
The pipe is stunning. I love billiards. I love these old, high end English production burners. And I'm especially grateful that Miss Louise Rose thought enough of her step-father to leave that note tucked behind and that Miss Louise W. B. Jenkins didn't remove it.
Could this possibly be a Southern thing? My mom passed away when my sons were five years old. Cleaning out her residence we found boxes tucked away labeled with the names of her four grandchildren. She'd included detailed, handwritten notes detailing where the keepsake had come from and who had received or gifted said tschotske and we're looking at six generations here.
Cheers,
Fnord

ejames · May 8, 2015

Gotta love those old Comoys. You have other pipes for smoking, nothing wrong with having one to cherish.

I agree! Although it was made to smoke-it hasn't been in all these years. A perfect piece to preserve. There's millions of pipes out there to smoke. I could let one like that sit and just look at it and wonder about the history and the man behind it.

An Old Comoy With A Provenance

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