Although I don't want to admit it, a large part of my focus in collecting is to get an example of every British sandblast I can. I don't want to admit it because it's a pretty daunting task and I don't want to burden myself LOL but there is a very strong undercurrent in my collecting that drives me to seek these out.
A Barling Fossil has been on my list for quite a while, but as of yet no luck. Many of them seem to have been smoked very hard, are totally clapped out, go for big money or there's so much interest that I've usually been sniped.
Well, I kinda lost my head with this one and a sudden impulse made my heart bid big at $225 and I ended up winning it for $200. My heart was racing, it was a bit of a gamble because the pix were blurred and lousy and no nomenclature was shown, but what little I could discern gave me a very good feeling that this was in cherry condition...
...and it was!
When it got here I was astounded at how crisp the nomenclature was and how nice the pipe looked overall --- with a tremendous blast too!
A nice smaller EL size.
I was ecstatic!
The stem was exquisite, still carrying a very crisply stamped REG'D 98 046 on the underside and fully intact Barling cross on topside!
Then I removed the stem...
...and something felt off,
seemed to come out too easily.
Had a closer look.
~squint~
~squint~
8O
8O
8O
8O
8O
8O
8O
:crying:
...and the Fossil fell from my graces.
:crying:
..well, I was totally disappointed and a little freaked out.
Dammit.
I pm'd Sablebrush and he gave me some great advice and general words of wisdom.
Fortunately for me, the seller refunded my money with no problems and all is well.
They relisted it the next week and it sold for $132,
and this time disclosed that it had a cracked shank - I do believe they were honest and didn't notice it on the first go around, they weren't pipe smokers and small cracks on blasted pipes are hard to detect anyway.
Shame that such a nice pipe had that damn crack.
Another sad thing is that at some point or other a furry freak brother had decided to smoke hash or pot or opium in it, it had that distinct smell, as well as that dense gummy resin in the stem.
Oh well.
The good thing is that there's many more Fossils in the ocean and one day one'll finally wash up on my shore.
That's the good thing about pipe collecting, there's just so many pipes out there in the big wide world that it's no big deal if a few get away and slip through your fingers...
::