Got this at an estate sale and have spent a couple of hours trying to find out anything about it. I even translated "smoking" and "tobacco pipe" to French and searched that way. Nothing. ("Paris" translates to "Paris" it's just spoken differently.)
The writing inside the case is ""L.B.D." and "Rue deRivoli 220." Rivoli Street was (still is) a very fashionable address in the Louvre District of Paris. But can find nothing doing Google search about a shop there today or in the past. It may be an apartment, that the residents knocked out the street wall and converted into a shop with their living quarters in the rear - this is what people do on commercial avenues in Russian cities.
I guessed this was a Meerschaum and won the bidding at $80. Now, looking at other Meerschaums on Google, they seem dissimilar, in that most of them have a face or figure. The only flora or fauna one might see here on this one are what look like claws, and the round half-globe might be an eye. Anyway, all the finely-detailed work someone has done on this, must have involved some time and effort.
Lastly, is it ivory?
The stem is amber or rosin, and was broken when I got it, so i glued it back together with a drop of super-glue. And used some steel wool to rub away the worst of the black-ashy residue around the rim...
The writing inside the case is ""L.B.D." and "Rue deRivoli 220." Rivoli Street was (still is) a very fashionable address in the Louvre District of Paris. But can find nothing doing Google search about a shop there today or in the past. It may be an apartment, that the residents knocked out the street wall and converted into a shop with their living quarters in the rear - this is what people do on commercial avenues in Russian cities.
I guessed this was a Meerschaum and won the bidding at $80. Now, looking at other Meerschaums on Google, they seem dissimilar, in that most of them have a face or figure. The only flora or fauna one might see here on this one are what look like claws, and the round half-globe might be an eye. Anyway, all the finely-detailed work someone has done on this, must have involved some time and effort.
Lastly, is it ivory?
The stem is amber or rosin, and was broken when I got it, so i glued it back together with a drop of super-glue. And used some steel wool to rub away the worst of the black-ashy residue around the rim...
