Old Pre-colored JTS Meerschaum

xrundog

Lifer

Oct 23, 2014

1,307

9,232

Ames, IA

• May 18, 2016

• #1

This old timer was listed as a BIN on eBay. It had the Make Offer function open so I did. It was an easy meet in the middle deal. The telltale sunset coloring of a lightly used pre-colored old meerschaum pulled me in.

The case label says: JTS Best Make". Seems like it might be a store rebranded CPF.

I took a chance as the rim had a lot of crud on it. I was confident I could get it off, but one never knows what lurks underneath. Fortunately there's just a scratch or two. The chamber has a pierced draft hole and is in good shape. I had to sand the inner rim edge a bit to clear some knife marks. The amberoid button had a couple tooth notches that I repaired. I can't even see the repair. It's another of those pipes that has an eliptical shank and stem shape. I'm guessing 1890s or there about for a date. It's a great pipe in good original (mostly) condition!

 

blueeyedogre

Lifer

Oct 17, 2013

1,555

50

• May 18, 2016

• #2

Damn...... That is a sweet looking meer..... Nice score

 

bonehed

Part of the Furniture Now

Nov 27, 2014

636

0

• May 18, 2016

• #3

Really lovely! Enjoy!

 

jpmcwjr

Lifer

May 12, 2015

26,264

30,361

Carmel Valley, CA

• May 18, 2016

• #4

You resurrected a terrific meer!

 

ahmadothman

Part of the Furniture Now

Apr 26, 2016

751

7

Egypt

• May 18, 2016

• #5

THAT is mesmerisingly beautiful

 

cobguy

Lifer

Oct 18, 2013

3,742

18

• May 19, 2016

• #6

Nice!! :clap:
I also really like the botryoidal chalcedony inside that vugg!

 

posaydal

Lurker

Dec 6, 2015

42

0

Serbia

• May 21, 2016

• #7

To be honest, to my eye, that beauty doesn't look precolored. To me it looks like it's heavily smoked and rewaxed before it was sold. I have a meer billiard that gets similar color when it's freshly rewaxed. Some of the color fades afterwards, of course. Anyway, a real beauty, congratulations!

Enjoy it!

 

xrundog

Lifer

Oct 23, 2014

1,307

9,232

Ames, IA

• May 21, 2016

• #8

In the late 19th-early 20th century a lot of meerschaum pipes were sold pre-colored with an "oxblood" stain and sealed. The glossy finish is indicative of that. It almost has a ceramic look. Then as the pipe was smoked, it would actually soak up some of the stain and it would lighten from the rim down. The sunset coloring is a telltale for a pre-colored pipe. That's the story I've been told. And my experience with other pipes I've had like this seems to bear that out.
Here's another one like the featured pipe.

And here's a great big bulldog that was lightly smoked and still has all it's color.

 

condorlover1

Lifer

Dec 22, 2013

8,592

30,592

New York

• May 21, 2016

• #9

Here is an earlier example of this form of ox blood coloring!

 

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Reactions: aspiring_sage

metalheadycigarguy

Lifer

Apr 26, 2012

3,666

9,061

Washington State

• May 21, 2016

• #10

Those are all beautiful meerschaums. Nice score with the bent apple.

 

simong

Lifer

Oct 13, 2015

2,747

16,597

UK

• May 21, 2016

• #11

BANG!!! Yet another example of Victorian workmanship, beautiful. Why did they stop treating meers like this?

Granted, if you can smoke for a hundred years or so you get the desired effect. But for most of us meer mortals the best we can achieve is a somewhat crappy/dirty looking what happened to your pipe? sort of look. Oh well, that's progress I suppose.

 

jpmcwjr

Lifer

May 12, 2015

26,264

30,361

Carmel Valley, CA

• May 21, 2016

• #12

Wow, nice cutty! One could even build a collection around such a piece....

 

weezell

Lifer

Oct 12, 2011

13,653

49,171

• May 21, 2016

• #13

Very beautiful pipes Brothers! A pure pleasure to look at...

 

jacks6

Lifer

May 9, 2016

1,005

3

• May 21, 2016

• #14

Those are all absolutely stunning. Thank you for posting.

 

brian64

Lifer

Jan 31, 2011

10,099

16,249

• May 22, 2016

• #15

Wow...those are really cool looking meers. I've never seen or heard of that oxblood staining before. Very interesting how they then lighten instead of darken. I wonder why that type of staining stopped being done.

 

condorlover1

Lifer

Dec 22, 2013

8,592

30,592

New York

• May 22, 2016

• #16

I guess it went out of fashion and I would guess probably African meerschaum didn't take to that kind of coloring. Meerschaum used in the 19th century was pretty porous and so probably took the ox blood stain well. After it had been smoked and with the passage of time the meerschaum hardens up which is probably why so many old examples have survived into the 21st century.

 

xrundog

Lifer

Oct 23, 2014

1,307

9,232

Ames, IA

• May 22, 2016

• #17

There are people using colored wax these days. They all seem to be some shade of brown though. I haven't bought one so I don't know if they reverse color as the wax is absorbed.

 

G

gnesiohamartolos

Lurker

Jan 10, 2014

48

2

• Feb 22, 2017

• #18

According to Carl Avery Werner, Tobaccoland (New York, 1922), the uniform cherry-red or deep cordovan finish found on some antique pipes is quite often the result of artificial coloring. One method was to apply a paste made of aniline dyes of oxblood and Soudan brown that was burned in with an alcohol lamp. I have a straight stem billiard by William Birnbaum of Nassau Street, New York, that has an nearly uniform brown color that shows underlying variations only under intense light. The chamber walls are thin and transmits heat but it is very light so I smoke it regularly.

 

G

gnesiohamartolos

Lurker

Jan 10, 2014

48

2

• Feb 22, 2017

• #19

I checked Warner's book, Tobaccoland, and could not find the reference previously mentioned. My apology for the erroneous citation. BTW, the full text of that book is available online courtesy of the Harvard Library.

 

jpmcwjr

Lifer

May 12, 2015

26,264

30,361

Carmel Valley, CA

• Feb 22, 2017

• #20

OK, so how about some photos of same?
[Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Photobucket; Postimage; Dropbox, etc.), or on virtually any site, select the full image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose copy image location. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.]