The highest price selling (living vs dead) maker is...?
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I read about Bo Nordh and wanted to buy the book about him and his work and wondered what pipes I would be able to see inside this book.
I have extra respect for designers (I see pipe-makers as more designers than just artists because their work have to function) who came from an engineering background.
Bo Nordh
I have extra respect for designers (I see pipe-makers as more designers than just artists because their work have to function) who came from an engineering background.
Bo Nordh
Not even close guys- the most expensive pipe I've heard of was an Eltang calabash presentation set with a solid ivory bowl that sold for just over 100,000 Euros to a Russian collector about year ago...I've been looking for 30 minutes for the pictures, but they seem to have disappeared from the internet...
Nope- a little frustrating- I can't find it anywhere. It was a boxed presentation set that was a collaboration with Gotoh I believe. The Russian who bought it had to drive over the border to Eltang's and drive it back into Russia. It was shown at the St Petersburg show...
I'm shocked to hear that Kundsen's pipes go for $30,000 in Japan. Glad I bought mine, barely used, from my local B&M for $140.
I had a conversation with a couple of the highest priced Danish and American carvers last year in Chicago - they almost are at the point were they can't really afford to sell in the US because the prices are so insanely high in Asia..The problem with that approach is there's a risk of alienating American buyers...
I saw a Chonowitsch unsmoked estate on sale at the West Coast Pipe Show with a $9,000 price tag on it.
I don't think that they really care about alienating any market that isn't throwing bushel barrels of money at them. And American carvers are joining in the Asian frenzy as well. The risk to them is that the fad will collapse.
For now, these pipes and other luxury items pay for themselves as business gifts, or bribes. When something else becomes the new business gift (bribe) of choice, the pipe bubble will pop with a loud bang. Until then, everyone is cashing in.
Anyone wanna buy a tulip?
Agreed sable! These guys are making a living and you go where the money goes. It's the nature of the beast. If they pay better in Asia, who cares how anybody feels about it. To do otherwise would be very bad business sense no matter how warm and fuzzy. Nobody knows for how long they'll be at the top of their game and you must make the best of it while you are.
Not to bicker with the great carvers, but it does some credit to the many excellent carvers who stick
with the market in Europe and North America (among other places). Choose your own favorites, but
there are a number who are prolific, do excellent work, and are "affordable" for at least a healthy fraction
of pipe buyers. These guys/gals are worthy of our loyalty and respect.
with the market in Europe and North America (among other places). Choose your own favorites, but
there are a number who are prolific, do excellent work, and are "affordable" for at least a healthy fraction
of pipe buyers. These guys/gals are worthy of our loyalty and respect.
Wow, been learning a lot from the veteran smokers here, and would like to add some ideas in greater length, leider... still have deadlines to meet.
This 'pipe bubble' reminds me during my lust for interesting looking tampers from a while back, and I found from the website of this tamper sculptor that one Chinese dealer sold all of his most expensive work (highest > 1,400 USD)
http://shop62797404.taobao.com/category-495656376.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c.w4002-2616798565.8.PlKeZo&mid=w-2616798565-0&catName=%D1%B9%B0%F4%B4%F3%CA%A6Dmitri+Plechtc&catId=495656376&orderType=price_desc
I really don't know, perhaps these collectors smoke mainly freehand designer pipes.
Source (dealers of his work):
http://zapzap.blog.com/dealers/
Germans pipers are really frugal, of course occasionally you heard that there are this and that collectors who have more than a few dozen freehand designer pipes, the majority though are really happy with their 9mm-filtered Vauen, Savinelli, Stanwell, Design Berlin alike.
This 'pipe bubble' reminds me during my lust for interesting looking tampers from a while back, and I found from the website of this tamper sculptor that one Chinese dealer sold all of his most expensive work (highest > 1,400 USD)
http://shop62797404.taobao.com/category-495656376.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c.w4002-2616798565.8.PlKeZo&mid=w-2616798565-0&catName=%D1%B9%B0%F4%B4%F3%CA%A6Dmitri+Plechtc&catId=495656376&orderType=price_desc
I really don't know, perhaps these collectors smoke mainly freehand designer pipes.
Source (dealers of his work):
http://zapzap.blog.com/dealers/
Germans pipers are really frugal, of course occasionally you heard that there are this and that collectors who have more than a few dozen freehand designer pipes, the majority though are really happy with their 9mm-filtered Vauen, Savinelli, Stanwell, Design Berlin alike.
And my thinking in short is that it is more fair to judge by the mean or the median selling price of the work of a pipe maker; and also, it is perhaps better to stick to price of completed deals instead of price tags of work yet unsold.
One can see that pipes by Bo Nordh and Sixten Ivarsson are not so easily or widely available in the market, as most collectors really want to hold on to their collections; on the other hand, Tom Eltang, apart from being a great pipe designer (I really think his desk lamp design and his dagger design are creative and artistic while functional), he is also a very clever businessman, as you can see he is investing in pipe shop business and tobacco business.
One can see that pipes by Bo Nordh and Sixten Ivarsson are not so easily or widely available in the market, as most collectors really want to hold on to their collections; on the other hand, Tom Eltang, apart from being a great pipe designer (I really think his desk lamp design and his dagger design are creative and artistic while functional), he is also a very clever businessman, as you can see he is investing in pipe shop business and tobacco business.
I just browsed a bit more that site and found that one Anne Julie pipe sold for > 140,000.00 USD ... such a price? NO WAY, and Anne Julie? She is a top maker but that price and that pipe? I am really not in a position to judge. Anything sold with such a price tag has such a value.
http://shop62797404.taobao.com/category-250325175.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c.w4002-2616798565.14.0k6XKE&mid=w-2616798565-0&catName=%B4%F3%CA%A6%D1%CC%B6%B7&catId=250325175&orderType=price_desc
In such a country like China, with annual total GDP (9.24 trillion USD as in 2013) and 3-5% of those 9 trillions as corruption money in need of laundering, people would do anything - such as buying pipes without studying too much the history of pipe making or the market of designer pipes.
These Russians and Chinese... countries that are relatively new to pipe smoking and pipe collection, but some of them have the money with their twisted economy and have the 'sanity' to spend these money on pipes. It seems like ... time to do some hunting and re-selling to make some money before this bubble bursts, or some many other yet much bigger bubbles burst.
http://shop62797404.taobao.com/category-250325175.htm?spm=a1z10.5-c.w4002-2616798565.14.0k6XKE&mid=w-2616798565-0&catName=%B4%F3%CA%A6%D1%CC%B6%B7&catId=250325175&orderType=price_desc
In such a country like China, with annual total GDP (9.24 trillion USD as in 2013) and 3-5% of those 9 trillions as corruption money in need of laundering, people would do anything - such as buying pipes without studying too much the history of pipe making or the market of designer pipes.
These Russians and Chinese... countries that are relatively new to pipe smoking and pipe collection, but some of them have the money with their twisted economy and have the 'sanity' to spend these money on pipes. It seems like ... time to do some hunting and re-selling to make some money before this bubble bursts, or some many other yet much bigger bubbles burst.
Right you are. Asking prices mean nothing; complete sales tell you what the item will actually fetch. But there are quite a few completed sales listed above.
It doesn't surprise me that Asia and Russia are the hot pipe markets right now. In new, growing economies, status symbols are always in high demand.
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