I'm still trying to find out more about this pipe, but what I do know is that it's a WHC-made Irish bog oak pipe with Chester hallmarks for 1903. It has a silver band and what I believe is an amber stem. In other words, it's a good bit nicer than the usual bog oak tourist pipe. It's hardly been smoked.
What interested me in this pipe at first was that it was sold by O'Farrell's of Dublin, which used to be on O'Connell St. (then called Sackville St.) "Opposite the G.P.O." Anyone who knows his Irish history knows that the General Post Office (GPO) was where the rebels of 1916 set up their headquarters. I was hoping it might be from around the time of the rising, but it's from a good bit earlier.
What's special about this pipe is that it's engraved "To P.J. Conway from Christian Bros. Ireland." The Christian Brothers were a monastic order that were involved with running schools and doing charity work, but they were also closely associated with Irish Nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the ways they promoted Irish nationalism was through sport, including hurling, Gaelic football and the like.
Anyway, the only P.J. Conway that I can find any mention of during this period is the P.J. Conway who was president of the Irish American Athletic Club in NYC which was founded in 1898. And I can't imagine that Christian Brothers Ireland, as such, would give an expensive, engraved pipe to anyone who wasn't in some way noteworthy. I.e., I don't think they'd be giving this kind of gift to some ordinary guy who happened to be named P.J. Conway. Maybe, but it just doesn't seem likely.
I found this nice write-up online about "the" P.J. Conway. http://www.wingedfist.org/P.J._Conway.html I'm almost certain that this pipe once belonged to him.
What interested me in this pipe at first was that it was sold by O'Farrell's of Dublin, which used to be on O'Connell St. (then called Sackville St.) "Opposite the G.P.O." Anyone who knows his Irish history knows that the General Post Office (GPO) was where the rebels of 1916 set up their headquarters. I was hoping it might be from around the time of the rising, but it's from a good bit earlier.
What's special about this pipe is that it's engraved "To P.J. Conway from Christian Bros. Ireland." The Christian Brothers were a monastic order that were involved with running schools and doing charity work, but they were also closely associated with Irish Nationalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the ways they promoted Irish nationalism was through sport, including hurling, Gaelic football and the like.
Anyway, the only P.J. Conway that I can find any mention of during this period is the P.J. Conway who was president of the Irish American Athletic Club in NYC which was founded in 1898. And I can't imagine that Christian Brothers Ireland, as such, would give an expensive, engraved pipe to anyone who wasn't in some way noteworthy. I.e., I don't think they'd be giving this kind of gift to some ordinary guy who happened to be named P.J. Conway. Maybe, but it just doesn't seem likely.
I found this nice write-up online about "the" P.J. Conway. http://www.wingedfist.org/P.J._Conway.html I'm almost certain that this pipe once belonged to him.
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