Why are some pipes “expensive”?
- Thread starter DonutLuvr
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Tis better for some rustication on a pipe if you can avoid seeing dime sized pits and fill areas
In that case not really. Rustication is too often used to cover pits or undesirable grain much like using a chamber coating to cover internal flaws. Charging more for them than one would a second is ridiculous.
One of many from Bruce Weaver that I commissioned. No need for coveting anything, if I see something I like I buy it.
Actually got to see the blowfish being carved.
When I gave up pipe smoking I sent them to his daughter.
this part of the exchange shows a big key to the mystery. People want different things and the more particular those things are the more it costs to get them (usually).
Many folks can really appreciate hand made items. Carries a lot of weight with some collectors. I know I can really appreciate that, thinking some guy carved this or that with his own two hands. It's different when something is machine made by many different workers, or just hand finished. I prefer a nice blasted piece but a good rustication,done well is pretty amazing also. I use to think a blast was more "natural", then I thought a smooth isn't any more natural than a rusticated piece or a blast. If you want to go " natural" it would be a pretty ugly pipe,ever see what a piece of briar looks like out of the ground? 
They aren't smooth or blasted. I think if anything the burels resemble more a rustication than anything else.
They aren't smooth or blasted. I think if anything the burels resemble more a rustication than anything else.
I think you understand this aspect. Being in the art world for so long. And understand that putting a solid price on workmanship is part of it, while also understanding how fiscally intangible feelings and effects are. When you buy a painting you're buying work and also the feelings, thoughts, and sensations the painting inflames in the viewer.
Pipes are weird because they're a tool and a sculpture and a fashion accessory. A lot of pipe smokers follow the myth of better smokers costing more. If a tool is more expensive it's probably a better tool. But that's the simplest part of professional pipe making.
Basically as a commodity there are many moving parts.
I used to laugh at high prices in pipes until I found a few I can't afford but felt they had something sublime and inexplicable that 1000 dollars didn't seem out of line for.
Oh and as I've said before the handmade isn't just novel but literally allows for more each block being treated as an individual. In factory pipes a nice grain display is a happy happenstance. In a hand made pipe it can be chased after. The block can dictate the end product more so then in a factory. So if certain things matter to the pipe smoker then it's worth the price. The same way that you can get the same result sometimes in a factory system, you will pay a steeper price in the hunting down that perfect pipe. And time is more valuable then money. There isn't a rich bastard that wouldn't buy another ten years if they could no matter the asking price.
Mostly like the Capri or Corallo di Mare carvings. Many rustications look like a novice attacked the wood with a rotary tool.
Name, rarity, and craftsmanship all account for price. Many of the master carvers make as few as 25 pipes a year. Some makers pump out 5 pipes a week. The cost of materials has almost nothing to do with price, or "worth". There are carvers that people wait in line for years to get a pipe from.
A great example would be JT Cooke.
His pipes are EXTREMELY sought after due to his expertise with craggy sandblasts. Every pipe he put out had literally hundreds of people waiting, fists full of money. I bought one in 2005 or so. I paid $300 I believe. I sold it at auction in 2017 for $1100.
I smoked that pipe hundreds of times over the years, and still made $800 profit.
There are a handful of other makers who command that kind of value.
Then you got the dead guys.
Try buying a Bo Nordh or a Sixten Ivarsson pipe today. A very simple looking Billiard made by Sixten Ivarsson can go for $2500 in used condition.
A few years ago a Bo Nordh sold for $30,000 at auction.
And guys like Hans "Former" Nielson, Teddy Knudsen, and Tom Eltang fall into the category of making very few pipes a year. The vast majority or their pipes are sold before they are made.
These are much more than smoking devices, they are works of art, created by world renowned craftsman.
As for the new breed of unknown carvers selling pipes for $1000.....your guess is as good as mine. It has as much to do with hype and marketing as it does demand and artistry in my opinion.
So, name recognition, craftsmanship, and especially rarity is why some pipes sell for as much as they do.
Its Art.
en.protothema.gr
Portrait by Gustav Klimt becomes the second most expensive painting ever sold at an auction — $236.4 million - ProtoThema English
Six eager bidders competed for about 20 minutes over the painting Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer
en.protothema.gr
I'm still waiting for that phone call from Sotheby'sIts Art.
Portrait by Gustav Klimt becomes the second most expensive painting ever sold at an auction — $236.4 million - ProtoThema English
Six eager bidders competed for about 20 minutes over the painting Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer
Just saw this on Facebook, it explains Ferrari's marketing strategy. It's a very good explanation as well for high priced Artisan pipes. Chris M. Walker - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FP8Voi1ba/