Antique Meerschaum?

[pask]

Just purchased this Meerschaum pipe on eBay. Got it for a decent price in my opinion. But I don't know much about it. Anyone of you gentlemen have any idea how old this pipe may be? If so I'd love to know what you know!

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281268031719

 

[warren]

Tough to tell from the small jpg but, the stem appears to be Lucite, as opposed to amber. Please post a better shot when you get it. I prefer bents but I like the look, nice proportions.
If the stem is indeed amber you've got a keeper at $20 and a half! If amber the stem alone would be worth much more than what you paid.

 

[pask]

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/WusAAMXQlgtTAR7~/$_57.JPG?rt=nc
Bigger image

 

[warren]

I'm certainly not an expert in amber. I would have a jeweler inspect the stem. It doesn't look like any amber I've seen. Which doesn't mean much. My experiences with amber was in Russia and all of the gems were polished and mounted.
The amber I've usually seen for pipe stems were of the yellowish or orange type. The stem on your pipe is very close, but has a lot more brown than I'm used to. This could attributed to the lighting used for the photo. It's worth an appraisal in my opinion.
I wouldn't begin to estimate the age of the pipe. I'm guessing that it wasn't smoked much, relatively little coloring, and lay, rattling around in a drawer for a while, judging from the myriad of small nicks.
Amber bit or not, antique or not you've got a nice pipe. God willing it will smoke as good as it looks.

 

[pask]

Wonderful! Thanks for the suggestion. I bought it just for the meerschaum, but was intrigued by the amber bit. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

[jerry]

I've had quite a few Meerschaums over the years, and that stem looks like amber to me. And if it is, be careful cleaning it - a genuine amber stem can be fragile. I have cracked one or two by forcing a pipe cleaner through a too-small bore.

 

[shutterbugg]

I have a meer that was my dad's, dates back to the early part of WWII. He quit smoking altogether in the early 1960s, and I laid claim to the pipe a decade later. The amber bit was cracked, so I had it replaced. At that time, maybe '72 or '73, they had already stopped offering amber replacements. I was told at the time it had nothing to do with the fragility of amber, but of its flammability. So if your purchase has an amber stem it's probably 50 years old or older.

 

[pask]

Wow. I guess I got a good buy. My own little piece of history for $37. Thanks for the information guys. It's much appreciated

 

[condorlover1]

Amber is an excellent material for stems on pipes. When you remove the stem is the seating for the stem a wood plug or does it simply screw into the shank? That will tell you how old the pipe is on your first inspection. It looks like it has had a load of use but I am really curious about the colouring of the stem. If it smokes OK then you had yourself a bargain.

 

[pask]

Condor, I think it screws in. Being that I'm Canada shipping tends to take way longer than it needs to from the US so I don't have it yet. But another picture showed what looked like it would screw in. And it was metal.