This all may be common knowledge, but here it is anyway.
I've been smoking a pipe nearly a year now and in that time I've come to love the "chase" involved with the elusive objects of sought-after tobacciana, although it can be wholly frustrating, it can also be incredibly rewarding.
The first thing I learned is that I'd better get with the program and use a sniper service if I ever wanted to win anything. I had lost more than several items that I badly wanted in the final seconds of the auction, even after I thought I was the sure-bet winner, a snipe comes in and swoops away my desired object! So, I went ahead and started up with the sniper action myself, even though ethically speaking I'm against the practice.
A tool I find pretty helpful is this place:
C o l l e c t o r s W e e k l y
...where you can sometimes catch some things you were unaware of or just keep tabs on current market demand or whatever.
One thing I've found highly effective is looking globally, afterall, that's the beauty of the world.wide.web ain't it? The German eBay.de is a goldmine because Germany has a large population of pipesmokers, most of which prefer the 9mm filtered pipes and the unfiltered pipes generally go for less from a lack of huge demand. Also, prices are usually lower the American auctions, of course, the high-grades go big but even they too go for the cheap sometimes. Most sellers over there accept PayPal, the rest are usually bank-transfer method only and if a seller doesn't list as shipping available to the States, you gotta write a question asking if they permit foreign bidders and if so, how much for shipping to USA? I use google translate and write a simple straightforward question in German & this method has allowed me to get some stuff I'd never find elsewhere!
Case in point is the lucky day I won a Stanwell 63M which was a special Tom Eltang version produced back in the 80's sometime when he worked for them, Stanwell sent him out on tours of German pipe-shops and he'd choose some prime unfinished pipes which he'd then finish in whatever stain the customer requested, all right then & there while you wait! Those pipes have a special TE stamp & they also came with a certificate. The 63M I won is the crown jewel of my collection, simply because of its rarity, but it's also a mighty fine chunka wood witha beautiful stain. At this point I have 17 Stanwell 63M's, which makes me question my sanity! :|
Here's an Eltang Stanny that's up for grabs right now:
-die Pfeife ist wohl während einer Präsentation von Tom Eltang gefinished worden-
I also look at the eBay.co.uk, but the damn Royal Mail is just too much!!!
I got really really lucky at eBay.fr and scored a killer Castello:
BELLE PIPE CARLO SCOTTI old antiquar kkkk trait blanc sur tuyau !
Because of course, we all want to find a good deal, this pipe-smoking hobby can get expensive quite quickly!
It's only natural that since you may spend a good bit of time looking for what you want, keep in mind that if you run across something that you don't want but know other people would want it and pay a good price, then it's in your best interest to attempt getting it at a cheap price if possible then reselling it to further fund the stuff you want!
For instance, here's an example of a poorly listed item which may go under the radar, if it was still sealed I'd surely go for it bigtime if it went down to the wire at such a low price, but even yet, if it can be had for $15 or something, I'm sure someone might buy it given the high demand of this stuff...
...tobaco tin...
Another venue you could look is here:
....Etsy....
Another good source is the supergood dude William Lundsgaard,
this news story is pretty damn cool to watch:
http://www.tv2fyn.dk/article/249008?autoplay=1&video_id=28689
..
...find him over at (((((http://www.estatebriarpipes.dk)))))
he's helped me get some rare Stanwell pipes & he has new unsmoked pipes as well.
Also, this Danish auction site is fun to look at:
. . . .dba. . . .
Anybody else got any tips, tricks or techniques they'd care to share?
I've been smoking a pipe nearly a year now and in that time I've come to love the "chase" involved with the elusive objects of sought-after tobacciana, although it can be wholly frustrating, it can also be incredibly rewarding.
The first thing I learned is that I'd better get with the program and use a sniper service if I ever wanted to win anything. I had lost more than several items that I badly wanted in the final seconds of the auction, even after I thought I was the sure-bet winner, a snipe comes in and swoops away my desired object! So, I went ahead and started up with the sniper action myself, even though ethically speaking I'm against the practice.
A tool I find pretty helpful is this place:
C o l l e c t o r s W e e k l y
...where you can sometimes catch some things you were unaware of or just keep tabs on current market demand or whatever.
One thing I've found highly effective is looking globally, afterall, that's the beauty of the world.wide.web ain't it? The German eBay.de is a goldmine because Germany has a large population of pipesmokers, most of which prefer the 9mm filtered pipes and the unfiltered pipes generally go for less from a lack of huge demand. Also, prices are usually lower the American auctions, of course, the high-grades go big but even they too go for the cheap sometimes. Most sellers over there accept PayPal, the rest are usually bank-transfer method only and if a seller doesn't list as shipping available to the States, you gotta write a question asking if they permit foreign bidders and if so, how much for shipping to USA? I use google translate and write a simple straightforward question in German & this method has allowed me to get some stuff I'd never find elsewhere!
Case in point is the lucky day I won a Stanwell 63M which was a special Tom Eltang version produced back in the 80's sometime when he worked for them, Stanwell sent him out on tours of German pipe-shops and he'd choose some prime unfinished pipes which he'd then finish in whatever stain the customer requested, all right then & there while you wait! Those pipes have a special TE stamp & they also came with a certificate. The 63M I won is the crown jewel of my collection, simply because of its rarity, but it's also a mighty fine chunka wood witha beautiful stain. At this point I have 17 Stanwell 63M's, which makes me question my sanity! :|
Here's an Eltang Stanny that's up for grabs right now:
-die Pfeife ist wohl während einer Präsentation von Tom Eltang gefinished worden-
I also look at the eBay.co.uk, but the damn Royal Mail is just too much!!!
I got really really lucky at eBay.fr and scored a killer Castello:
BELLE PIPE CARLO SCOTTI old antiquar kkkk trait blanc sur tuyau !
Because of course, we all want to find a good deal, this pipe-smoking hobby can get expensive quite quickly!
It's only natural that since you may spend a good bit of time looking for what you want, keep in mind that if you run across something that you don't want but know other people would want it and pay a good price, then it's in your best interest to attempt getting it at a cheap price if possible then reselling it to further fund the stuff you want!
For instance, here's an example of a poorly listed item which may go under the radar, if it was still sealed I'd surely go for it bigtime if it went down to the wire at such a low price, but even yet, if it can be had for $15 or something, I'm sure someone might buy it given the high demand of this stuff...
...tobaco tin...
Another venue you could look is here:
....Etsy....
Another good source is the supergood dude William Lundsgaard,
this news story is pretty damn cool to watch:
http://www.tv2fyn.dk/article/249008?autoplay=1&video_id=28689
..
...find him over at (((((http://www.estatebriarpipes.dk)))))
he's helped me get some rare Stanwell pipes & he has new unsmoked pipes as well.
Also, this Danish auction site is fun to look at:
. . . .dba. . . .
Anybody else got any tips, tricks or techniques they'd care to share?
