Garage/estate Pipe Finds.
- Thread starter Searock Fan
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YaFor what it's worth, here's a tip on buying pipes at an estate or garage sale.
Let's say you spot a group of pipes and after looking them all over you see that one or two are worth having but the others are junk. Don't just try to buy the one you like while passing on the others. If you do show interest in just the one, often that piece will become very valuable in the eyes of the seller and they might decide they don't want to sell it afterall. Your best bet is to give the seller as little info as possible and make an offer on the whole batch. How much you offer depents on how much that good pipe is worth to you. But always remeber that if you give the seller the impression they are really valuable, you might not end up with any.
We have The Buenos Aires Flea Market here with the same concept.
I try to cheat the other guy and pass the savings along to you! Lol.There is a differance between dishonest and smart.
Take a roadtrip out west and visit every antique store near by...I bought 45 estate pipes during last 6 months doing it..I.could have bought more ...I may be selling some of them soon which is so hard for me to do cause I like them all...I did let them refurbish and they are great..They are mostly reasonable priced at antiques out west
Surely I do not get the joke, is that English is not my first language.
But if the object is labeled with the price and you pay that price, you are meeting the seller's expectations. In that case I don't see any dishonesty, unless you find a pipe that is worth a lot of money and is ready to be sold at that high price. This is generally not the case and the pipes found require, to say the least, cleaning, polishing and de-rusting.
On the other hand, when the object is not labeled with the price, it is usually because they want to charge you, as we say here "according to the face" and in that case the dishonesty could be from the seller.
Greetings
Yeah, it’s from Click and Clack the Ratchet Brothers. A popular Broadcast and News Article. Their lawyers where Dewey Cheatum & Howe. (Do we cheat them and how!) and their slogan was, “we cheat the other guy and pass the savings along to you!”
Where, please, "out West"? Very few in my region, and I am about as far West as one can get.
I guess I must be a dishonest crook because I don't go to garage sales and pay retail prices. Duh!!! 
I've been lucky enough to find some nice pipes at the occasional estate sale. An early Vermont era Elliott Nachwalter. A Frank Augsberger. A Preben Holm. And a few large nice Jobey and Nording. I've even purchased a couple of Micoli stummels (stems were missing) Never paid more than $30 for any of them.
it is a top secret
....West from Tennessee through Missouri to Montana and Idaho,Washington state...There are none in UT...
Never bought a pipe at a garage sale. But, I have scored some nice pipes at antique Shops over the years. My two most favorite and prized purchases were pipes made by a local Boise Idaho Carver, Thayne Robertson. He owned and operated a tobacco store in downtown Boise for over 30 years. He was not a prophetic Carver, but the pipes he made were all unique and often commissioned. Here they are-
I have a the classic 3 Stooges "law firm" metal sign that is attached to dark stained wood with that slogan. Always have gotten positive comments on it when displayed. Oddly, the Stooges never had such a sketch.
Maybe I can get my basement and office put back together so I can display it again.
Not an estate sale, but a "vintage/antique" store. Asked if they had any tobacco pipes, and while the answer was no, the owner asked if I actually smoked pipes. Yes, and he gifted me an unopened tin of Gallaher's Rich Dark Honeydew flake tobacco. He wasn't going to be able to sell it since it wasn't a "tobacco" shop, but more a collector's store. I called that day a win.
In the northeast, there seems to be more pipe and tobacciana items at flea markets and garage sales. I’ve picked up a pair of Wades and old tobacco tins at flea markets and passed on many lesser quality pipes. Still waiting for a Dunny to show up. I was picking up a small lathe from a guy on eBay and we started talking about pipes. He had a bunch his dad had and I picked up the lot for $50. Kriswells and a number of other nice pipes and a stand, which I cant remember the names of and which I resold. My wife had the best score at a garage sale years back. She picked up a case filled with pipes for $100. She thought I might be mad when she came home with them, but upon opening the case, much to my surprise, I saw there were Peterson’s and an Upshall. The case itself was handmade and an antique. It is free standing, but looks like someone added holes to hang it on a wall, and it has a place at the top for business cards. Panel doors and brass hinges with what looks like a miniature porcelain door pull as well. It is very dark oak and I will not sell it as it looks very nice in the hutch in which it sits. If one puts in the time in an area which had some old time pipe smokers, they just might make a good score.
Before we left for Iceland on April 13th, we stopped into the antique shop a block or two from the house. Much to my surprise, I was able to score some pipes and tobacco tins. On the top is an American Falcon (3); I have a 2 and a 4, so this will be a nice addition. In the middle is a Dr. Grabow 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics Commemorative; not uncommon, but, still fun to have. Bottom is a Kaywoodie, which Susan described as looking like a wrench. The front of the metal looks cracked, but, it shouldn't affect smoking. I got all three as a lot. Below those are a Velvet tin and a rough Prince Albert tin. The highlight is the Velvet because it still has its paper wrapper insert with tobacco intact.
This isn't a smoking cabinet. It's a night stand. As part of a 19th century French Louis 16 revival set I bought decades ago, I have a stand, clearly made by the same maker as the one pictured above, and identical except the top is rose marble and the door front is a sunburst inlaid with different colored woods.
On another note, I haven't found jack shit worth buying at a garage sale. I suspect that people will have much more luck in the eastern half of the country with tobacciana than in California.