I am starting to resemble this remark. I stumble into a couple of nice English estates and next thing you know I'm on pipedia reading about the history of Comoy's, Barling, BBB, Charatan etc
Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes
- Thread starter ssjones
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I am starting to resemble this remark. I stumble into a couple of nice English estates and next thing you know I'm on pipedia reading about the history of Comoy's, Barling, BBB, Charatan etc
Welcome to the club
It can be a bit of a rabbit warren
I started with Britwood bulldogs, thinking that that would set boundaries.
Before I knew it, I was up to 40+ 'dogs
But, there are worse things to spend you money on.
I had a lot of fun.
And gained a lot of interesting knowledge along the way
GBD 9438's have dropped in value lately, but this Virgin sold by Paige Simms did well.
This shape 296 also did well. I've never seen a Deluxe in this shape before. Great grain. In fact when it was listed, I assumed the band was a repair but it is factory (as on all Deluxe grade Comoy's)
old vintage GBD bent rhodesian tobacco pipe | eBay
Ah, I wish GBD was still making pipes like this piece represents. But we GBD fans know that. And check out the perfect shaped bent rhodesian, THE iconic shape that GBD made famous. And check out the 'old production' rounded end on the tenon!
www.ebay.com
This shape 296 also did well. I've never seen a Deluxe in this shape before. Great grain. In fact when it was listed, I assumed the band was a repair but it is factory (as on all Deluxe grade Comoy's)
COMOY'S DELUXE, 3 PIECE "C"MADE IN ENGLAND. 296. ESTATE PIPE. 1950'S. | eBay
I t has been carefully refurbished and sanitized. Pipes are handled with care and kept clean so that you may have a pipe that is ready to smoke/collect. Weight is 1.2 ounces.
www.ebay.com
While I agree with you 100%, I do think there's a little more to it than that. Several factors have contributed to the decline of brit wood collecting. There are fewer brit pipes worth collecting on the market. Given that the heyday of production ended at the very latest in early 1960's and for some manufacturers much earlier than that. We are only moving further away the point of availability. Many of the pipes that were worth collecting were scooped up by the early collectors and have remained in those collections never re-entering the market. The price of collection worthy brit pipes has also skyrocketed leaving many would be collectors priced out of the market. The "scholarly" discussion about brit wood also has tendency to frighten off entry level collectors as does the elitism that is perceived to be associated with it. Most entry level collectors aren't willing to take out a second mortgage on their house just get started in the hobby so they go after pipes that are now as attainable as the collectable Brit pipes once were and the cycle starts again. What's collectable in any hobby is always driven by what beginner collectors can afford to start their collections with, as they age gain more purchasing power they will drive the price of those up as the supply decreases and the next generation will move on to what's affordable.
As supply decreases and prices rise, entry level collectors will move on to greener pastures.
I in no way intend this to sound accusatory or whiny, I'm just simply pointing out the obvious. Personally I have a healthy collection of brit wood and love collecting it, but I do get tired of the bidding wars and frenzy.
What a few words can do; seems to me I ( once more ) triggered something
Not at all, simply an observation of the state of any hobby/collecting of which my wife says I have to many...What a few words can do; seems to me I ( once more ) triggered something
Any wife would I suppose; why are they always so sensible ?
And I'm happy it's herOne of us has to be...
She saved me from so many missteps .
The scholarly discussion is why I visit this thread - 90% of the pipes in my collection are Britwood, and the most knowledgeable collectors participate here, if they participate anywhere. The elitism is outweighed by their sharing their knowledge. My guess is that entry-level collectors are lurking, taking in all the great information, and will eventually venture in very carefully.
Friendly exchanges and making new collecting friends is another reason, but if all the elites can share is their knowledge, that's fine with me.
Yep, agree wholeheartedly. Wasn't implying there was any elitism specific to this forum, it's more a perception of entry level collectors to the hobby as a whole. Diving into classic britwood can have an overwhelming amount of information associated with it and it can seem like an unscalable mountain to the uninitiated. The old guard can sometimes seem like the gatekeepers of the mythical land of Brit-Wood.
Most of us prefer middle aged guard, although I admit we only qualify as middle aged under the assumption we live a few decades past the super centenarian point. In the jargon of today we identify as young. That’s my truth and nobody can take it away from me.
Collectibles go up and down as interests or the economy change. Historically, collectibles are one of the softest “investments” around.
As a non pipe related example, in the 1990’s there was a mad rage for Arts & Crafts furnishings and prices spiraled into the stratosphere, even on third tier stuff. Today you would get nickels on the dollar for any but the most “A” list examples.
Britwood has likewise had its ups and downs. In 2007 eBay listing for pipes jumped from about 4,000 on a given day to 30,000 in a matter of weeks. Collectors were mass dumping their toys and I picked up some real bargains. A few years later Britwood went up again and a few years after that, took another dump. The recent rise in prices is partially due the rise in the Asian market for Britwood. When that deflates, as it will, as all collectible markets do, prices will drop.
Personally, I’ve always done my collecting on a very limited budget and bought at a fraction of going market prices by being patient and focused. It can be, but doesn’t have to be, expensive.
Collecting pipes is not an investment. It’s an expense.
And, like 90% of “collectibles”, will end up as landfill.
Absolutely, current market values also play huge role in what's hot and what's not.
It entertains me to see what you, um, regular people consider expensive.
I have my senior butler's under butler's second footman tasked with carrying a few million around in a bag for odd expenses, but otherwise never degrade myself by dealing with money. Or even thinking about it.
Truer words were never spoken. In the vast majority of hobbies in the vast majority of cases the money is made not by collectors who buy or sell but by intermediaries.
I thought you had your cats handle the money?
My pipe-collecting 'expense' began as adding inventory to my collectibles business (which had been pre-wwii baseball and billiards for 20 years), but I did what my Father warned me not to do when I first quit my corporate job and began my business: "Don't get enamoured with your inventory." (Some words you just never forget).
I have always kept good spreadsheets of individual inventory items, so I'm hoping my children will figure out how to dispose of all this stuff at a reasonable return, as opposed to giving up in exasperation and tossing it all in the trash. But I firmly believe that since I'll be dead, I won't care, and so if they also don't care, who cares?
Just in case anyone is interested, here's a follow-up to the three Peterson London HM pipes I picked up last week. The stummels weren't actually a big effort, but the stems were horrible. This was one of the stranger clean-ups I've done, as the stems had practically zero oxidation - no soaking involved. But they were filled (one literally) with the residue of decades of Lakeland smoking, and the bits were chewed badly - the Dublin on the left was practically flat. They also had dips in the stems about 1/3 of the way from the bit (on both sides), that required building up.
An odd thing was that after scrubbing and application of oil, the pot went dark, but the billiard went light, and the Dublin did nothing. I am currently re-doing the pot, trying to get it closer to it's earlier 'natural' look.
An odd thing was that after scrubbing and application of oil, the pot went dark, but the billiard went light, and the Dublin did nothing. I am currently re-doing the pot, trying to get it closer to it's earlier 'natural' look.
This is deceptively simple but as runscott suggests actually profound advice. Falling in love with your inventory is a rookie mistake and the hallmark of an enthusiast rather than someone looking to make money. Certain kinds of businesses, generally in the collectibles arena, are often infested with just this mindset (used bookstores are a good example). Someone who genuinely wants and expects to turn a buck in any field understands the operative word is turn. Pros understand that money comes from inventory turns; stagnant working capital enhances risk and represents profit foregone.