Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes

[Kottan]

Charatan was notoriously inconsistent in their grading. I listened to this exact discussion between Fred Hanna and Rich Esserman yesterday regarding the Achievement grade presently for sale at smokingpipes.com. They felt it was worthy of the grade, by the way. There was the mention of the "three pint Achievement." Humans are inconsistent. Some more than others.

Hello Craig,
$ 1,980.00 is a lot of money for a used pipe with scratches around the bowl. The original price in 1970 was $ 600.00. I think heavy collectors have a special approach to the beauty and worth of their fetish. I'm not free from this spell.

 

[kenbarnes]

CHEERS KEN !

My pleasure!

 

[kenbarnes]

Yeah, the whole Charatan "blizzard of grades" thing was Herman's doing, according to Basil Sullivan, anyway. (What John Loring was to Dunhill, Basil was to Charatan).

The sad bit, if you don't care for elaborate/ostentatious grading schemes, anyway, is that it isn't the makers pushing them on the public, but that buyers demand them. I've known any number of carvers who started out intending to follow the "my name and date and nothing else" nomenclature route, but gave in after a while rather than piss everyone off in addition to losing money.

The same brain thing that makes some people collectors in the first place will not rest until all that can be categorized has been categorized; and those who are concerned with the social status that that owning luxury goods confers like heirarchies as a way to keep score. i.e. "Mine cost more than yours."

My father was in the middle of this and I am sure that it impacted on his health. The main supplier of briar to Charatan was Otto Braun and the quality of plateau briar coming from Greece (and other sawmills in Italy) at times was really questionable. Sometimes the areas where they were digging simply did not yield the finest, most beautiful blocks and I am sure that politics and pressure from other manufacturers onto Otto Braun was in the mix. There was a definite issue around consistency coupled with the fact that Herman Lane was screaming for more high grades and 'phoning my father at all times of the night, at home, demanding more straight grains. Dennis Marshall & Maureen (I have forgotten her surname) jointly graded the straight grains and sales was also a pressure put on my father. Then, after 1973 quite a few of the Plateau shipments that Charatan received were exceptional, sensational - so, from one extreme to the other.
I had similar issues with high grade Upshalls although I think I managed to main better consistency. At first, I used to take it as an insult that the sawmills weren't giving me what I wanted. After I spent some time at the Arta Company in Greece, I soon realized the difficulties that saw mills faced and from then on I did not take it so personally!

 

[donjgiles]

Nice ... $1,250 shipped...

??ENGLISH ESTATE PIPES: BARLINGS - COMPANION SET - PRE-TRANSITION - ?UNSMOKED | eBay

For years John's' display table at the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacco Exposition has displayed by far the richest trove of estate pipes at the event. The CPCC bestowed on Mr. Fabris theBest Briar Collection award in 2008, and in 2009 they presented him with theDirector's Award for...

www.ebay.com

 

[sablebrush52]

Nice ... $1,250 shipped...

??ENGLISH ESTATE PIPES: BARLINGS - COMPANION SET - PRE-TRANSITION - ?UNSMOKED | eBay

For years John's' display table at the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacco Exposition has displayed by far the richest trove of estate pipes at the event. The CPCC bestowed on Mr. Fabris theBest Briar Collection award in 2008, and in 2009 they presented him with theDirector's Award for...

www.ebay.com

The price jumped about $500 in the last couple of minutes with two snipers bidding very high. Not untypical and always rewarding to the seller. Neither of the two high rollers has a history of bid retractions, so both were serious bidders.
This looks like a late 1930's, early 1940's set, based on the "BARLING'S MAKE" stamp. One L and one EL, and neither YOW grade. That's a pretty damned good return.

I have both of these in my motley collection, smoked of course, and not a cased set, and I paid about $260 for the two of them. These small pots are superb smoking machines.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Yes, I watched the auction and it was a good show.
Gary and discussed the set, I asked about the different stamps on the underside of the stems.
It also occured to me ( second picture ) that the stem of the top pipe is actually a little short for the case.
Gary could not acount for it, so we both wondered if the top pipe is original to the case.
Jesse, what is your opinion ? Did you pay $260,00 for each of them ?
A wonderful cased set and the Barling pots are my favorite smokers.
Being standard Barling's possibly a tad overpriced , not ?

 

[guylesss]

Definitely a bullish day for unsmoked British wood. $1540+tax+shipping (with snipers doubling the price in the final seconds).

DUNHILL LONDON A "INNER TUBE" PIPE UNSMOKED | eBay

CONDITION: UNSMOKED. MARKED: DUNHILL LONDON A "INNER TUBE". 1 PIPE OR ENTIRE COLLECTIONS. MAKE SURE TO SUPER SIZE THE PHOTOS FOR A BETTER VIEW.

www.ebay.com

Admittedly, there can't be too many unsmoked 1927 Dunhills out there if that is in fact what it is. But still.

 

[orlandofurioso]

A little piece of briar and some ebonite .
What is this world coming to

 

[orlandofurioso]

And then you accidentally smoke it a little too hot and it cracks ?

 

[sablebrush52]

Yes, I watched the auction and it was a good show.
Gary and discussed the set, I asked about the different stamps on the underside of the stems.
It also occured to me ( second picture ) that the stem of the top pipe is actually a little short for the case.
Gary could not acount for it, so we both wondered if the top pipe is original to the case.
Jesse, what is your opinion ? Did you pay $260,00 for each of them ?
A wonderful cased set and the Barling pots are my favorite smokers.
Being standard Barling's possibly a tad overpriced , not ?

I hadn't noticed before, but it's not just that the top pipe is shorter, it's shape is slightly smaller all the say around. So it's possibly a replacement for what was originally part of the set. That's part of the fun of vintage pipes, mysteries.
I paid $260 for both pipes. I think it broke down to $110 for the L pot and $150 for the EL pot. They were used, though in pretty good condition. Pots don't usually bring in the same prices as, say, a Canadian, because they're not purty enuff.
I also own a cased set of pots from the same era as this one for which I paid about $220. Not exactly these pots, thinner walls, and they were used, with one of them definitely not original to the case. I swapped out the replacement pipe with another that fit the case perfectly.

 

[greeneyes]

Not an eBay auction, but a Florida estate sale. It's a cased pair of Barlings, with two missing from the four-pipe set. I'll be able to have a closer look when it arrives next week.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Thank you Jesse, though the bowl of the top pipe fits nice and snug in the case.
I love em not purty and chubby too, not only my pipes

 

[orlandofurioso]

Congrats Greeneyes, very smart, very purdy .
Look forward to see more pictures once arrived.

 

[sablebrush52]

And then you accidentally smoke it a little too hot and it cracks ?

I suspect that whoever bought this isn't going to apply a match to it. An unsmoked 1927 Dunhill is an exceptional rarity and commands a top collectible price. A smoked 1927 Dunhill isn't a rarity. That first match will be a $600 match.

 

[georged]

I watched that bulldog from day one, and my spidey sense never stopped tingling.

Not at the unsmoked condition, but at the pipe's lines. Especially the stem. There are many things about it that look like a much later period.

Hm.

I can prove absolutely nothing, and am claiming absolutely nothing, but I will say if a Magic Wand of Truth was waved and the needle on the shenanigans meter twitched, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Well now George

Meaning this could possibly be a "counterfeit" pipe ? The patentnr. looks to be correct.
Smaller dot too. Hmm .

The new owner should perform the hot needle test to see if the dot is actually celluloid

 

[orlandofurioso]

If I may be so bold to ask :

what is your opinion regarding the 1950 Dunhill DR R h cased set ?

 

[georged]

If I may be so bold to ask :

what is your opinion regarding the 1950 Dunhill DR R h cased set ?

There are several things about the condition of that set that are not recoverable, which would put me off it personally. Everything looks legit, though, just rough.

 

[orlandofurioso]

I take your meaning .
Curiosity got the better of me and the lady seller posted me some pictures; all very, very legit , though a
little rough indeed. Nothing that imho could not be fixed .

 

[orlandofurioso]

I suspect that whoever bought this isn't going to apply a match to it. An unsmoked 1927 Dunhill is an exceptional rarity and commands a top collectible price. A smoked 1927 Dunhill isn't a rarity. That first match will be a $600 match.

Still I find trouble in purchasing unsmoked high end pipes for collectable reasons only.
Somewhere last year I "won" two unsmoked 1967 Dunhill tanshell billiards on Feebay.
The first "winner " unfortunately did not pay. It worked out in my favour, I purchased them for half of the original
amount, so $175,00 each. Absolutely unsullied, untouched, unpolished. So pristine, as new with jet black stems . No dust, right out of the box.
I cannot find it in my heart to light them and will probably resell .