I like old Manhattan pipes. They are in the same category as old WDC and CPF pipes. American branded pipes that run the full spectrum of quality.
So anyway, I saw this cased Manhattan on ebay. I could see it was missing a cap. I hate that. You fill the nail holes, sand the rim impression away, stain it, and it still never looks quite right. Considering that I thought the list price was high. Plus I have one just like it that's complete. So I passed. And it was re-listed at a lower price. But still too high, no thank you. And it was re-listed for $15. NOW I'm interested. The pipe is worth that for the case, stem and band. So I bought it. It was really in pretty decent shape. The stem mostly needed a clean and polish. It's a weird molded Bakelite model. I guess they are all molded, but I've only seen mold seams on this specific type. Seems more like a later nylon stem. You say maybe it's a replacement? I'd have thought so too. But the other pipe has an identical stem. So it's original 1915 or so.
The stem was so good I decided to fill the nail holes and sand it above the bead. I stained it mahogany to mask the fills a little. They show, but I don't see any way around it. I can maybe work on them a little more in the future to make them blend better than they do. It turned out okay for the price. Here's the pics:
Ebay photo:
What it's supposed to look like:
The finished pipe:
So anyway, I saw this cased Manhattan on ebay. I could see it was missing a cap. I hate that. You fill the nail holes, sand the rim impression away, stain it, and it still never looks quite right. Considering that I thought the list price was high. Plus I have one just like it that's complete. So I passed. And it was re-listed at a lower price. But still too high, no thank you. And it was re-listed for $15. NOW I'm interested. The pipe is worth that for the case, stem and band. So I bought it. It was really in pretty decent shape. The stem mostly needed a clean and polish. It's a weird molded Bakelite model. I guess they are all molded, but I've only seen mold seams on this specific type. Seems more like a later nylon stem. You say maybe it's a replacement? I'd have thought so too. But the other pipe has an identical stem. So it's original 1915 or so.
The stem was so good I decided to fill the nail holes and sand it above the bead. I stained it mahogany to mask the fills a little. They show, but I don't see any way around it. I can maybe work on them a little more in the future to make them blend better than they do. It turned out okay for the price. Here's the pics:
Ebay photo:
What it's supposed to look like:
The finished pipe:
