First post, been smoking pipes for about 10 years and have a nice collection ranging from boardpipes to mortas, calabashes and meerschaums. A pipe for every mood and situation!
I was at my tobacconist's, and in walked a man with a thick accent, he pulled these two pipes out of a bag, and said he had found them in an old trunk in Montenegró, he knew nothing else about them. I bought them off of him for (hopefully) a steal and we went our merry ways. I've been trying to hunt down any information about them, age, area, etc, and have come up empty. The first is a meerschaum, with a smallish bowl, I think it was broken and repaired at some point at the elbow. There are some basic patterns carved in at the stem. I'm not sure if the wind cap is brass or silver yet, but I did clean enough to see a stamp that is a cross shape with */H/N/S, maybe a proof mark? The cork for the stem is dry and cracked, but the stem is intact. The mouthpiece is intact with no cracks, it appears to be some sort of natural material. Any help would be appreciated. Also, on both of these that I'll show, do I restore? Do I leave as is? Or do I clean just enough to smoke but leave the patina?
The 2nd pipe, same story. The bowl is made out of wood, doesn't have a lot of briar characteristics. Wind cap appears to be brass, everything is in pretty great shape except the bit which has a crack along it. It appears there was a brass collar that was removed at some point. Flexible hose looks like a replacement as well, it's not woven metal. There is a makers mark but it's very very faint. What I've managed to decipher:
Top Line: VIL(R?).JORGEN(G or S)E
Bottom Line: KJOR ***** (can't see it)
Middle: OSTERGAD(L and **)
The brass cap as AR imprinted on the lip.
Any help would be appreciated! Sorry for such a long first post, looking forward to more involvement in this community.
I was at my tobacconist's, and in walked a man with a thick accent, he pulled these two pipes out of a bag, and said he had found them in an old trunk in Montenegró, he knew nothing else about them. I bought them off of him for (hopefully) a steal and we went our merry ways. I've been trying to hunt down any information about them, age, area, etc, and have come up empty. The first is a meerschaum, with a smallish bowl, I think it was broken and repaired at some point at the elbow. There are some basic patterns carved in at the stem. I'm not sure if the wind cap is brass or silver yet, but I did clean enough to see a stamp that is a cross shape with */H/N/S, maybe a proof mark? The cork for the stem is dry and cracked, but the stem is intact. The mouthpiece is intact with no cracks, it appears to be some sort of natural material. Any help would be appreciated. Also, on both of these that I'll show, do I restore? Do I leave as is? Or do I clean just enough to smoke but leave the patina?
The 2nd pipe, same story. The bowl is made out of wood, doesn't have a lot of briar characteristics. Wind cap appears to be brass, everything is in pretty great shape except the bit which has a crack along it. It appears there was a brass collar that was removed at some point. Flexible hose looks like a replacement as well, it's not woven metal. There is a makers mark but it's very very faint. What I've managed to decipher:
Top Line: VIL(R?).JORGEN(G or S)E
Bottom Line: KJOR ***** (can't see it)
Middle: OSTERGAD(L and **)
The brass cap as AR imprinted on the lip.
Any help would be appreciated! Sorry for such a long first post, looking forward to more involvement in this community.
