Only Yanik Would Carve Something Like This

[kcghost]

Looks like a dog or possibly a cat. Nice job by Yanik. It'll have on the Yanikophiles drooling!!

 

[brian64]

I'm suprised this thread kept being bumped, and is actually on pg 3.

All you Yanik haters inspired me to change my avatar to my favorite meer LOL.

Actually I'd been meaning to do it for a while, but the unexpected response to this thread gave me the added motivation.

As far as the faces go, my impression is that he does much better on the larger scale carvings...it's the small ones that don't look as good.

But the faces aren't what I particularly like about him...it's more the stuff like this:

 

[Brig]

I'm by no means a Yanik hater, I think he's one of the best carvers still doing this. However, I think that in itself also shows that meer carving is a dying art form, and we'll likely never see someone churning out pipes like the carvers of yesteryear. At least not commercially.

My first non-antique meer was a Yanik that went under the radar for $35 shipped. Smokes very well, no drilling issues at all which I have read he struggles with

 

[brian64]

My first non-antique meer was a Yanik that went under the radar for $35 shipped. Smokes very well, no drilling issues at all which I have read he struggles with

Indeed you do have to beware of drilling issues when considering one of his pipes. Fortunately my avatar pipe is drilled perfectly and smokes great...it was my first Yanik.

Sadly this buffalo has horrendously bad drilling, but I'm still glad I have it only because I love the carving so much. It smokes ok by shoving a small piece of a falcon filter down inside the giant gaping hole where the airway comes in beneath the chamber...but I only smoke it very occasionally.

 

[jonasclark]

Indeed you do have to beware of drilling issues when considering one of his pipes. Fortunately my avatar pipe is drilled perfectly and smokes great...it was my first Yanik.

Sadly this buffalo has horrendously bad drilling, but I'm still glad I have it only because I love the carving so much. It smokes ok by shoving a small piece of a falcon filter down inside the giant gaping hole where the airway comes in beneath the chamber...but I only smoke it very occasionally.

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That pipe is spectacular! I've had to put my big Yanik up for sale, same price I paid (I never smoked it and only handled it lightly) because I need money for other items I want to put in my collections, but I feel bad about it. I'd feel just as bad about selling that bison if I had it.

Mine:

 

[benrapaport]

I knew I had seen an antique piece of this design somewhere. This pipe is featured in Ben Rapaport's book "Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes: Miniature to Majestic Sculpture"

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Honestly, there's a lot of pipes in this book that are similar to a lot of Yanik's, and I suspect that he must own a copy and take lots of inspiration from it.

Surely, you know why Yanik's pipes are similar to those in my book? Yanik uses the images in my book as models to copy. Unfortunately, he fails to give credit to my intellectual property, as he should. Do not think that he has many original ideas.

I knew I had seen an antique piece of this design somewhere. This pipe is featured in Ben Rapaport's book "Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes: Miniature to Majestic Sculpture"

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Honestly, there's a lot of pipes in this book that are similar to a lot of Yanik's, and I suspect that he must own a copy and take lots of inspiration from it.

And why is this so? Yanik does copy the images in my book, but fails to acknowledge the intellectual property of it. There's not much I can do, as the book's author, to force him to identify the source. But so had Bekler and who knows how many others. Ben Rapaport

 

[Brig]

Surely, you know why Yanik's pipes are similar to those in my book? Yanik uses the images in my book as models to copy. Unfortunately, he fails to give credit to my intellectual property, as he should. Do not think that he has many original ideas.

And why is this so? Yanik does copy the images in my book, but fails to acknowledge the intellectual property of it. There's not much I can do, as the book's author, to force him to identify the source. But so had Bekler and who knows how many others. Ben Rapaport

Yes, that's exactly what I was implying...that the designs are recycled from antique pipes and taken from your book.

If I was talented enough to carving, I can think of 100 pieces of historical art I would take inspiration from rather than something that has been done, but that's me.

 

[jonasclark]

Yes, a lot of Yanik's work is based on antique pipes. I think he does plenty of his own designs as well. I haven't seen anyone else do complex, latticeworked floral designs as well as he does. The hatching dragon I have is not based on any antique I know of, and while a skull in a skeletal hand isn't new, the pipe of that figure I bought about 20 years ago is more realistic than 9/10 of the antique ones I've seen (the famous Fischer piece is ten miles better, but it's better than most antique meers period).

 

[Ulfson]

Here's a prime example.

I bought this unsmoked Yanik cigarette holder/pipe on eBay a couple weeks ago from a seller. It's rather large, and I would suspect this was a $400-$600 pipe whenever Mr. Yanik sold it, given the prices he currently asks on eBay.

While Mr. Yanik can certainly carve, he struggles with faces, as it seems do most modern day carvers. I couldn't see the face well in the camera flash of the seller images, but as this size, I figured odds were good the face would have some good detailing. But alas, even the best carvers today seem to lack the skill of the carvers of yesteryear.

Notice the Yank pipe face besides a much smaller carved face on a pipe I received in the mail last week. Given the overall quality of the vintage pipe compared to others in my collection, I believe it to be a middle-tiered pipe, sold to those of middle to upper-middle class in the era. IMO, they're not even close in quality face details

If anyone's wondering, she's holding a flower, not a goblet. Lacking details there, as well.
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Newcomer just reading some old posts on Meerschaum pipes--- you are SO RIGHT in your observation about the rendition of faces in Meerschaum- I cannot begin to count the number of times I have found modern works in Meerschaum to lag painfully behind carving from the Golden Age of Meerschaum, and it is in the depiction of the human face where the lag in artistry is most often painfully apparent.

 

[Ulfson]

Indeed you do have to beware of drilling issues when considering one of his pipes. Fortunately my avatar pipe is drilled perfectly and smokes great...it was my first Yanik.

Sadly this buffalo has horrendously bad drilling, but I'm still glad I have it only because I love the carving so much. It smokes ok by shoving a small piece of a falcon filter down inside the giant gaping hole where the airway comes in beneath the chamber...but I only smoke it very occasionally.

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Agreed. Wonderful carving. A rarity these days.

 

[Brig]

Newcomer just reading some old posts on Meerschaum pipes--- you are SO RIGHT in your observation about the rendition of faces in Meerschaum- I cannot begin to count the number of times I have found modern works in Meerschaum to lag painfully behind carving from the Golden Age of Meerschaum, and it is in the depiction of the human face where the lag in artistry is most often painfully apparent.

Turkey monopolizing meerschaum really killed the art form. Very few master carvers left.

 

[Brig]

As far as the faces go, my impression is that he does much better on the larger scale carvings...it's the
small ones that don't look as good.

Having recently discussed commissioning a pipe with him involving intricate details and faces, I think that not only are you correct, but that he acknowledges this. The price he quoted me was far higher than I had been expecting, but so was the estimated final size. He said he could do it smaller to reduce costs, but that detail would suffer at that scale.

I haven't pulled the trigger on it mostly because I don't think my wife will entertain the notion at the moment, and I have fallen in love with the concept and don't want to lose quality in production. Maybe one day....

 

[Ulfson]

Turkey monopolizing meerschaum really killed the art form. Very few master carvers left.

So true!

 

[Waning Embers]

Turkey monopolizing meerschaum really killed the art form. Very few master carvers left.

Surprised they never reopened the US mine. Apparently Turkish carvers in the states can still get it.

 

[BingBong]

He's much better when carving large-sized busts

I'm in!

 

[Ulfson]

Surprised they never reopened the US mine. Apparently Turkish carvers in the states can still get it.

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Fascinating. Your comment led me to the Pipesmagazine.com 3/7/2019 'Meerschaum, the past and present', high quality Meerschaum, in New Mexico, in 1907?!!! And 'better quality"?! And all you generally see on the topic is Eskisehir, Eskisehir, Eskisehir !

 

[sablebrush52]

This is pretty restrained for Yanik. He’s stuck that moon’s tongue in places you wouldn’t want your daughter or your mother to know about.

 

[Ulfson]

Yes, that's exactly what I was implying...that the designs are recycled from antique pipes and taken from your book.

If I was talented enough to carving, I can think of 100 pieces of historical art I would take inspiration from rather than something that has been done, but that's me.

Surely, you know why Yanik's pipes are similar to those in my book? Yanik uses the images in my book as models to copy. Unfortunately, he fails to give credit to my intellectual property, as he should. Do not think that he has many original ideas.

And why is this so? Yanik does copy the images in my book, but fails to acknowledge the intellectual property of it. There's not much I can do, as the book's author, to force him to identify the source. But so had Bekler and who knows how many others. Ben Rapaport

I knew I had seen an antique piece of this design somewhere. This pipe is featured in Ben Rapaport's book "Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes: Miniature to Majestic Sculpture"

View attachment 319678

Honestly, there's a lot of pipes in this book that are similar to a lot of Yanik's, and I suspect that he must own a copy and take lots of inspiration from it.

 

[Ulfson]

Surely, you know why Yanik's pipes are similar to those in my book? Yanik uses the images in my book as models to copy. Unfortunately, he fails to give credit to my intellectual property, as he should. Do not think that he has many original ideas.

And why is this so? Yanik does copy the images in my book, but fails to acknowledge the intellectual property of it. There's not much I can do, as the book's author, to force him to identify the source. But so had Bekler and who knows how many others. Ben Rapaport

I am sitting here in my kitchen drinking my coffee with, what else, a copy of Ben Rapaport's magisterial "Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes." I would like to have seen a tribute to Mr. Rapaport on Mr. S. Yanik's website. Given that Mr. Yanik's pipe photos on EBAY are often taken in front of a bookshelf of volumes on European Art from the Fin de Siecle, or Golden Age of Meerschaum carving, there can be NO doubt he has Mr. Rapaport's book(s) and has perused/studied it more seriously and in more detail than a novice like me. Mr. Yanik is obviously a student of, and increasingly a Master of the art of Meerschaum carving, and perhaps he and a couple of others are the last we shall see . Given how limited info on these fascinating miniature works of Pipe Art seems to be, given a few cursory internet searches, I for one, was over the moon to discover Mr. Rapaport's volume.

 

[Searock Fan]

He is amazing!