Does the value of a pipe diminish if the stem is a replacement? I've run across pipes for sale that give that impression. In my book collecting days I ran across this quite regularly, e.g., I was collecting Ian Fleming first edition (English) of the James Bond series. The first book is almost always the most costly in a collection. Ian Fleming's first was Casino Royale. Now in general if you found a nice copy with an almost pristine dust cover, it would go for about $10,000. Same copy without a dust cover, it dropped to $1,000. I always thought that was a bit silly since it is the book, not the dust cover that's important (although the dust cover of the English editions has really great art appeal). So, back to pipes. If you have a major collectible pipe like a Dunhill, Charatan, Barling, etc. and it has the original stem in good shape and sells for $300, what would it be if the only thing different was the stem was a replacement (and here I mean a well done replacement by someone who knows what they are doing and duplicates the white dot on the stem)? I suppose as a sub-set with that is the same pipe with original stem which needs replacement, say broken at the lip, as opposed to a replacement stem. I realize that with some pipes, say a Comoy, the three stage "C" on the stem helps date the pipe, where that might not be as important with another brand. I'm asking this because as I am venturing into the Estate market and especially in auctions, I want some kind of guidance in judging the value of the pipe. Thanks for your wisdom.
