By Al Jones

This unusual Peterson came via Ebay. It wasn’t listed as a meerschaum pipe, but from the appearance, I thought it was from made from that material. The stem was mildly oxidized. Other than that, it appeared to have been only used lightly. To this point, I’ve not seen a Peterson 999 in this shape and meerschaum finish.

As always, Peterson authority Mark Irwin had some helpful comments about this piece. Mark told me that the pipe was African block meerschaum, made by Manxman on the Isle of Man, for Peterson. Peterson eventually bought out Manxman and moved production to Dublin. The hallmarked Sterling band (italicized, lower case h for 1975) denotes a quality piece, made during the Isle of Mann era. I found this on the Peterson Pipedia page:

The Peterson Manx (Laxey) Isle of Man factory partnership ceased operation about 1981 and the production of all African Meerschaum pipes was moved to Dublin and continued there until 1986.

Here’s the pipe as received.

I put a dab of grease on the stamped P stem logo and soaked it in a mild Oxy-Clean solution. I used the cleaning tutorial by Fred Bass, which is available on this blog entry:

Fred Bass’ Tutorial – Cleaning Estate Meerschaum Pipes

The oxidation on the stem was removed with 800, 1,000 and 2,000 grade wet sandpaper, followed by 8,000 and 12,000 Micromesh sheets. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and Meguiars Plastic Polish. The Sterling band was brightened with a silver polish cream and a cotton cloth.

Following Fred’s instructions, I rubbed on some beeswax and melted it into the meerschaum with a heat gun.

Below is the finished pipe. I’m not a meerschaum pipe fan, so this one is available at the PipesMagazine.com Buy/Sell/Trade section.