Over the years, I have developed a generally good sense of the age of a pipe based on its size, shape and finish, among other details. This Peterson Sherlock Holmes meerschaum, however, surprised me.

When it arrived on the work table, the pipe was looking far from its best. The stem was heavily oxidized with mineral accretions and a few tooth dents at the P-lip button, the rim was completely obscured behind a thick crust of carbon “lava”, and the bottom of the bowl carried a large black splotch of unknown origin – a concentration of colouration in the meer? A slipshod bowl repair?

The shank band was marked on the left flank with “Peterson’s” over an image of Sherlock Holmes over “Stirling Silver”, and “Peterson’s” over a trio of hallmarks – Hibernia for the City of Dublin, Ireland, a .925 stamp indicating the purity of the silver, and a…