Tag Archives: Repairing worm damage on horn stems

Repairing A Worm Hole Ridden Horn Stem And Refurbishing A c.1908 T.C.G Bent Billiard

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This pipe had caught my eye for a long time. However, the extensive damage to the horn stem was a big challenge and was always relegated to ‘will- deal- with- later’ category of pipes. This time around, I decided to pick up the gauntlet and got the pipe to my work table.

The pipe currently on my table is as elegant and understated as the British and as compact as any English pipes of yore. The briar stummel has mixed grains and is sans any fills. The right side of the shank is stamped as “T.C.G” in an oval. There is no COM stamp. The only pointer to this pipe being English is the stamping on the Sterling Silver ferrule at the shank end. It is stamped “T.C.G” without frame over three sterling silver hallmarks. From left to right the first cartouche is with a LION PASSANT certifying silver quality followed by a cartouche with symbol for Chester Assay Office and the last cartouche contains the date code letter “H”. This was an English brand that I had neither seen before nor ever heard of. My first instinct to search for any new-to-me pipe brand is to visit rebornpipes and very rarely have I returned empty handed. This was one such rare instance where I came up empty handed. Pipedia.org and pipephil.eu, other popular sites that I visit for pipe related information, too did not have any mention of this pipe manufacturer.

The only clue to unravel the mystery of this pipe was in the stampings seen in the hallmarked silver band. I visited www.silvercollection.it and upon searching through the index, I came across a maker’s mark that was as seen on the pipe in my hands. The maker’s mark was described as Thomas Claud GOODING Edward Ryan GOODING – London. Here is the link and screen shot of the details and relevant details are highlighted in red.

http://www.silvercollection.it/DICTIONARYTOBACCONISTT.htmlThe next step was to date this pipe with the help of the hallmarks as seen on the silver band at the shank end. The Chester City mark was easy to identify. The letter “H” perfectly matched up with the letter that identified it as being assayed by the Chester Assay office in 1908. Given below is the link that will take the readers to the relevant section of dating and the picture that I have taken with the date code letter.

http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilverhallmarksCHE.html

I further Google searched for Thomas Claud Gooding and other than an address for the said tobacconist at Farringdon Street, London, I could not glean much information.

It is my informed guess that TC Gooding got pipes made from other manufacturers like Barling’s, Comoy’s etc and got them stamped from manufacturers with their own registered name, T.C.G and sold these pipes from their shops. This was a very common practice in those days.

To summarize, the pipe that I am working on was from a tobacconist shop run by T C Gooding at Farringdon Street that was made in c1908 by some of the more established pipe manufacturers in London and sold under their own name T.C.G.

Initial Visual Inspection
This pipe is a beautiful smaller sized bent billiards, a classic English shape. The stummel has beautiful mixed grains all around without a single fill. The rim top surface is uneven with dents and dings to the inner rim edge. There is a very thin and even layer of cake (which was proved otherwise once I reamed the chamber) in the chamber. The stummel surface is dull and dirty. The bone tenon is threaded and locks in to place with a perfectly aligned shank and horn stem. It is the horn stem that has the most damage. Worm holes at the upper surface at the button end exposing the air way and at the shank end lower surface the threaded bone tenon remains exposed. The following pictures present a general idea of the condition of this pipe. Dimensions Of The Pipe
(a) Overall length of the pipe: –          4.5 inches.

(b) Bowl height: –                               1.5 inches.

(c) Inner diameter of chamber: –         0.7 inches.

(d) Outer diameter of chamber: –        1.1 inches.

Detailed Visual Inspection
The chamber has a thin layer of even cake and appears to have been lightly reamed before being stowed away. The condition of the chamber walls will be ascertained once the cake is completely taken down to the bare briar. The inner rim edge is lightly charred on the right side in the 4 ‘O’ clock direction (encircled in green) while the left inner edge is uneven (indicated with yellow arrows). The outer rim edge shows damage to the left and front (encircled in red) due to knocking the edge against a hard surface. The rim top is sans any lava overflow but is peppered with scratches, dents and dings. The stummel surface is covered in a layer of dust and grime giving the surface a dull and lackluster appearance. From underneath this grime, a mix of bird’s eye swirls and cross grains can be seen that waits to be brought to the fore. There are a number of scratches, dents and dings over the stummel surface but predominantly over the foot of the bowl (encircled in pastel blue). The mortise is clean with small traces of remnants of old oils and tars.The stem is where maximum damage can be seen. The bone stem is riddled with worm holes in the bite zone and towards the tenon end. The following pictures will give the readers a clear idea of the extent of damage to the stem and what I would be dealing with during its repairs. At the rounded slot end, the damage is deep enough to expose the air way (encircled in yellow) but thankfully; the air way is undamaged and intact. At the tenon end, the worm hole is deep and exposes the threaded bone tenon (encircled in green). The round slot and the bone tenon opening shows residues of dried oils and tars. The silver lining to all this damage is that the button edge surface and the tenon end flat base surface is still intact and will serve as a guide while I build up the damaged surface. The Process
I started the repairs with the stem first as it would be the most tedious work and take the longest time. I cleaned the internals of the stem with thin shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap. This helps reduce the number of pipe cleaners that I would otherwise use for the cleaning of the airway.I ran a couple of bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol to thoroughly clean the airway. I followed it by cleaning the stem surface with cotton swabs wetted with alcohol in preparation for rebuilding the damaged horn surface with clear CA superglue.With the internal and external surface of the stem cleaned up, I moved ahead with reconstruction of the worm hole ridden bite zone and the tenon end of the stem with high viscosity clear CA superglue. I started the repair work at the tenon end. To hasten the process of curing, I sprayed the fill with accelerator. I followed the layering technique to rebuild the damaged surface, that is, first drop a blob of superglue over the surface to be rebuilt and spray the accelerator. Once the glue has hardened, drop superglue over the same area and spray the accelerator to harden the glue. I continued with this method at both the ends of the stem till I had completely covered the area to be rebuilt and then some more. The purpose of excessive build up of the damaged stem surface was that it would be sanded down to perfect or near perfect match with the rest of the stem surface. Following pictures will give the readers a general idea of the process explained above. Once the tenon end of the stem was filled with superglue and set using the accelerator, I followed the same procedure to rebuild the slot end of the stem. Thereafter, I set the stem aside for the fills to cure overnight. While the stem was set aside for the fills to cure, I reamed the chamber with size 1 and 2 heads of the PipNet pipe reamer. I removed the carbon from the areas where the reamer head could not reach with my fabricated knife. To completely remove the residual carbon from the walls of the chamber and even out the walls, I sand the chamber walls with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper followed by cleaning the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol. The chamber walls are in pristine condition. The quantity of carbon that was removed did surprise me as I had anticipated a far less build up of cake in the chamber. I also cleaned the mortise with pipe cleaners and alcohol. Continuing with internal cleaning of the bowl, I decided to subject the chamber and mortise to cotton and alcohol bath. I packed the chamber with cotton balls and drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner, inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole into the chamber. I tightly packed cotton balls in to the remaining portion of the mortise. Thereafter, I soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise. I removed the cotton balls and the filth can be gauged by the appearance and coloration of the cotton balls and the pipe cleaner. I ran pipe cleaners through the mortise and draught hole to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk that was lodged in the draught hole and mortise. The chamber and mortise now smelled clean, fresh and looked it too. I set the stummel to dry out naturally.With the internal cleaning done, it was time for the external cleaning of the stummel surface. I used a hard bristled tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap, to scrub the stummel and rim top. I washed the stummel under running warm water with anti oil dish washing detergent till the stummel surface was clean and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I simultaneously cleaned the shank internals with the detergent and hard bristled shank brush and set the stummel aside to dry out naturally.Next, I addressed the various stummel repairs that I have mentioned above. First issue that I addressed was that of the rim top surface dents/ dings, charred inner rim edge and chipped outer rim edge. To address the rim top damage, I topped the rim surface on 220 grit sandpaper till the surface was nice and even. I hate losing any briar and prefer to restrict topping to the barest minimum that is required. The damage to the outer rim edge, though greatly eliminated, can still be seen to the left side. This would be taken care of by creating a slight bevel to the outer edge. The charring to the inner rim edge is still visible (encircled in green). These issues could be completely addressed by the process of topping but the extent of topping that would be required to do so would alter the bowl height and also the entire stummel profile.With a folded piece of worn out 180 grit sand paper pinched between my thumb and forefinger, I carefully created a bevel over the inner and outer rim edge and addressed the issue of charred inner rim edge. The rim edges appear much better at this stage and should further improve the aesthetics of the stummel when the bevel and stummel is polished using the micromesh pads. While I was working on the stummel, the stem fills had cured completely and as I was keen to shape the stem fills, I kept the stummel aside and worked on the stem repairs. I used a flat needle file to roughly match the fills with the rest of the stem surface. I further evened out the fills by sanding the stem surface with a folded piece of 150 grit sandpaper. All this filing and sanding had exposed a few air pockets (indicated with green arrows) and a portion of the upper button edge (encircled in indigo) that would need to be further rebuilt.Since I had rebuilt the stem face at the tenon end, it was imperative for me to check the alignment of the stem against the shank face when seated. My expected fears came true and how! The stem was grossly overturned to the right.The general rule of thumb is that if the overturn is to the right, one needs to sand the left side so that the threads could complete the turn and achieve a perfect alignment. However, this need to be done extremely carefully as any excess sanding of the left side could result in a left overturn. Using needle files and a 220 grit sandpaper, I sand the excess fill from the left side, checking very frequently for the alignment. A few hours and numerous checks later, I achieved a perfect alignment of the stem and shank face. My mantra of “less is more” was always playing at the back of my mind as I worked on the stem face. Now I could move ahead with addressing the air pockets and rebuild of the button edge over the upper stem surface. I filled the air pockets and rebuilt the button edge over the upper surface with CA superglue and once the glue had cured, with a needle file and sandpaper, I reshaped and evened out the fills to match the rest of the stem surface. Next, I decided to address the dents and dings on the stummel surface, notably at the foot and lower sides of the bowl. Using a marker pen, I marked all the major areas with dents and dings as I had decided to leave the minor ones as they were. I heated my fabricated knife over the flame of a candle, placed a wet Turkish hand towel over the marked areas and steamed out the dents by placing the heated knife over the towel. The steam generated by placing a hot knife on the wet towel helps the briar to expand within these dents and dings, making for a smooth and even surface. The stummel appears much better and smooth at this juncture.To further even out the remaining minor dings, I lightly sand the entire stummel with a folded piece of worn out 180 grit sand paper. I followed it by wet sanding the stummel with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads, wiping frequently with a moist cloth to check the progress. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” deep into the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful grain patterns displayed in their complete splendor. I further buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. Now I needed to work on the stem again. I had completed the refilling/ rough reshaping of the damaged stem and now proceed to fine tune the reshaped button edge, rebuilt surfaces and polishing of the stem. I sand the stem with 220, 320, 600, 800 and 1000 grit sandpapers. The coarser grade sandpapers help in achieving exactness of shape and removing excess repair material to match rest of the surface while 600, 800 and 1000 grit sandpapers help in eliminating the sanding marks left behind by the coarse grit papers and imparting a shine to the stem surface. I rubbed a small quantity of EVO in to the bone to hydrate it.To bring a deep shine to the horn stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with moist cloth after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil to rejuvenate the bone stem. I am pretty happy with the way the stem repairs have shaped up and also the button has a nice delicate shape. The finished stem is shown below. I cleaned the sterling silver ferrule at the shank end with “Pitambari”, a powder that is available all across India that is used to clean and shine brass and silver ware. Even Abha uses it to polish her silver and gold jewelry and cutlery. This compound is a very fine powder and is least abrasive with fantastic results. The band is now a nice shining piece of sterling silver and will provide a nice contrast between the shining horn stem and the dark brown stummel.To complete the restoration, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and polished the stummel and stem with Blue Diamond compound. This compound helps to remove the minor scratch marks that remain from the sanding. I mounted another cotton buffing wheel that I have earmarked for carnauba wax and applied several coats of the wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is ready to join my collection. I only wish it could share with me its life story of the past years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it or maybe an English blend or maybe just keep admiring it!! I wish to thank all the esteemed readers for reading through this write up and thereby being a companion in my journey.

An Anton Partsch Crafted Austrian Glazed Clay Long Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe has been here for quite a while and it is one that I have repeatedly looked at and passed over. I am guessing that it is an old timer from possibly the early 19th century. It has a red clay bowl that is unsmoked and the outside has been fired with a glaze that looks very good. It has gold paint on all eight of the angles of the octagonal bowl. The base of the bowl is a clam shell that holds the upright chimney of the bowl. There is a nickel rim cap and hinged wind cap on the bowl. There is a nickel band on the shank end with a ring for a piece of string that originally went from there to the top of the horn stem. The pipe has two embossed stamps on the left side of the bowl. The one on the bowl is an eagle with outstretched wings and the one on the base reads Partsch. Both have been embossed with gold. The shank has a corked end on the long cherry wood barked branch to keep it in the bowl end. The top of the cherry wood is capped with a polished horn ferrule and is threaded to receive a bent horn stem. There was some worm damage to the stem. The amazing thing about the pipe is that it has never been smoked. The pipe is quite large with an overall length from the front of the scallop to the tip of the stem of 12 inches. The parts of the pipe are even longer when apart – the cherry wood shank is 9 inches long, the bowl is 2 inches long and the stem is 2 inches long. The bowl is 3 inches tall to the rim top with the wind cap adding an extra ¼ of an inch.

I took some photos of the parts of the pipe to give a better picture of it. The first one below shows the wind cap. You can see that the diameter is quite wide. The cap has some dents and scratches that I will probably leave as is rather than risk damaging it. The second and third photos show the horn ferrule and stem. The worm damage is on the right side of the stem at the button end. The other end is threaded and there is an extra ring where the cord and tassels were attached.The next photos show the stamping on the inside of the wind cap and the side of the bowl and base. The inside of the cap reads ECHT NICKEL which translates Genuine Nickel. On the right base side it reads PARTSCH in a gold rectangle. On the side of the bowl is an gold oval with an Eagle with extended wings.I took the cherry wood shank off the glazed clay base and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the proportions and size. The cork is in such good condition that I am almost certain that it has been replaced.That is the pipe as it stands before I did anything to it. Remember it was unsmoked so it would not be an intrusive or intensive restoration. Rather it would be a polishing and shining up an already beautiful pipe without doing any damage to the antiquity of the pipe. But before I started on that process I wanted to learn more about the brand. What, where and who made this red fired clay pipe. It was time to do some research and dig out what I could find out about the brand.

I turned to my usual sources to dig out any information that I could find and there was nothing on either Pipephil’s site or Pipedia. Both came up empty. I expanded the search to a general Google search for the Partsch label to see if I could find anything listed. That was a much more fruitful search. The first site that came up was picclick.co.uk and it had some information on the brand. I quote from the site below. https://picclick.co.uk/Partsch-red-tobacco-pipe-with-original-stem-Smoking-172799026344.html

Partsch red tobacco pipe with original stem. Partsch red tobacco pipe with original stem. A fine antique Partsch German long clay pipe. This beautiful long pipe has a red brown bowl with a nickel cap. The cap is stamped underneath ‘echt nickel’. The bowl is marked Partsch and has also an impressed Austrian eagle. This also appears to have its original cherry wood stem and original mouthpiece. Dimensions: 28.5cms long. Height of the bowl from cover to base 8.5cms. Cross section of the bowl 2.5cms x 2.5cms and bowl aperture is 2.1cms.Weight: 85gms Condition: Rare to get a pipe with all original parts.

The description of the pipe associates the ‘Echt Nickel’ stamp with German and identifies the pipe as a German made long clay pipe. I was not sure of that so the hunt continued.

The next mention on the Google hunt was to a pin on Pinterest. These often are unproductive so I was not overly hopeful regarding information, but I was wrong. I quote from the description on the pin below (https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/25051341664836403/).

This is a fine antique, long handle, smokers pipe that has been well used and well loved. It was made in Austria by Anton Partsch and bears the stamp “PARTSCH” as well as the “Austrian Eagle Crest” on its bowl. The bowl has a clamshell relief pattern at its base and is in a terra-cotta red glazed clay. The hinged metal wind cap has two slots and a turned down ball clasp for closure. There is a cord loop on the metal band around the shank but no cord. I believe the reddish bark coloured wood is cherry…

From that information I learned that I was dealing with a pipe made by Anton Partsch and that the stamps on the side were indeed what I thought they were. What was really helpful was the author identified the Eagle with outstretched wings as the “Austrian Eagle Crest”.

The next link provided more information. It was a pipe that was for sale/sold on Worthpoint and the description added new information to my growing understanding of the brand. (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/partsch-schemnitz-pipe-bowl-antique-1855443319) I quote below.

The vast majority were finished in subdued solid colors of carmine, terracotta, brown, and black, the last two being the most common. and occasionally found in mottled, marbled, or dappled green and blue. These early, paneled bowls were mass-produced in the town of Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, Selmecbánya (Hungarian), Schemnitz (German), or Chemnitz (English), once the largest and most famous mining center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These pipe bowls are often identified in literature as hard stone, or stoneware, because of their highly polished and transparent-glazed surface finish, but they were not of a hard stone composition; they were fired, containing a mixture of white clay for strength and red clay for sheen.

This was the most detail of the area that the bowl came from in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and that they were made of a mixture of white clay from strength and red clay for sheen. They had a glazed surface that gave them the look of stone but were not made of that. Fascinating how the picture is growing.

The next piece of the puzzle came from a discussion on Pipesmagazine.com forums. I quote some of the pertinent parts of the discussion that added to my understanding. The initial poster refers to an article on Facebook that is no longer available. You can click on the link and read the discussion in its entirety if you so choose (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/antique-schemnitz-austro-hungarian-clay-pipe-rarity-age.36245/).

…The article says they’re most common in black and brown, less so in terra-cotta and red, and “occasionally” in blue or green. I found some closed auctions on eBay and posts elsewhere showing terra-cotta, mottled brown, and black ones. They usually seem to have a scalloped metal sleeve on the bowl with a hinged wind-cap, and some have a metal band around the end of the shank, presumably to prevent cracks.

…The bowl is glazed in cream color with softly-dappled green swirl patterns, the cream becoming a sort of buttercream yellow behind the green areas. The shell bottom and shank are black, with a tiny hint of gold on the scallops. The wind-cap has eight slots around the edge and a nice curled clasp that snaps down; I’ve seen photos of very plain bands on the bowl, solid with a scalloped lower edge, and some very ornate pierced ones, and this is somewhere in the middle, plain with a fancy, pierced border. The inside of the cap has “ECHT NICKEL” (genuine nickel) stamped in big block letters…

…The maker’s mark, stamped into the shank and gold-glazed, is “PARTSCH,” which that article tells me is Anton Partsch. There is also, up on the lower part of the bowl, a gold oval stamp with a soft pattern in the center, I assume the maker’s company sigil. The shank has a plain metal band, with a loop for a cord…

…It has a bark-covered wood stem, with a cork-and-reed tip on the bottom and a turned horn ferrule (which has a tiny age crack) on top and a wooden mouthpiece (on closer examination just now, the lip is translucent under a very bright, focused light, so I think this must also be horn). The stem is kept with the bowl by a brown string or cord, tied around the mouthpiece and ending in two tassels, like many of the German wood and porcelain pipes…

I have highlighted the information that fits my pipe in bold in the quotes above. I did find from the conversation that the Terra Cotta version I have is a bit rarer to find than the black or brown versions of the pipe.

I found two scholarly articles. I have included the link to the first one below. It is a PDF on pipes made in Theresienfeld (Davey 2010 Theresienfeld pipes.pdf). I quote a portion of the paper on the PARTSCH pipes. It is very interesting and confirms the stamping.

These pipes bear a PARTSCH relief stamp in a rectangular  frame  on  the  side  of  the  socket  and  an  oval SCHUTZMARKE  relief  stamp  at  the  base  of  the  funnel  in which the legend surrounds the upper part of an eagle with spread wings.

The next information came from a Master’s Thesis for Oregon State University. I included the link and the identifying information below. I quote tow paragraphs that help give information on the Partsch pipe I am working on.

An Abstract Of The Thesis Of – Oregon State University

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Diane Zentgraf for the degree of Master of Science in Applied Anthropology presented on December 14, 2018.

Title:  Mid-Nineteenth Century Clay Smoking Pipes from Fort Hoskins (35BE15) and Fort

Yamhill (35PO75), Oregon.

 …Reed stem clay pipe manufacturing began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during
the last quarter of the 17th century (Gačić 2011: 31), utilizing local clays in Northern and
Western Hungary (Gačić 2011:31, citing Ridovics 2009:64). During the 19th century, the
pipe making was concentrated in Wiener Neustadt, Theresienfeld and Pernitz, in the
southern section of Austria, with strong connections to production centers in Hungary.
Twenty pipe making workshops have been identified by Bielich and Curny (2009: 342-
348), including pipe makers S. Boscovitz, Anton Partsch, Jacob Reinitz, S. Seiler, Károly
Zachar, Anton Ress, Michael Honig, M. Amstätter and Joseph Schmidt.

The Hapsburg dynasty required pipes be marked with a maker’s mark in the early 19th century (Bielich and Curney 2009:358).  In the literature these are termed Austro-Hungarian pipes and are characterized by a consistent form that was repeated with very little change (Gacic 2011:54).  The most common pipe form is termed a Schemnitz pipe and is described as made of good quality clay in molds and having a narrow “tall cylindrical head (with either round or polygonal cross-section) profiled like a shell at the bottom” (Gacic 2011:54). These pipes were popular and often copied (Figure 21) 49 (Morgenroth 2001:56), and are described as having muted colors, reddish to black in color, marbled black-grey color, often mixed with white clay.

I am pretty certain I have found the last piece of information I needed. It seems that there were many pipe making workshops in the early 19th century concentrated in three areas in southern Austria – Wiener Neustadt, Theresienfeld and Pernitz. It is in those areas that Anton Partsch is said to have been a pipe maker. It is also clear that during the Hapsburg Dynasty all pipes had to be marked with the maker’s mark in the early 19th century. That further locks the date down for the pipe I am working on.

Now that I had gathered a bit of an education on the maker and pipe it was time to do some polishing on the pipe. I polished the horn ferrule with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil. The horn took on a lot of life and depth from the polishing It is a nice looking piece. I rubbed the bark of the cherry wood shank piece with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the bark, cork and horn with my finger tips. It works to clean, preserve and protect wood. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth. The bent horn stem had some worm damage on the right side near the button. I filled it in with some clear CA glue and built up the damaged area. I reshaped the button as well as it had some nicks in it. I sanded the repaired area with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and then started polishing the horn with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked better. I polished the horn with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I gave it a final polish with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another rub down with Obsidian Oil. The horn really began to shine as I finished the polishing. With the stem repaired and polished I was finished with my work on the pipe. I wiped down the nickel plated rim and wind cap as well as the nickel plated shank end cap with a jewelers cloth to remove the moderate oxidation and to protect it. I did not want to remove the dents in the wind cap as it could actually ruin the value of the pipe. I gave it a coat of Conservator’s Wax and a hand buff with a fluffy cloth to raise the shine. This Anton Partsch Red Glazed Pottery Bowled Long Pipe came out looking quite amazing. The horn ferrule and stem polished nicely as did the cherry wood shank. It all came together well. To think that the pipe is at least 200 years old and never been smoked is quite unbelievable. The dimensions of the pipe are, Length: 12 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is; 92 grams/3.25 ounces. I really enjoyed working on this beauty and felt a sense of touching the past in a tangible way. The pipe will stay in my own collection to be enjoyed and savored. I don’t think I will ever fire up a bowl as it has not been smoked since it was made and there is something unique about that. But then again, the right day may come and I will fire it up. We shall see. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. As Paresh always says, “Stay Safe”.