Featured Early 20th Century Opium Raids-Up in smoke.

it's in Brazil.....

 

I have a feeling Col. Parker was trying to sneakily censor 'El'.

 

Ha! That is this article which made me plunge in opium.... Paraphernalia collecting!

 

highly recommended:
Maggs opium collection video, on Google Drive (a few years old):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MmGSCjDb40R6L-KtDFv7tYtHp6qze-K2/view

 

Got the Pipe ! Made it thru postnl in Eindhoven & US Customs.
I was examining it ('sniffing' around so to speak),and wondering where i could find something to display it on,when my intelligent partner picked it up & walked into the treasure/junk room & placed it in the $5 GW shadowbox-voila !
PS-I'd like to find a piece of Hmong (or other suitable fabric) to put behind it.It would have to be a subtle weave since the object itself is so busy.

 

I pulled it apart to see if it had been used,it seems to be encrusted with something,but short of taking it to a DEA Lab to get it analyzed-it shall remain a mystery ! What's your best guess ? @Paul W @kyratango
PS-The Damper (missing) seems to have been held in the Saddle w/ a leather & textile 'washer' or shim.Even though prob intended as a tourist piece,perhaps used ?

 

Nice display Bosco! A pretty tourist piece (I've yet to see genuine pipes with those assembled bone plaques...)

 

Thanks Kyra.Paul W's 'Magg's opium collection' video is amazing.I might've been able to afford a down-payment on that trove if i'd sold the house ! Kinda glad to still have a roof.

 

Looks good, bosko69!
I agree with kryatango's "A pretty tourist piece (I've yet to see genuine pipes with those assembled bone plaques...)", although I would add, an older one. I would say it was used, judging by the washer and the apparent dross encrustation. Btw, the standard "bowl" stem (which would be brass) has an outside diameter of about 15mm, so you could check to see if that corresponds to the inside diameter of the opening.

On a pipe made to be used rather than a souvenir, the hole leading from the stem into the shaft would be larger than yours, about the same diameter as the inside of the stem.

There are a few appropriate opium pipe bowls on eBay right now starting at $160, not cheap. Maybe save a couple of differently-worded searches and see what comes up.

 

@bosko69
I have no idea how much that Maggs collection sold for, but I would think a million or more. If I'd been a multi-multi-millionaire I would have snapped it up.

 

Thanks so much Paul,great knowledge & advice (Kyra too).I'll measure bowl receptacle diameter & email sellers before purchase.
Yep,if i found a bowl full of vintage Dampers in Grannies attic it'd pay a good hunk of our vacation-good genuine dampers cost more than most basic ordinary pipes.Someone's got a dusty trunk full out there.
Kyra (or someone here ?) suggested alternate search terms,ie: ceramic door knobs,pulls,etc.
I wonder if i could gently heat this thing and find out what it smells like ? Hopefully not charred bone !
....and on goes our little search for the Chandu of Xanadu.

 

This collection of 50 pipe bowls appeared on eBay in 2008. Buy it Now price was $2,500. I almost went for it, but didn’t . . . and then it was gone.

Many of these ceramic bowls were missing the brass collar, which must be present in order to fit the bowl into the saddle.

Btw, I have yet to hear a suitable name for these "bowls". They're not really "bowls", and "damper" doesn't make sense to me. I kind of like "bulb" but I doubt that would catch on.

Here are all of them, top and bottom views:

 

That's a lots of of bowls,bulbs,etc-works out $50 ea.I wonder what the ones missing stems ones normally fetch ?

 

I've seen dampers called incense holders but they went anyway for$$

 

Maybe i should take a couple pottery classes ?!

 

The interior of the collar (where damper's inserted) is 15.8mm w/ the leather textile washer shim.