A brass pipe from North Holland
August 2008
A great deal of research has been done into the clay pipe in recent decades. As a result, we are now able to correctly identify clay pipes and date them sharply. The is different with pipes from alternative materials that are as well used as smoking equipment. Metal is an underexposed group. That is why the discovery of this brass pipe bowl is important. The object shows all the characteristics of the clay pipe and can therefore be dated relatively sharply in the 1620s. In order to stay as close as possible to the example, it even shows a milling and on the heel a maker's mark. There we see a grid of filed lines. This product, by the way, is not a broken pipe, but a complete object that has been smoked with the help of a separate stem made of wood or other material. This prevented heat transport and gave the pipe an unexpected appearance. Furthermore, we must remember that when it was new, the object would have shined between brass and gold, nowadays it has been oxidized resulting in a dark green colour.
Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 19.265
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