SOLD Very Intense,Very Smoked Antique Meerschaum Pipe Bowl with Black Glass Eyes and Evocative Repairs vintage portrait painting with fabric covered buttons and

with fabric covered buttons and pockets on both blazer and cuffed pants

A luxuriously large set of 81 blocks

I'd guess third quarter 19th century or so

the blocks stack on dowels

It dates to the 1860s or 70--previously manufactured by John S Hodgkinson of Philadelphia

SOLD Very Intense,Very Smoked Antique Meerschaum Pipe Bowl with Black Glass Eyes and Evocative Repairs vintage portrait painting with fabric covered buttons andI am pretty certain this pipe bowl is 19th century meerschaum (meerschaum is a soft mineral called sepiolite, found in Europe, often carved into smoking pipes and other decorative objects) but the patina on it (if unsmoked it would appear white) is so dark (deeper than I have ever seen before), it is a bit hard to tell. And it is that near blackening from use, and the softening of the features from handling, and the wired repairs to the sides, that