SOLD Very Intense,Very Smoked Antique Meerschaum Pipe Bowl with Black Glass Eyes and Evocative Repairs vintage portrait painting I never paid much attention

I never paid much attention to stone (marble) fruit until seeing an incredibly fine (and very expensive) antique sliced pear with seeds not long ago

mid/late 20th c

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

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

There is some darkening to the boards around the edges and smudge marks here and there

SOLD Very Intense,Very Smoked Antique Meerschaum Pipe Bowl with Black Glass Eyes and Evocative Repairs vintage portrait painting I never paid much attentionI 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