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What does it mean to be the most expensive, the costliest? I’ll start with a few brief definitions of expensive: high price or value; very high-priced; requiring a large expenditure; splendid, lavish. But how high is high? There is no right answer, because expensive is, well, subjective, a relative term! Behind everything we buy, there are hidden economic factors that help determine the price. It’s easy to determine what’s the most expensive car, because there are records of prices paid, whether at the dealer or on the auction block. The same is true for watches, but there are examples of custom-designed, specialty watches in the quantity of one; tracing their prices is a sportier course. As to pipes, Renia Carsillo, “Most Expensive Tobacco Pipe” (tobaccopipes.com) explains: “Many of today’s collectors see the hobby as much about acquiring as it is about smoking. By turning the hobby, more so than ever, into one similar to art collecting, prices often skyrocket for unique and/or obscure items. This trend can be positive, by allowing Handmade Pipes Like Rinaldos to find increasing patronage. It can also be negative, by driving up prices artificially when a new Sherlock Holmes or Lord of the Rings movie comes out.” I do not believe that “trends” is the singular driver; the phenomenon of “the most expensive” is much more complicated. | What does it mean to be the most expensive, the costliest? I’ll start with a few brief definitions of expensive: high price or value; very high-priced; requiring a large expenditure; splendid, lavish. But how high is high? There is no right answer, because expensive is, well, subjective, a relative term! Behind everything we buy, there are hidden economic factors that help determine the price. It’s easy to determine what’s the most expensive car, because there are records of prices paid, whether at the dealer or on the auction block. The same is true for watches, but there are examples of custom-designed, specialty watches in the quantity of one; tracing their prices is a sportier course. As to pipes, Renia Carsillo, “Most Expensive Tobacco Pipe” (tobaccopipes.com) explains: “Many of today’s collectors see the hobby as much about acquiring as it is about smoking. By turning the hobby, more so than ever, into one similar to art collecting, prices often skyrocket for unique and/or obscure items. This trend can be positive, by allowing Handmade Pipes Like Rinaldos to find increasing patronage. It can also be negative, by driving up prices artificially when a new Sherlock Holmes or Lord of the Rings movie comes out.” I do not believe that “trends” is the singular driver; the phenomenon of “the most expensive” is much more complicated. | ||
What are the measures of the merit for “the most expensive pipe”? How is it gauged? Is it determined by its age? Is it determined by the medium, e.g., briar, meerschaum, porcelain, etc.? Is it based on the realized price at a public auction, i.e., by how much someone paid? Is it solely, wholly, and totally in the eyes of the beholder, because it is a singular work from a well-known, respected pipe craftsman? Is it because it once belonged to a rich and famous person? Well, in 2017, Christie’s, London, sold an Albert Einstein briar billiard at a realized price of GBP 52,500 ($71,360); the House estimate was just GBP 5,000-8,000. Four years later, in September 2021, Remarkable Rarities, Boston, auctioned Einstein’s collection of nine rather ordinary briars and a wood pipe rack that were found in his Princeton, New Jersey, home sold for $125,000. High bidding in these two auctions was certainly not because these pipes were valuable, but because of name recognition. When Julien’s Auctions of Beverly Hills in June 2018 offered a lot of three briars from the estate of the comedian Jerry Lewis—a Dunhill Shell Briar with a 14-kt gold fitting (stamped B118 33), a K&P Tankard and a Chacom lady’s pipe, the House estimate was $200–$300; the winning bid was $640. Julien’s also sold the property of Hugh Hefner six months later; Lot 312 (of 838 lots of Hugh’s stuff) was an unbranded briar with the iconic Playboy rabbit logo embossed on the mouthpiece; the estimate was $2,000–$3,000. Would you believe a final price of $11,520? A year later, Julian’s was at it again, auctioning the Bilbo Baggins pipe that Ian Holm used in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” that was estimated to fetch between $100,000 and $120,000; it sold for $28, | What are the measures of the merit for “the most expensive pipe”? How is it gauged? Is it determined by its age? Is it determined by the medium, e.g., briar, meerschaum, porcelain, etc.? Is it based on the realized price at a public auction, i.e., by how much someone paid? Is it solely, wholly, and totally in the eyes of the beholder, because it is a singular work from a well-known, respected pipe craftsman? Is it because it once belonged to a rich and famous person? Well, in 2017, Christie’s, London, sold an Albert Einstein briar billiard at a realized price of GBP 52,500 ($71,360); the House estimate was just GBP 5,000-8,000. Four years later, in September 2021, Remarkable Rarities, Boston, auctioned Einstein’s collection of nine rather ordinary briars and a wood pipe rack that were found in his Princeton, New Jersey, home sold for $125,000. High bidding in these two auctions was certainly not because these pipes were valuable, but because of name recognition. When Julien’s Auctions of Beverly Hills in June 2018 offered a lot of three briars from the estate of the comedian Jerry Lewis—a Dunhill Shell Briar with a 14-kt gold fitting (stamped B118 33), a K&P Tankard and a Chacom lady’s pipe, the House estimate was $200–$300; the winning bid was $640. Julien’s also sold the property of Hugh Hefner six months later; Lot 312 (of 838 lots of Hugh’s stuff) was an unbranded briar with the iconic Playboy rabbit logo embossed on the mouthpiece; the estimate was $2,000–$3,000. Would you believe a final price of $11,520? A year later, Julian’s was at it again, auctioning the Bilbo Baggins pipe that Ian Holm used in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” that was estimated to fetch between $100,000 and $120,000; it sold for $28,800. Not bad considering that this prop was certainly not a briar, and it did not belong to anyone rich or famous, yet it exceeded Hugh’s briar by more than twice. | ||
[[File:IsmailOzel-Anthony-Cleopatra2.jpg|thumb|400px|Ismail Özel meerschaum depicting an elaborate scene of Antony and Cleopatra and the god Pan, 11.5” h. and 20”. Courtesy prices4antiques.com]]Many other examples illustrate the issue, so I address a few more of these “most expensive” pipes and how their value was determined. The very first comment in the Press about expensive pipes that I found was Arturo F. Gonzalez Jr.’s article, “It’s been done,” about the Guinness Book of Records (The Rotarian, July 1978): “The latest Guinness volume contains authenticated records concerning everything from the world’s most expensive pipe (an intricately carved Meerschaum, which sells in New York for $8,000…” This claim lacked specifics. Five years later, the illustration on the cover of the debut issue of Pipe Smoker, Spring 1983, was a Turkish meerschaum pipe carved from a single piece of meerschaum by Ismail Özel depicting an elaborate scene of Antony and Cleopatra and the god Pan, 11.5” h. and 20” l. It was the property of Irving Korn of Royal Meerschaum, San Marcos, California. In his obituary (TOB Magazine, September/October 2014) there is this explanation: “In the early ‘80s, ‘Irv’ was known for touring pipe shows and fairs with his popular and famous ‘world’s most expensive pipe,’ then valued at $15,000, and listed in the 1983 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.” He consigned the pipe to Racine & Laramie Ltd., Old Town San Diego, California; the asking price was $15,000, supposedly priced at about $5,000 below its appraised value. Geoffrey Mogilner, owner of Racine & Laramie, sold it to the Thackery Gallery, San Diego, for $13,500. | [[File:IsmailOzel-Anthony-Cleopatra2.jpg|thumb|400px|Ismail Özel meerschaum depicting an elaborate scene of Antony and Cleopatra and the god Pan, 11.5” h. and 20”. Courtesy prices4antiques.com]]Many other examples illustrate the issue, so I address a few more of these “most expensive” pipes and how their value was determined. The very first comment in the Press about expensive pipes that I found was Arturo F. Gonzalez Jr.’s article, “It’s been done,” about the Guinness Book of Records (The Rotarian, July 1978): “The latest Guinness volume contains authenticated records concerning everything from the world’s most expensive pipe (an intricately carved Meerschaum, which sells in New York for $8,000…” This claim lacked specifics. Five years later, the illustration on the cover of the debut issue of Pipe Smoker, Spring 1983, was a Turkish meerschaum pipe carved from a single piece of meerschaum by Ismail Özel depicting an elaborate scene of Antony and Cleopatra and the god Pan, 11.5” h. and 20” l. It was the property of Irving Korn of Royal Meerschaum, San Marcos, California. In his obituary (TOB Magazine, September/October 2014) there is this explanation: “In the early ‘80s, ‘Irv’ was known for touring pipe shows and fairs with his popular and famous ‘world’s most expensive pipe,’ then valued at $15,000, and listed in the 1983 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.” He consigned the pipe to Racine & Laramie Ltd., Old Town San Diego, California; the asking price was $15,000, supposedly priced at about $5,000 below its appraised value. Geoffrey Mogilner, owner of Racine & Laramie, sold it to the Thackery Gallery, San Diego, for $13,500. | ||