I've been following this auction that ends today. I never would have guessed it would sell this high!

MARK TWAIN

Wow, that is crazy for a Pete. It is a nice one though for sure.

Yeah, that's the issue here - every once in awhile, Peterson manufactures a set of pipes that smokes incredibly, ridiculously well. I suspect that history will show the 140th Anniversary pipe as one of these, for example. But the MT pipes are basically renowned for how they smoke, and they are rare, and this is a rare form of a rare pipe, NIB, from 20 years ago. There's a good chance we won't see another like this, period.

A good deal? I doubt it! A good pipe? That seems absolutley certain.

Sas, I have to agree, I've got 2 Pete's that are amazing. One is a Sherlock Holmes "Professor" from the original run, I smoke 3-4 bowls in this pipe a week and she performs flawlessly and offers and great tasting smoke every time.

I'm aquainted with this seller personally. He gets more for his pipes than any seller on e-bay, period. Recently he sold a P&T Former/Eltang POY for over seven hundred dollars. This is particulary strange as P&T magazine still has these available for less than four hundred. This is the same guy who was getting over a thousand dollars for some Chris Morgan pipes lsat year. An astonishing sum to be sure for a relatively unknown maker.

As another side note, I saw a gentleman that I know buying some pipes for his e-bay store in NY a few years ago. He approached a table that I was sitting at while visiting with a vendor friend. My friend was selling a magnum sized Jess Chonowitsch horn that I owned briefly but was just too large for me. I knew that the pipe had been smoked a few times but it appreared mint. The seller informed us that he would be listing the pipe as *unsmoked*. Truth is, you just never really know if a pipe is unsmoked. Any good pipe rejuvenator can make one look as if it is....

Also, Peterson's top ends are supposed to be 100% fill free yet I've seen two now that have had fills. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find one on this pipe too should you go over it with a jewlers loupe. Not a pipe I would want to buy unless I got to see it in person.

I'm not sure why this thing should sell for what it's selling for. I would appraise it at $400.00 tops.

So Dock, you think this pipe's price is being driven by the fact its being sold by a certain seller? If so what should that have to do with it.

Holding at $1450 as of 1615 EST........

One more thing to consider is that the dollar is very weak right now and the seller happily ships worldwide! There's been a HUGE influx of collectors in the Asian and Russian markets. I wouldn't be surprised if this one's Europe bound.