1932 Loewe & Co 'Harley'

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Puffer Mark

Puffer Mark

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By now you good folk know that I just love me a good bargain (and shamelessly bragging about it).

Have gander at this one I snapped yesterday. Pics aren't great, but it looks pretty sound in wind and limb, as it were. I think it'll clean up nice.

I shall refrain on this occasion from telling you what I paid, since as it is crass and crude to discuss money and is bound to bring a tear to your eye. Ahh, to hell with it, here's a box of tissues:

At the current exchange rate it comes to exactly 11 dollars and 19 American cents (or 7 Great British pounds, two pence for my UK brethren).

I think I did OK. :lol!:

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/203635667/Loewe_Harley_Pipe.html
 
That does look like it will clean up v nicely indeed! Well-scored
 
A 1932 Harley! I got a bit excited there for a minute... :lol: that is a nice vintage piece of pipe history you got there. You sure can't beat the price you paid for it. Are you going to try to restore it or leave it as is?
 
Before-and-after photos should be spectacular. That's an interesting pipe, definitely a collectible.
 
Wow, that is fabulous. Who knows what that would have brought on ebay, older Loewe pipes do not pop up that often.
Will you do the restoration work? (I'd love a chance to restore that one!)

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Jou bliksemse mannetjie!! Dis die bargain van die eeu! :cheers:

This is one awesome find.....CONGRATULATIONS. No need to say I'm jealous :evil:
 
Sweet! For $11.19, you can afford to be crass! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
Thanks for all the kind comments.

In terms of restoration, it looks pretty sound with no major issues so I think I’ll give it a bash, as I find this half the fun. That said, my limited techno-mechanical abilities usually mean that I have a kind of less is more approach. So I think maybe a light ream with some sand paper to smooth things out in the tobacco chamber, some gentle cleansing of the exterior of the stummel and a good scrub out of the shank with bristle cleaners and alcohol. Far as I know, we don’t have an equivalent of Everclear, so some vodka will have to do.

I’ll try to spruce up the stem with a process of soaking in some bleach solution, then apply buffing pads and metal polish, which has worked well for me in the past. And for the band, I’ll try to get hold of a non-abrasive silver jewellery cleaning cloth, which I believe are available here.

For finishing, maybe just some bowl polish and a wipe down with a silicone cloth. I certainly don’t have the skills to bring it back up to showroom condition, as I have seen in some of Al’s beautiful work, but maybe a pipe of this era should show it’s age with a bit of patina.

Touch wood, I haven’t really wrecked one yet, and if I do make a hash of it, you may well never see or hear from me again. The shame would be unbearable.

On a bit of a tangent; I claim to all and sundry that I buy ‘em to smoke ‘em, but with a pipe this age, I suppose the question does arise: To smoke or not to smoke? Unfortunately I don’t really have an area to display my pipes, so if not taken out to smoke it will seldom be seen, and that too would be a pity.

As always, your thoughts on all of the above are welcome.  
 
A man after my own heart. While I can certainly appreciate a pipe to fully restored condition, as if it were recently found NOS, I am more of a fan of polishing out the rough edges and leaving the patina of the age. I like to leave a bit of use showing from the gentlemen of the past who owned it for a while. You got a nice bit of history there. Hope you enjoy it very much! :D
 
I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille:

I think she spruced up quite nice, at least not bad for an 83-year-old. Sorry for the poor pics. Couldn't get my light right.





 
Fantastic job Mark! That is one collectible piece any pipe smoker would be proud to have in their collection! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:
 
That's just the RIGHT amt. of Refurb IMHO !! It maintains the right amt. of "patina" of it's age andi's a shape you don't see offered these days NICE, NICE, NICE :D :D :D
 
monbla256":bxnd4me8 said:
That's just the RIGHT amt. of Refurb IMHO !! It maintains the right amt. of "patina" of it's age andi's a shape you don't see offered these days NICE, NICE, NICE  :D :D :D
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Michael, I agree. If I have a pipe that is 83 years old and has been restored to the point that it has zero patina, it has lost some of it's mojo IMO.

In the antique gun world, if someone re-blues the metal, and refinishes the gun stock, they will actually diminish the value of a collectible gun in most cases.

Bottom line, is that patina is something that is difficult to obtain, and is one of the primary indicators of age that most antique collectors are using as a gauge of worth and authenticity.
 
Someone give me a history lesson. Looked at the nomenclature and it appears that it's from London. Is that correct? Also, it appears as though there is a "W" after London. What does that mean? I'm assuming London England, btw.
 
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