I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite pipes. I’m fascinated with Dutch history around 1602 with the Dutch East Indies Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie). They established colonial Dutch Indonesia, which is my heritage.
This pipe has been dated to the mid-1600′s. I’ve included a contemporary pipe for size comparison.
Clay pipes were used in inns during that period. The pipe would start out about the size of a Churchwarden, but as each new guest used them for smoking, they would break off a piece of the stem so they’d have a fresh smoke. This pipe measures about 6 inches, which is pretty long for a surviving pipe from this period.
It’s a nice accompaniment to a 1629 edition I have of Historia Belgica. The Netherlands emerged from the 1558-1567 war between the Low Countries (roughly Belgium, The Netherlands and pieces of Germany) and Spain. The book is a history of that period of time. The author of this book is pro-Spain. This is from my personal collection. This is printed on vellum, the book is bound in goatskin, and this is a Latin translation.
