Pipe bowls, who would have thought

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I was just looking down our list of blogs and found this good one from several years ago which we forgot to publish. Hope you enjoy it today. Nancy

The history of pipes

Have you every wondered about the history of pipes? I had not until recently when we visited the Loket Castle in the Czech Republic. In their museum there was a display of ceramic pipe bowls. Likewise a collection of pipe bowls was on display in the Trakai museum in Lithuania. The pipe bowls are works of art as well as functioning pipe bowls. We hope you enjoy the photos.

Hobbies

Now how do you think a museum ever got all these pipes? It seems that almost every display of items such as these were the private collection of one or more individuals who down through the years located, purchased and preserved items which well could have been lost when their owners died. Imagine rich folk from long ago attending 'estate

sales' or buying items folks needed to sell when their finances hit rock bottom. These folk who are often named in the museums are mostly people whose names would not have gone down in history books but whose passions are now enjoyed by hundreds or thousands of visitors to museums today. Collecting 'useless' objects has always seemed to me to be mostly a way to make your home look cluttered but I imagine most of these collectors had palaces or large chateaus where they could display their pipes, or ceramics or guns or whatever had captured their imagination. When I see and enjoy such former private collections now preserved in museums, I am glad some folks did the work of collecting first for themselves and then for all of us to enjoy.

Don't forget you must either page down or scroll down to see examples of these pipes. They are all below and you wouldn't want to miss them.

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Photos

Who is he?
The owner's face?