Hoping someone can help ID the maker’s mark on this antique meerschaum pipe I picked up at a garage sale many years ago. The pipe is stamped twice in two different locations, both with the same maker’s mark. I have a great deal of experience and familiarity with silver hallmarks and maker’s marks from many different countries and I use this site often to help ID. However, I do not know much at all about old meerschaum pipes and so this time I am stumped…
Here is what I do (and don’t) know:
- No silver purity, date, or assay marks—just the maker’s mark of CHO.
- Does not appear to be sterling, but does not appear to be silver plate either. It has not been cleaned or polished, beyond gently wiping off some of the silver tarnish.
- Dates to approx. early-to-mid 1800s. Could perhaps be a bit earlier or a bit later, but my best estimate is c. 1850.
- The most similar examples overall that I have found anywhere online tend to be Danish, and some German. I’m aware that this is a Kalmasch style meerschaum pipe so that would make sense, however I cannot say for certain where this pipe was made.
- I understand that often pipes were made by one person and then sent off to a silversmith to add the silver fittings/mounts. So the maker’s mark on many pipes’ silver components is that of the silversmith rather than the maker of the meerschaum pipe itself. In these cases it is not uncommon for the pipe maker and silversmith to be in two different countries entirely.
