Misc. Estates: Unknown Carved Soldier Tobacco Pipe

Figural pipes are most notably and most often crafted, not from briar, but from meerschaum, the porous material making for a medium more conducive to intricate detail work. Carved by an unknown craftsman, this soldier is an excellent example of briar's capacity for showcasing fine details, with the bowl being carved into the bust of a weary infantryman. Wearing a forage cap, this man looks to be pulled directly from the battlefields of the Civil War, and his eyes bespeak the horrors of what that war entailed. These eyes peer out from under the cap's brim with an uneasy and offputting vacancy, fixed forward, gazing at everything and nothing in an intense thousand-yard stare. His features are hard-lined and angular, his mouth slightly open and resting atop a pronounced chin that acts as this pipe's heel. A wide transition out back pairs the soldier to a long, oval shank that curves as it reaches out to a tapering stem of black vulcanite. Dressed in a deep, smooth finish where not carved, this pipe showcases handsome grain