Michael Butera Royal Classic Bent Dublin (BXB) (55116) Tobacco Pipe

Perhaps the most influential carver of the late 20th-century American/Italian style, Michael Butera's pipes are few and rarely present themselves. This bent Dublin's bowl takes visual precedence, gradually diminishing in diameter through the shank and up to the saddle stem, which utilizes negative space to send one's attention forward again. The contours of this piece are precise, and have to be, because the removal of even a few thousandths of an inch of briar in those contours could ruin the shape. Mike Butera, though, sneers at such challenges; his experience easily overcame such carving predicaments. It's one reason his pipes continue to accumulate value and desirability.