The Pijpenkabinet Museum in Amsterdam is launching an electronic newsletter, of which this is the very first issue. Our work is wide-ranging, from archaeology to the sale of modern briar pipes, from publishing books to pipe repair. Not all items in this newsletter may be of interest to you, but we hope you enjoy learning more about our various activities.

Smokiana prints
Some time ago the museum acquired a series of prints from the famous and rare book Smokiana. This book is written and illustrated by Richard Pritchett in 1890. Pritchett was a nineteenth century pipe aficionado who collected pipes from all cultures around the world. The series of prints present a survey of world smoking cultures, quite comparable to the Pijpenkabinet’s own collection. The main difference is that the Pritchett collection now only exists on paper, while the Pijpenkabinet Museum is open to visit ! You can come to Amsterdam to see it all.

The prints are framed and decorate the entrance hall of the museum. This is already an impressive entrance, with authentic marble panelling, fine stucco ornamentation and long case clock from the eighteenth century.

Don Duco Lecturer at the national archaeology congress
The Dutch Council for Archaeology (SNA) is the organiser of the annual archaeology congress in the Netherlands, named Reuvensdagen after the first professor in archaeology in Europe, Casper Reuvens (1793-1835). Last November the conference took place in the old city of Alkmaar, in the north of Holland, which celebrated it’s 750th anniversary. One of the themes was post-medieval archaeology.

Don Duco, curator of the Pijpenkabinet Museum, gave a lecture for the 500 participants of the conference, all archaeologists working in various settings in the Netherlands. Duco studied the pipe finds of 80 cesspits from the city centre of Alkmaar. The results were amazingly informative: for the first time the complete local pipe production could be reconstructed, the spread of early seventeenth pipe production over the city could be established, the balance between locally produced and imported clay pipes could be fixed per period.

In closing, Duco asked the audience to present him with pipe finds from all other parts of the country for determination. Both the specialised documentation centre of the Pijpenkabinet and the general archaeological practitioners will profit from this kind of co-operation.

For more information on the Reuvensdagen conference visit the website at www.sna.nl/reuvensdagen

Duco publishes in exhibition catalogue
The municipal museum of Alkmaar has organised an exhibition on the inner city archaeology. In the publication accompanying the exhibition, several extensive articles are published on glass, marriage symbols and clay pipes. Don Duco presents his findings on the local clay pipe industry, comparing the taste of the local smokers (seventeenth and eighteenth century) with other Dutch towns.

The exhibition is extended to the end of January 2005.

At the Alkmaar museum the book has been sold out, but at the shop of the Pijpenkabinet a few copies are still available.

Sale of book on marks and ordinances successful
The Pijpenkabinet has published a huge tome (2 kilograms) on the marks and ordinances of the Gouda Pipemakers’ Guild, written by Don Duco. The author comprehensively describes the history of the Gouda pipemarks and the struggle against counterfeit by non-members of the guild.

Each of the eight chapters, covering the period from 1620 to 1940, is concluded by a concise summary with personal commentary by the pipe expert. These summaries are translated into English. In this way the full content of the history is presented for an international audience.

The second half of the book (300 pages in total!) consists of a long list of all pipe marks: over 1000 numbers, illustrated with 1700 drawings. Along with the marks, all the names of the pipe makers who worked with these marks are featured. Historians and archaeologists alike will now be able to identify the maker of virtually every historical Dutch clay pipe.

The Dutch professional archaeologists have received this new reference book with great enthusiasm. Many archaeological organisations, local archaeology units and museums placed prompt and considerable orders for the book.

You will find the book - along with the other publications of the Pijpenkabinet Museum - at our website: www.pijpenkabinet.nl (you automatically enter the English version)

Go to: § 17 the most popular books, in the MUSEUM section.

To order a copy, € 65 including postage (within Europe), please send an e-mail to Pijpenkabinet with your name and address.

mailto:info@pijpenkabinet.nl

New publication on European clay pipes
The Pijpenkabinet Museum has been very active recently in publishing information concerning its research projects. After studying 80 catalogues of pipemaking firms from 1830 to 1940, Don Duco came to a new vision on production, sale and consumption during the century he studied. By analysing and comparing the rare printed publicity, he could identify the characteristics of each firm. Larger producers tried to sell a universal - call it European - style of pipes. Others, mostly smaller firms, were compelled to specialise in order to reach a specific range of the market. Duco illuminates the re-written history of nineteenth century smoking habits with several hundreds of pages from the original catalogues, mainly from the Pijpenkabinet collection.

This refreshing view on the history of pipe production and pipe smoking (after all, the social factor is very important too) is published in an attractive book-design.

To order, send an email to the Pijpenkabinet, Amsterdam. mailto:info@pijpenkabinet.nl

Recent aquisition
A rare pipe from New Guinea has been added to the extensive Pijpenkabinet collections. The wooden, funnel-shaped pipe bowl has a long prolongation at the base. Just halfway, a small joint enables the smoker to put a simple reed stem for smoking. These kind of tobacco pipes were used by the Apokajos tribe in New Guinea. This specimen has been brought to Europe as a souvenir by a Dutch missionary, Father Geurtjes. The pipe is a special and rare piece, and a welcome addition to the set of bamboo smoking pipes from the same region which is on permanent display in the Pijpenkabinet Museum.

Amsterdam, Pijpenkabinet collections Pk 958

The new pipe has been lent for a number of years to the Dutch Open Air Museum in Arnhem, where it is displayed at the collector’s centre Paviljoen Sparenburg.

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