The Fugitive Slaves Pipe: Anatomy of an Auction

Ben Rapaport, October 2024Exclusive to pipedia.org 
In early tobacco history, a Delftware dish made in London between 1670–1690 depicts the arms of the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers. Three Black women gaze out from the dish, viewed as representations of the enslaved women whose agricultural and reproductive labor enabled the Transatlantic tobacco trade. White male pipe makers would have viewed the dish through the symbolic languages of heraldry, racialized and gendered Black and Indigenous figures who populated tobacco advertising and the English racial imagination. 
 
Generally speaking, of the myriad pipe motifs in clay, meerschaum and, less so, in wood, Black designs were not in vogue. They may have been “taboo” or, perhaps, pipe carvers of that era may have believed that a Caucasian pipe smoker might not buy a pipe depicting a Black or Blackamoor. I have no concrete proof, so it’s conjecture on my part. 
The AI Overview: “Meerschaum pipes were historically popular among Nubian and African Black populations, with many pipes being carved with distinct designs and features reflecting their cultural heritage. …Carvings often depict facial features like Nubian profiles, traditional hairstyles, or even stylized animal motifs, reflecting cultural symbolism.” And from Wikipedia: “Blackamoor is a type of figure and visual trope in European decorative art, typically found in works from the Early Modern period, depicting a man of sub-Saharan African descent.” (Blackamoors had another significant role in the tobacco industry: they were modeled as counter-top and floor-sized cigar-store figures called Black Boys or Virginians.) Popular or not, busts carved in the likeness of a Nubian male or female, less so of a Black American, were produced in meerschaum. This is a fine example of the profile of a Nubian male of royalty. 
 
Occasionally, a meerschaum pipe was embellished with the aid of a silversmith or a jeweler. “Dr. Dibdin, in his Biographical Tour in France and Germany, speaks of Vienna as a city characterised by a love of smoking— ‘a good Austrian thinks he can never pay too much for a good pipe,’ and he instances a gentleman he met ‘who drew forth from his pocket a short pipe which screwed together in three divisions, and of which the upper part of the bowl—made in the fashion of a blackamoor’s head—near the aperture, was composed of diamonds of great lustre and value. Upon inquiry I found it that this pipe was worth about £1000 of our money’” (F. W. Fairholt, Tobacco, 1859, 196-7). 
 
To make a point about their popularity and prevalence compared to other motifs in meerschaum, in A Complete Guide to Collecting Antique Pipes there is only one meerschaum pipe bowl, the head of a Nubian woman. And in Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes, there is a smaller head of a Nubian woman. Search “Large sizes in meerschaum” and “Meerschaum cigar holders” at the Amsterdam Pipe Museum (pipemuseum.nl): two Nubian cheroot holders. Search antiquetobaccopipes.com: the bust of a Nubian woman, one of a Nubian man for sale. Search Galerie Delalande (galeriedelalande.fr): one bust of a Nubian male for sale. Search “The Trevor Barton Collection of Unusual Smoking Pipes” (christies.com): two male Nubian busts, one female Nubian bust. Scroll through the many antique meerschaum pipes and cheroot holders illustrated at “Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques” (carters.com.au): similar results. Pinterest: the same results. The Gail and Stephen Rudin Slavery Collection, 1728–1973, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library (rmc.library.cornell.edu) includes three meerschaum pipe heads of Nubians. 
In my many years of collecting, I don’t recall seeing any antique meerschaum pipe in a museum, in a pipe collection, or in a pipe book that portrays a Black or a group of Blacks engaged in an activity. i.e., a scene, a panorama, a portrait. It is very rare to encounter a carved-in the-round—i.e., three-dimensional—antique meerschaum pipe such as the one in this narrative. It was sold at auction in February 2016 by Quinn’s Auction Galleries, Falls Church, Virginia. The House advertised it as “The Fugitive Slaves Pipe.” It was in the Howard Wolverton [a New Jersey high school history teacher who died in 2005] Collection of Black American History, a 2,000-piece collection that represented the changing roles and images of Black Americans from the late 1700s to the 1960s in the United States. It drew the attention of at least two newspapers. The Washington Post on February 15, 2016: “Black memorabilia’s sale stirs feelings of horror and pride,” and the Falls Church News-Press on February 18: “Black American Auction at Quinn’s Disturbs, Inspires.” The article states: “And while there are many crude caricatures of blacks among the artifacts being sold, there is one piece, ‘Fugitive Slaves Pipe,’ carved by F.J. Kaldenburg [sic] out of meerschaum that is intricately detailed, eerie and awe-inspiring. Kaldenburg copied the scene, a black man and woman being chased by a pack of dogs while the man readies an ax swing at one of the dogs and the woman looks out while running, from a painting called “The Hunted Slaves” by Richard Ansdell in 1861. Fox News on February 18 commented: “The collection includes items reminiscent of our country’s shameful past of hatred and racism.”
The collection consisted of 327 discrete lots; Lot 108 is the only pipe: “Fugitive Slaves Pipe by Kaldenberg after Ansdell,” described as follows: 
Extremely rare F. J. Kaldenberg meerschaum pipe w/amber mouthpiece showing two fugitive slaves—a man and a woman—fighting off a pack of three dogs. With fitted leather case with Kaldenberg logo on red satin interior. Pipe depicts the scene painted by Richard Ansdell in 1861 at the start of the Civil War, ‘The Hunted Slaves.’ The painting and the pipe portray two runaway slaves turning to fend off three attacking dogs, one of which is shown wounded on the ground. The man raises an ax above his head, getting ready to strike, while the woman is shown in front of a tree, above a floor of leaves and grass. The painting is owned by the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, England. [This is true!] The Kaldenberg Company worked from various offices in NYC and exhibited a monumental pipe showing Justice with sword and scales at the 1876 American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Kaldenberg also repaired pipes, including the ‘Bacchus’ pipe owned by Ernest Hemingway. Intricately carved, with slight yellowing, the pipe is in excellent condition, mouthpiece is loose in its fitting. 
The House estimate was $1,000–$3,000, and the realized price was $6,000 plus a buyer’s premium of 25 percent.
On the National Museum of African American History & Culture website (maahc.si.edu) is the same image with the title “Meerschaum pipe inspired by Richard Ansdell’s Hunted Slaves with original case.”
Accompanying the image on the Museum website is a slightly different description:
A carved sepiolite meerschaum pipe (.1a) and stem (.1b) with original case (.2) made by F. J. Kaldenberg. The carved design of the pipe features the same scene and was inspired by Richard Ansdell’s painting Hunted Slaves (1861), though the faces of the figures on the pipe are ape-like caricatures. The scene depicts a woman near a tree stump at the end of the pipe who is fleeing dogs. The top of the stump is hollow for packing tobacco. The woman turns her face backward to look at a man who has an axe raised above his head in an attempt to fight off the three (3) dogs. The dogs are positioned at the end of the pipe nearest the stem. A metal cap is placed on this end of the pipe with a black rod protruding from it. The stem (.1b) fits over this rod to attach to the pipe. There is a black cap at this end of the stem with the rest of it being a dark brown stiff material. The stem is turned upward and flattened at the mouth end. The case (.2) is made from wood painted black and is shaped to fit the outline of the pipe and stem, being bulbous on one side and thin on the other. It has a hinged opening and a metal pressure clasp.
Objects depicting racist and/or stereotypical imagery or language may be offensive and disturbing, but the NMAAHC aims to include them in the Collection to present and preserve the historical context in which they were created and used. Objects of this type provide an important historical record from which to study and evaluate racism. Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from the Liljenquist Family Collection. 
The object number is 2016.166.37.1ab-2; 2016, I assume, means that the pipe was donated to the Smithsonian in the year of the auction. I now know where the pipe is. 
Andsell was an English artist (1815–1885) who produced only one painting of slaves: “The Hunted Slaves” (1861). 
“The artwork depicts two African American slaves facing down a group of hunting dogs as the two slaves flee” (invaluable.com). It’s quite the stretch to believe that Ansdell’s painting was the inspiration for this Kaldenberg pipe, so I searched 60+ Ansdell’s paintings on the Web; this is the only one depicting slaves. (I am surprised that the Smithsonian made the same connection). I scrolled through hundreds of slave paintings by several artists and did not find one that could have been the model for a carver to copy in meerschaum. I also read many reviews of the painting online, none of which indicated that a pipe was produced using this painting as a model. Because the Ansdell painting was certainly not the inspiration for this pipe, what was? After a lengthy search, I gave up looking. It’s a bridge too far.
Three years later, another meerschaum slave pipe was sold by Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati. The auction “American History, Including Treasures of the Civil War,” November 15, 2019, included Lot 291: “Intricately Carved Meerschaum Pipe Depicting Escaped Slaves Being Chased by Dogs. Description: The expertly carved pipe features the bowl at center, surrounded by a dramatic representation of a male and female slave seemingly escaping and being chased by vicious dogs. The original patina emphasizes the painful expressions of the black male holding a broken chain and axe while the female is guardedly bending down close behind him.” Familiar story? The House estimate was $800–$1,200; the realized price was $1,900. 
No attribution to a painter or a portrait, no articles about it in the Press, but there was slight online interest: “Pipe of Runaway slaves being pursued” (collectorsweekly.com.). Accompanying the image was a question from Mkahn1977: “Can anyone tell me who the sculptor of this pipe was, and around when it was available? I know it’s adapted from the famous painting ‘The Runaway Slaves’ by Richard Ansdell.” Obviously, he was a trifle confused. Of the three posts, the smartest was from kwqd: “If it is not signed or monogrammed, it will probably be very difficult to attribute to a specific artist. Post 1861, of course.”
 
Returning to the Wolverton pipe, in the more than 250 years of meerschaum pipe production in Europe and the United States, this meerschaum pipe is one-of-a-kind, and probably the only pipe depicting Blacks that Kaldenberg produced in its lengthy history from the mid-1850s to the turn of the century. It was worth $6,000 to the winning bidder but, having focused on the condition report, I would say “no.” The pipe’s dimensions are not provided. It is three-dimensional, so more than one photo should have been provided. The meerschaum coloring cup is missing. The House did not offer a complete and accurate condition report; It is not in “excellent condition.” The mouthpiece appears to be of two different materials and is more than “loose in its fitting”; it’s severely bent and its shape does not conform to the fitted case. These details would influence a knowledgeable bidder’s offer. 
What I can also state is that, as a reputable auction house, Quinn’s should have provided an accurate provenance—it’s easily researched—and state the obvious: “Provenance unknown.” I don’t know the source of the House’s claim, but truth in advertising demands that public auction houses avoid providing misleading or false information, and should include high-quality images and detailed descriptions: caveat venditor. Usually, those bidding do a little advance homework about those pipes in which they have interest. At a public auction the bidder should always apply due diligence, be rational, not emotional, and, when in doubt, question: caveat emptor. 
In conducting this anatomy, I have been harshly critical. Although it was not quite auction fraud—the pipe was not as advertised—$7,500 is not a trivial matter… it’s not chump change. 
Category:Ben Rapaport