The joys and dangers of Ebay pipes

[OC Richard]

Yes indeed that material in banned from crossing all International borders including the USA.

What I don't know is if, from the standpoint of CITES, the UK is part of the EU or if the EU contains International Borders.

In any case here's a nice vintage Gillanders & McLeod set at $600 with no bids.

Highland Bagpipe Makers tells us that Robert "Bert" Gillanders (b.1898) worked for the Thows then started his own business in 1926. In 1972 Iain McLeod joined the firm, the name changing to Gillanders & McLeod.

For me a seller having so few transactions is a red flag. (True that everybody has to start somewhere! But there are sellers who burn their bridges, close their account, and reappear in a new guise.)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31383665822...UAAOSwk~1h5MZW

[Tomo]

What I don't know is if, from the standpoint of CITES, the UK is part of the EU or if the EU contains International Borders.

The EU joined in 2015 as a result of an amendment allowing regional economic integration organisations to become parties. As such (and because the EU is a free trade zone) there are no internal barriers to the movement of goods.

However, the UK has since left the EU - but is a party to CITES in its own right (as are each of the member states of the EU). This means that the trade within the EU is ok but trade between the EU and the UK is not.

[OC Richard]

Thanks for the clear explanation!

So a person couldn't take their ivory-mounted pipes from Eire to Northern Ireland?

Things are much simpler in North America...well they were until NAFTA, which was an attempt at a semi-EU thing.

In any case here's a Scottish-made set for well under $1,000 with air-tight provenance in great condition that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/36369194854...oAAOSwdfdh4ukx

Why you say? Because I've come across a couple Clan Bagpipes sets and I didn't think much of those drones. They were very difficult to reed, suggesting that there was something off with the specs.

If any pipers out there have played good Clan Bagpipes drones please tell us about it. My sample-size was just two sets.

[Nemuragh]

Thanks for the clear explanation!
So a person couldn't take their ivory-mounted pipes from Eire to Northern Ireland?

I suppose that would be governed by the Northern Ireland Protocol!

[OC Richard]

A "joy" to report about Ebay pipes!

I'm a Lawrie guy. My first set in 1975 were new Lawries and I've owned quite a few Lawries since, ranging from around 1900 to the 1960s.

I just got these Lawries, said to be 1950s or 1960s. (EDIT: similar sets have been brought to my attention which are from the 1930s.)

So far they're sounding and performing as I expected they would, with good volume, great harmonics, and super functioning (easy strike-ins and very stable). In short a joy to play.

These pipes have been up on Ebay for quite some time, and listed other places, but for some reason nobody was interested.

They're dense Blackwood with the typical Lawrie spun-nickel ferrules. The bushes are ivory but the rings are plastic. It was typical for Lawrie to mix various materials that way; they mixed ivory, Catalin, and this other imitation ivory that doesn't darken with age.

[JPS]

A "joy" to report about Ebay pipes!

I'm a Lawrie guy. My first set in 1975 were new Lawries and I've owned quite a few Lawries since, ranging from around 1900 to the 1960s.

I just got these Lawries, said to be 1950s or 1960s.

So far they're sounding and performing as I expected they would, with good volume, great harmonics, and super functioning (easy strike-ins and very stable). In short a joy to play.

These pipes have been up on Ebay for quite some time, and listed other places, but for some reason nobody was interested.

They're dense Blackwood with the typical Lawrie spun-nickel ferrules. The bushes are ivory but the rings are plastic. It was typical for Lawrie to mix various materials that way; they mixed ivory, Catalin, and this other imitation ivory that doesn't darken with age.

Wonderful looking pipes, Richard. Hope to have a set of Lawries a lot like those one day, though for obvious reasons, I'm avoiding ebay while shopping for my first set of pipes.

[WalesLax]

Wonderful looking pipes, Richard. Hope to have a set of Lawries a lot like those one day, though for obvious reasons, I'm avoiding ebay while shopping for my first set of pipes.

Avoiding eBay while shopping for pipes is an intelligent decision, in general. That said, OC Richard and a few others on here are fantastic resources for identifying some potentially good opportunities on eBay, and possibly more importantly, avoiding some major issues.

Adding my own $0.02, I bought a set of pipes off of eBay that were brought to my attention via this thread, and I was happy with what I got. If you scroll back a few pages, you can see the pictures, but the gist of the story is, I spent a few hundred dollars on what I knew was a bit of a lottery ticket. Once they were in my hands, I could see that they weren’t a jackpot, however they were definitely quality pipes that look and sound gorgeous, and should have cost significantly more than I paid for them.

While not an expert, I am always happy to help out when and where I can, which I think is true for the vast majority of people on this thread and in this forum.

….if nothing else, I find the pipes posted in here to be incredibly interesting and the discussions fascinating.

Rob