PIPE: RAVEN-EFFIGY, SOUTH-WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Description

PIPE: RAVEN-EFFIGY,
SOUTH-WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Length:
9 ¾”
Width:
1 ½”
Height:
2 ¼”
Weight:
1 lb
7.9 oz
For thousands of years the indigenous people of western North Carolina have been smoking tobacco.
Often their method of inhaling nicotine was done with elaborately carved steatite pipes.
This most recent listing comes from a very old collection of long-stemmed effigy pipes, some of which have been showcased here.
This extraordinarily carved RAVEN-EFFIGY PIPE, came out of a southwestern earthen mound during one of those Sunday morning
relic hunting expeditions.”
While seen through 21
st
century, politically correct eyes, back then it was the go-to social gathering jaunt, done before the morning service homily.
The pipe has a beaked raven face with a sturdy, squarish smoke hole.
Engraved feathers can be seen along the pipe stem.
The raven symbol signifies that danger has passed and that good luck would follow.
Some Native American legends elevate raven mythology to their own origin, in their Creation myth:
the raven escaped from the darkness of he cosmos and became the bringer of light to the world.
Contemporary scholars are divided as to why so many of these mound pipes were carved into elaborate birds, animals, faces and such.
One group believes the effigy image was very important to the owner, like the raven image listed here.
Perhaps this bird was important to the owner.
Or maybe these early people simply liked beautiful “mobile” art—and perhaps a level of status bestowed the owner as he/she puffed away getting their nicotine fix.
The lack of significant dings, cracks and such for many of these pipes suggests they were probably little used and only taken out during special spiritual occasions.
That said, this listed pipe was repaired long before this site acquired it.
Near the base of the raven’s head—below the smoke hole—is a hairline crack that was expertly put together—see photos.
Minor dings/abrasion scratches, repaired