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As I have written, I am going through my great grandfather and grandfather’s trunks filled with what my father called his family’s debris.  This evening, I came across my great Grandfather’s MEERSCHAUM PIPES.  I have a picture of this earlier Thomas Moore with his Meerschaum pipe–looking more like a captain than a passanger.  The picture was taken when he was on one of his trans-Atlantic crossings in the 1860′s.  His diary has three entries about his pipes;  he records that he enjoyed his Meerschaum Pipes which were made in Vienna by a Meerschaum carver named Simon Schild.  He says in his diary that Meerschaum Pipes were “all the fashion this spring in St. James’s……”

While I was wandering through Covent Garden Plaza, I went to see the tobacco shop which has been on the square all the years I have been in London.  He has new Meerschaum Pipes, still very beautiful but not quite the same without jet and amber trims.  He does have fabulous pipes made of wonderful hard woods, and he is a very pleasant shop keeper.

The words ALL THE FASHION IN LONDON make me smile.  London in 1866–goodness me!

Thomas Moore   email:  TMooreSr@me.com    Telephone:  801.791.9918

http://www.londonconnection.com

I just wrote an article about my family’s collecting tea and candy tins.  But, I wanted to write a separate one about my great grandfather’s favorite tea tin. It is one of the most beautiful tins I have seen, and it was on my father’s desk all my life.  My grandfather used to tell me about World War I, and he would talk about the role the four men on the four sides of the tea canister played in the war to end all wars.  He liked the stories about these heads of state, but King George V was his favorite.  My grandfather told me he was gruff, but his heart beat with England.  My father used to nod his head when he heard that the present Queen used to call him Grandpa England;  she adored him, and so did my father.    My father had great respect for King Albert I of the Belgians who came to America trying to raise support for the rebuilding of Belgium after the war.  The Browning gun family had huge respect for him and knew him well.  When it came to the French President, my father had little to say, but he did make a funny motion with his hand, and we all understood.  I remember asking my grandmother about the Czar;  my grandfather interrupted and said there is always serious damage if you marry the wrong lady.  I eventually figured that one out when it came to the Czar’s life!

After all that, I would like to post images of the four sides of my great grandfather’s tea tin canister which my father prized and eventually gave to me.  Enjoy.  It certainly is merry old England.

King George V – The King Emperor

King Albert I of Belgium

Czar Nicholas II of Russia

President Poincare, President of the French

I have enjoyed putting this post together.  I hope you like it.

Thomas Moore   email:  TMooreSr@me.com    Telephone:  801.791.9918

http://www.londonconnection.com

After scratching at the Jubilee Market for a special antique, I wander through the shops in Covent Garden Plaza.  I am not a smoker, but I love the smell of a good pipe; and believe it or not, I love to smell a stinky cigar.  When I was younger, there were tobacco shops all over London.  I do see pipes for sale and snuff, but I know of only two old fashioned tobacco shops.

SEGAR and SNUFF is a very small tobacco shop in the Covent Garden Plaza.  It is one of the last remaining tobacco specialists featuring a selection of loose pipe tobaccos expertly blended to order.  There is a large selection of Havana cigars.

I love popping in the shop, looking at the beautiful pipes, and taking in the fragrance of the wonderful pipe tobacco which reminds me of my Uncle Hollis. Reminds me of Marcel Proust’s IN SEARCH OF TIMES PAST.  The pipe tobacco is my Marcel Proust “madeline.”

Take a moment and have your picture taken with the Highlander outside the tobacco shop.  In the West, we have the Indian outside out tobacco shops.

Marvelous.

Thomas Moore   email:  TMooreSr@me.com    Telephone:  801.791.9918

http://www.londonconnection.com