$500.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Mid to Late 19th Century
2.375" H x 23.125" L x 1.3125" D
Hand Built from a Reddish Brown Wood with an Ivory Mouth Piece and a Sterling Silver Bowl with a Decorative Base to the Bowl
In Good Condition with a Missing Ivory Cap for the Mouthpiece
Chinese in America
Small numbers of Chinese arrived earlier (some as sailors or students in the 1820s–1840s), but large-scale immigration began with the California Gold Rush after 1848. News of "Gold Mountain" (Gum San) drew thousands from rural villages facing poverty, famine, overpopulation, and unrest in China. By 1852, about 25,000 Chinese lived in the U.S., mostly in California. They worked placer mines, often reworking claims abandoned by others.
Early on, they faced a Foreign Miners' Tax and growing resentment. Many shifted to other jobs when mining became unprofitable or hostile. By the 1850s–1860s, Chinese worked in agriculture, factories (garments, shoes, cigars), and laundries.
RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION
Chinese laborers were crucial to building the western half of the First Transcontinental Railroad (Central Pacific Railroad, 1865–1869). At peak, they made up 80–90% of the workforce—around 10,000–15,000 men. They performed the most dangerous tasks: grading roadbeds, laying track, and blasting tunnels through the Sierra Nevada mountains in extreme weather (snow, heat, rockslides). Many were lowered in baskets over cliffs to set explosives.
Pay was lower than for white workers ($26–$35/month vs. higher for whites, who often received board). Chinese had to supply their own food and shelter. Hundreds (estimates vary, possibly over 1,000) died from accidents, avalanches, explosions, and exposure. Their labor helped complete the railroad in record time; the Golden Spike was driven in 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah—though Chinese workers were largely absent from celebratory photos.
Chinese pipes featuring sterling silver and ivory are typically luxury antiques dating from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). These high-end materials were reserved for the elite and were used primarily for opium smoking, as the craftsmanship involved turned these functional objects into ritualistic art forms.
Condition:
Good
Tribe:
Non-Native
Year Range:
1875 - 1900
Region:
SE Asia - Indonesia
Dimensions:
2.38 in23.13 in1.31 in
