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Looking For Someone To Give Me A Rough Value On A Hookah Bought At A Yard Sale.


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So, I bought an antique hookah at a yard sale about 6 months ago. I paid 75 bucks for it..It's a Syrian hookah, a hand-painted green base with a Qajar portrait on it. The hookah stands about 30" tall, the stem is bi-metal (copper and brass) with a wide ash-catcher and has an intricately beaded hose. I love it, and am not really looking to part with it, but I'm looking for a rough value for insurance purposes...can anyone help me out with this? Many thanks in advance! [url="https://picasaweb.google.com/100481625979764376323/AntiqueSyrianHookah?authuser=0&feat=directlink"]https://picasaweb.google.com/100481625979764376323/AntiqueSyrianHookah?authuser=0&feat=directlink[/url]
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Actually, it's closer to 48" tall. I broke out a ruler and measured it....I tried to Google it, finding a similar blue base, but no info on green ones at all. Edited by Allen Davis
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Hmm..I am no expert, but the ash tray and lack of purge valve make me think Turkish rather than Syrian. The shank tells a different story than what I am used to seeing though..What is the bowl made out of? And is it a male bowl (the bowl fits into an opening) or a female bowl (the top of the stem goes into the bottom of the bowl)?

Also, the vase is Persian, that is a picture of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, which throws some other things into the mix assuming the vase is original.


Take what I said with a grain of salt though, there are members here who could probably answer your questions better than I can.
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Hi....thanks for responding.
The bowl is solid brass, with slightly rough holes that appear to be hand-drilled as opposed to machined. There is a sticker on the base that says (in English) "Made in Syria". The sticker looks rather aged, with an older style font. I purchased this from a yard sale, held by people of Middle Eastern descent (I want to say Pakistani, but I'm not 100% sure.) The older gentleman (60s) said it belonged to his father, and came with him from overseas....they had always used it as a house decoration. Now my curiosity is getting to me LOL
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That could easily be Syrian. Purge valves are a newer thing and not universal in the Eastern Med area. Also, for whatever reason, Nasseruddin Shah Qajar appears even in former Ottoman lands (such as Syria).
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I would say it is worth $75; at least to you. If the scrap price of the copper and brass are higher then that would be the value.

It's not like you can get a direct replacement it yours gets swept away in a flood so the price of your pipe is irrelevant.

What you ate looking for is the replacement cost. Look around and find a hookah you would get if you lost this one then whatever the price pf that hookah is would be the cost to tell the insurance company.

If I were you, I would tell them it was $450.
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@ vendetta, I did smoke out of it once, using a replacement hose....it hit smoothly, and due to the 40" of metal it had to pass through, surprisingly cool. I tried some Naklah Scheherezade cardamom in it, and it tasted better than it ever did in my everyday hookahs. I then tried some Naklah Double Apple, and it seemed to ease the clove back of it a bit. I had to use moistened paper towels to seal the upstem to the base, and to seal the bowl on the top to avoid air leakage. I'm guessing that cloth used to be used for this purpose at one point. I really wish the hose could be restored...it's my favorite part of the hookah! Seems to have succumbed to some dry-rotting on the inside, though. Edited by Allen Davis
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If it smokes I'd say its worth a couple hundred at least. Its a cool pipe and pretty unique. Unfortunately it sounds like your hose has rusted. What you can do its try to take it apart and put it back together on another hose. People use vinyl hoses from home depot to make some hoses, you can try that. At least i think its vinyl.
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