A pipe with a surprise
 

Here is my latest aquisition - it's an ornate opium pipe presumably from India or Thailand (or elsewhere in Asia - can anyone suggest a proper origin)? Straight, 14" long wooden shaft encased in low grade silver or tin with a bulbous finale shaped to resemble a poppy seed pod. Nicely shaped peacock with a small "dish" on its back for the burning of whatever substance its owner fancied. And, a nice feature which attracted me to this item is a hidden blade inside the pipe. It is single edged and of a relatively poor quality but appears to be sufficient enough for sticking between someone's ribs in a dimly lit and smokey opium den or in a back alley somewhere :D

Despite a nice patina, I would imagine that the pipe is not terribly old. My guess is early to mid 20th century but I could be wrong.

I think Stu has shown one of these before and referenced a book with one in it too.
Gav

For the reference of what a poppy seed pod looks like:

Very interesting! Thanks for a link

Stan,
Here is one that I picked up a few years back. It is similar to yours, minus the peacock. I was told by an Afghan rug dealer that the blade was used for cleaning out the tiny bowl......although I'm sure that it would work in a pinch. Nothing worse than a bunch of knife fighting dope fiends. ;)

Thai, contemporary/second half of 20th century, most likely (based on the metal work which is probably not silver and, if it is, will be very low quality).

Here is a riding crop in my collection which is no more than 10-20 years old.