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The Fake Meerschaum Pipe Attributed to Gustav Fischer
The story of a cast-molded pipe, bearing a Gustav Fischer signature but not actually meerschaum at all, that has resurfaced repeatedly at auctions and online marketplaces since the mid-1990s, and the signs that give it away.
The fake meerschaum pipe attributed to Gustav Fischer is considered the longest-running and most widely circulated forgery case in antique pipe collecting. Featuring dancing couples on the bowl, a dark reddish-brown color, and a metal band on the shank, this piece has kept resurfacing since the mid-1990s.
It's not a single specimen but a run of many copies from the same mold; though it's often described in listings as meerschaum, the pipe is neither meerschaum nor any of the known imitation-stone compositions of its supposed period.
The Start of the Suspicion
Records show the piece was first submitted for expert opinion in October 1994: a London auction house sent a photograph of the pipe in its possession, asking for information about its maker. The correspondence stated that the pipe was carved from amber, and that it bore the signature "Gustav Fisher Jnr" on the bowl and "Gustav Fisher, Vienna, Exposition 1873" on the mouthpiece. The piece was not put up for sale following the review. The place the piece was first exhibited with photographs in print was Ben Rapaport's 1999 book from Schiffer Publishing, Collecting Antique Meerschaum Pipes: Miniature to Majestic Sculpture.
Contradictions in the Signature
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Source: Pipedia, adapted under the CC BY-SA licence.