Completely agree with WullieWinky's warning guide. A few additional points of my own to help buyers.

If you buy a set of antique pipes, with ivory mounts etc (pre 1948 ish) they are a thing of beauty, but remember they are hand made. You should expect a little wear and tear, and that they will not be the most easy instrument to maintain and tune etc...but worth every penny.

If you buy a set of vintage pipes expect much the same, the bores of the (tenor) drones will be slightly different, the chanter may be slightly sharper or flatter than its natural match for the drones. But this is cancelled out by picking the right chanter reed to compliment your set (if in Scotland I can highly recommend James Begg in Bath Street Glasgow), however any good, reputable pipe shop should see you alright. Again worth the money.

The only real way to verify a set of pipes is to take them to someone who knows what they are talking about. For example I took my own pipes, that I thought were early 1940's, into Kintail and the old fella they use for specialist stuff and reconditioning told me "Naw Son, your pipes are early 50's, I can tell by the shape of the stocks and the material used for the imitation ivory, they stopped using that in 1954 because...etc, etc..."

If you are spending significant money and want to know they are genuine Hardie, Lawrie, Henderson, Sinclair etc then ask for a verification from a local dealer, that you can verify i.e. don't rely on the fact that Big Mick says they are from 1936. Also check the internet to make sure you are phoning a real pipe shop.

From looking on Ebay there are some fellas selling top drawer pipes, but they are not pipers. They are guys who obviously do house clearances etc and find some gems in the loft, or are buying them up at auctions etc and fair play to them. I hope they are the real McCoy, but they can tell you nothing about their content, quality, condition etc. Some of the pipes simply say "Antique Sinclair pipes for sale", and people are bidding like mad, perhaps people can tell from one photograph with a cacky washed out tartan bag but I can't.

Do not buy Rosewood pipes, new blackwood, beautifully engraved blackwood stocks for £200 etc, etc. Don't buy any of the crap from Pakistan, China etc unless you want to nail it to the wall as an ornament. It looks fabulous, too good to be true...and it is. It is cheap CNC'd crap. The only hand made thing about it is that some wee guy put it in a vice then pushed the button.

If you are not looking for vintage or antique (although there is a certain prestige in piping circles about having stuff with a history), look at Naill, MacCallum, Kintail, James Begg, St Kilda, Henderson etc. You are only limited in the quality and finish etc by how much you are prepared to spend. ASK SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT BUY CHEAP STUFF THAT LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.......................................................................................