The museum’s collection features a smoking pipe, which presumably belonged to the writer Arkady Petrovich Gaidar. It was produced at the VIEILLE RACINE factory. The pipe is straight, with a bowl made of briar wood shaped like an apple, colored light brown transitioning into dark brown. The mouthpiece is made of black ebonite. The factory’s stamp is on the side of the shank.

This item was donated to the museum by Valery Gennadievich Klimov, a resident of Arzamas, a member of the Russian Union of Writers, the Russian Literary Club, and the Russian Military Historical Society. The pipe was passed down to him from his father, who had received it from his grandfather, Alexander Ivanovich Klimov.

In March 1926, Arkady Gaidar and his friend from Arzamas Real School and the Komsomol organization of Arzamas, Nikolai Fyodorovich Kondratyev, an employee of the Perm newspaper “Zvezda, ” set off from Perm on a long journey through Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The friends had to resign from “Zvezda.” Arkady Gaidar had some money after publishing the novellas “Lbovshchina” and “R.V.S.”, and both also received fees for their work.

In Samarkand, their funds ran out, and the financial situation of the friends became critical. Despite the difficulties, they continued their journey, taking odd jobs as journalists and port loaders.

In May 1926, a meeting took place between 15-year-old Alexander Klimov, who at that time lived with his parents in Baku, and 22-year-old writer Arkady Gaidar. On his father’s instructions, Alexander was near the seaport. There, two men approached him on the street, one of whom introduced himself as Arkady Golikov from Perm. He asked where he could sell a smoking pipe. Alexander took them to a junk dealer who bought the pipe for a small sum. Afterward, the boy spent about three hours with his new acquaintances, showing them around the city.

They parted as friends. The next day, Alexander broke his piggy bank, returned to the center of Baku, and bought Gaidar’s smoking pipe from a junk dealer. He went to the place where his new acquaintances were temporarily staying and returned the pipe to its owner. Alexander also gave Arkady the rest of his money. In gratitude, Arkady Petrovich gave Alexander his pipe, saying it was “a gift to remember him by.” Ten years later, Alexander Klimov saw a photograph of the children’s writer Arkady Gaidar in a newspaper and immediately recognized him as his old acquaintance, “Arkady Golikov from Perm.” Alexander Klimov recorded this meeting in his personal diary, and the story remained well-preserved in his memory. He later shared it with his son and grandson.