Just found some other history about these pipes. From an older article. Supposedly from an interview of the Mr. Headley himself. Hoppes
"...but in fact the small business closed down some years ago. At one time most of the famous people in Hollywood bought their pipes from me, but the last customer I met in London was Danny Kaye a year or so ago when he bought some of my last pipes. The late and dearly remembered Bing Crosby used to have several made each year, including two silver-mounted special light-grain ones for his own smoking...In the best days, Karry Rose, Henri Mancini, Sam Lutz and so many Hollywood actors and producers used to smoke these pipes, but I think 'pirate' imitations stole my trade. You ask how it all started and I will tell you.
In about 1938 Bing Crosby was playing golf at St. Andrews in Scotland with Mr. Herbert Merchant, who was smoking a long, slim and finely balanced briar; Bing liked the pipe and asked Merchant to make him one, to which he agreed, and the pipes were thus supplied throughout the war and after. Merchant died in 1944, and to keep the story brief, I became director of the group that took over the old business. I was intrigued to see reference in the files to the Hollywood trade (by this time Bing's friends were also having the pipes made) and decided to resurrect the trade and if possible expand it without losing the personal custom element. My then chairman ordered me to close it down, but I disobeyed, and quietly had some pipes made to the original pattern by a small firm of craftsmen. The board didn't know what I had done, of course, and then I started a long period of wonderful correspondence and some meetings with American pipe smokers.
Some years later, the Herbert Merchant business was sold by my then Group, to Imperial Tobacco - one of the giants in the tobacco trade. When my chairman asked me what I wanted as my leaving gift, I asked for the Merchant Service pipe business. He was surprised and reminded me that it had been closed down years before; When I told him I had not carried out his orders but had kept the trade going, he was at first very angry, but then saw the irony of it all and forgave me. He arranged for the name and the rights to be sold to me for £1.
I thereupon took the USA registration for the Herbert Merchant name, which was in fact Merchant Service.
I formed a limited company with my partner, the Hon. Patrick Penny, and thus was born Holland Penny Ltd.
We opened swank offices in Berkely St. off Grosvenor, and for a time thought we were going to establish a top pipe shop, but we found we could not expand the business without endangering the personal custom factor, and before long closed the premises.
I bought the shares held by Penny. My craftsmen then stopped making pipes, and that was really the end of the business."
