Peterson Pipe Notes: 1939 Rogers Catalog & http://www.petersonpipenotes.org/201

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ssjones

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Mark just posted some scans from a 1938 Rogers catalog shared with him by Deadmanpipes (ebay seller). He's already had to annotate his book because of some details in this catalog:
http://www.petersonpipenotes.org/2019/07/136-filling-the-gap-the-1939-rogers-import-peterson-catalog-download#comment-1922
Has anyone heard of this organization:

British Pipe Importers Association?? I'm hoping Jon Guss might see this.
British-Briar-Pipe-Importers-Assoc-Logo.png


 

jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
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Hi Al,
Yes, I'm familiar with the BBPIA. As its name implies it was a trade association of American importers of British pipes who banded together to promote their common interest. A particular emphasis was on "...correcting the evils resulting from misleading advertising matter concerning smoking pipes." As an illustration, one pressing issue was trying to prevent American manufacturers from using the term "briar" to describe the substitutes they found during WW2.
Presidents and other officers (a vice president, secretary, treasurer, and directors) were elected to annual terms. The first president was Irving Lewis; his day job was running Oppenheimer & Co., which imported Oppenheimer, GBD, and other related pipes to the US. The second was John H Moore who owned London House Ltd, which (at that time) imported Sasieni. The third was Harry Rogers (founder of Rogers Imports), then distributor of Kapp & Peterson. All key importers of British pipes into the American market were involved; others included Comoy, Barling & Ben Wade.
As for the company Rogers and his heirs built, that's another story.
Rgds,

Jon

 

ssjones

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Thanks Jon, I thought you might have some familiarity. The trademark is still listed as active, but I suspect dormant or abandoned would be more likely.

 

jguss

Lifer
Jul 7, 2013
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Hi Al,
I took the time to dig up my original notes on the creation of the BBPIA. I found a more detailed mission statement issued in January 1939 at the time the BBPIA was formed, and this provides important additional color on the objectives of the organization. It was essentially aimed at fighting US pipe manufacturers who attempted to mislead US customers into thinking their pipes were made in England; the association's concern was deliberate blurring of the fact that the briar was imported with the manufacturing origin of the actual pipe. They wanted US customers to be able to clearly distinguish between "imported briar pipes" and "pipes made from imported briar". In its way this is a direct analog of the fight within the British industry, which took place over a decade earlier, regarding what precisely gave a manufacturer the right to stamp a pipe as of domestic (i.e. British) origin.
Here is what the BBPIA had to say on the subject in January of 1939:
"The purpose of the association is to eliminate the practice of selling pipes made in this country from imported briar as imported pipes of British manufacture, to stop the stamping of pipes made here with the names and trademarks of popular English manufacturers, and to stop misleading advertisements of pipes purporting to be of British manufacture"
The point of the somewhat garish BBPIA emblem was to identify goods that were legitimately made in Britain (stationary, publicity, and boxes were supposed to bear the association logo, hence its registration as a trademark). I haven't attempted to track the degree to which party discipline in this regard was enforced on BBPIA members (the importers of Oppenheimer/GBD, Sasieni, Comoy, Peterson, Ben Wade, & Barling), but wouldn't be surprised if like most "reforms" it started with a bang and gradually petered out over time. Certainly the beginning of the war, and its impact on the trade, might have been a factor.
Rgds,

Jon

 

dmcmtk

Lifer
Aug 23, 2013
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Great post and information. I should check the shape numbers of the two Peterson's in this picture. The Canadian sure looks like 994.
pipestosell-008.jpg

I can't remember what the pipe is between the two Peterson's and the Charatan 58 at the bottom.
:)

 

ssjones

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Looks like 994 to my eye, check it out!
I just picked up a shape 56, that has stumped even Mark. (perhaps a crossover from the 9BC to XL90 transition)

Not in his book at all. Everytime I review the book, I find another little nugget of info.

 
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