Peterson Shape 56 Mystery - Now Solved!

[ssjones]

I bid on this pipe, thinking that it was most likely a 9BC, one of my favorite shapes, from any British manufacturer. I'd never heard of nor seen a 56. Well, as the pictures showed, it was indeed a shape 56, but identical in nearly all dimensions to my 9BC's. I found no references to this shape in Mark Irwins book, and almost no where on the web. Mark, who is always up for a Peterson mystery, also couldn't offer much about the origin of this shape. Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him?
I found two other 56's, one sold by Smokers Haven (a Republic era pipe like mine) and a pre-Republic version from the late Barry Levin's estate. I thought perhaps the 56 was a transition piece between the 9BC and XL90, which is the modern version. But the two different era stamps shoots down that theory.
The pipe was in pretty decent shape. All the before/after and other Shape 56 pipes are detailed on the Reborn Pipes blog:

https://rebornpipes.com/2019/07/25/peterson-shape-56-mystery/
Before

After

All pipes from that family, from the top

XL90

Pre-Republic 9BC Shamrock

Pre-Republic 9BC Kapruff

Republic 56 Kapruff

Smokers Haven 56

Barry Levins 56

 

[Civil War]

Can't help with the mystery but WOW that grain is spectacular! I have never seen a sandblast with those kind of swirls, just simply beautiful.

 

[disinformatique]

Very nice Al, you have a rare collection !!
Cheers,

Chris

 

[ssjones]

Mark must have been on vacation and without his resources, but he did respond with a theory about this shape and a date range. I updated the blog entry with:
Mark Irwin did get back to me with a theory about this shape. He noticed that the 9BC shape is only listed in US or Rogers catalogs. I noticed in the recent 1939 Peterson/Rogers catalog recently shared thru his blog that that the Kapruf finish is described "the earthy finish of Kapruf is achieved by a special carving proceess". In the 1940 Peterson catalog scan he shared several years ago, the Kapruf finish is described as sandblasted. He further comments below.
I thought I’d figured it out, but my best guess at this point has to do with the two-digit shape numbers assigned to Classic Range pipes through the 1950s. None of the catalogs I have shows a 56, of course, but there the 1955 London & Dublin catalogs shows a 65, 69 and 70 bent billiard. I’m speculating that the 56 was part of that numbering system, which may explain why you found the button slightly different than the 9BC. I also believe the 9BC to be a US-market Rogers Imports number, as I don’t see it in any of the European or non-Rogers catalogs.

Oh well, a brilliant pipe and a wonderful problem to have. Whatever they used to do the blast is also quite singular. I have an 02 Shamrock that’s close, with those circular, almost lunar patterns, but how they achieve that is shrouded, as is so much in our hobby, in pipe smoke and mystery.

 

[ssjones]

Well, the Shape 56 mystery is now resolved. Despite all my google efforts, I yielded only two other hits on the Shape 56, as detailed below. Mark Irwin was also stumped but came up with the theory below, that the Shape 56 was for the British market only. Well, further sleuthing from the worlds foremost Peterson authority yielded an answer – which came directly from a blog entry here on Reborn Pipes, but our very own Steven Laug. In 2015, Steve posted a catalog from Canadian importer, Genin, Trudeau & Co. which shows their unique numbering system. I even comment that the Shape 56 looks like a 9BC! So, all the while, the answer was hiding on the blog! Below is that brochure page showing the Shape 56. Steven comments that the postal code used in the address dates the brochure to between 1962 and 1969. I guess not many Canadians appreciated the shape, so they are pretty uncommon. Thanks to Mark Irwin for his superior memory and to Steve for making this type of ephemera available, you never know when it will come in handy.

 

[dcon]

Very nice acquisition That Kapruf texture is really uinique.