Some Nice British Pipes

[retrogrouch]

I wanted to take a few minutes to share some pipes with y'all. Earlier this week I purchased a group of pipes at a local antique mall. I was told that the pipes had belonged to the seller's uncle who had died in the late 1940's. The uncle lived in Chicago at the time of his demise and was reportedly a man of high tastes. Since the uncle's death, the pipes had been sitting in a box at the seller's home. I went ahead and made the purchase and took the pipes home to figure out what I had bought. In total there were 26 pipes ranging from what I would call novelty pipes, oddball patent kinds of things, to some very nice pipes indeed. All the pipes look like they were purchased, used lightly, and boxed up. The condition supports the story. To say I am pleased with the purchase would be an understatement. Pictured below are three of the pipes from the box. There are also a couple of Dunhills, one a patent era pipe with a brindle/Cumberland stem. These pipes are out of my depth. I usually pick up LHS, WDC, Kaywoodie and similar pipes that I clean up and smoke. I am hesitant to touch these in fear of causing some impact to something that is important to those who collect English pipes. I apologize for the murky photos. The poor quality is entirely the fault of the photographer.

The final pipe in the photos is marked as Special Straight Grain. I assume it is a Comoy's from the shape of the, "Made in England" stamp. However, I would normally expect to see the Comoy's C on the stem. Does anyone have information on this?

 

[ssjones]

Your photos aren't loaded correctly - see the sticky on posting photos. I'd love to see them, so figure this out please!
Special Straight Grain pipes with no C on the stem logo are presumed to be seconds, but very cool typically! (some little briar flaw likely the cause)

 

[retrogrouch]

Thank you sir. I am working to correct the error.

 

[retrogrouch]

.

 

[elessar]

Those are some nice looking pipes!

 

[retrogrouch]

Thanks. That is how they came out of the box.

 

[donjgiles]

Oh... this is gonna be great!!!
Don

 

[ssjones]

Ok - Grand Slam! That first one is a Patent Era Eight Dot Sasieni - super valuable, particularly in that condition. And, a very easy restoration! The Barlings looks like a big win as well.

 

[retrogrouch]

Thank you for the information. The Sasieni shape seems more contemporary than classic and has almost "nose warmer" proportions. I will try to get the photos of the Dunhills up here this weekend. The patent era Dunhill is a 1932 and is marked with an "R" I am having difficulty reading the stamp on the other which is a root briar. Both pipes are about group 2 size.

 

[ssjones]

The Sasieni is probably from the early 20's (Patent number and no town name) I can't locate a shape chart that would list that shape number - is there one stamped on the opposite side?

 

[dmcmtk]

The Sasieni is shape 93, the Edgware. Extra charge across all lines (firsts and seconds). A very short shanked example of the shape. From a post-war flyer,

The bottom pipe is definitely a Comoy's made pipe, but these pipes rarely if ever had the C on the stem. Does it have a shpe number?

 

[retrogrouch]

Correct. On the side of the pipe in the first photo is the town name, “Edgware.” Auto focus did not seem to work for me.

 

[retrogrouch]

The patent number on the Sasieni is 21513428 and there is no stinger in the pipe. On the Barling the number on the bottom of the stem is 98046.

 

[dmcmtk]

...there is no stinger in the pipe.

That's kind of interesting...it definitely looks like the Sasieni dots (99.9% positive). The diameter of the tenon airway, and the drilling in the mortise will tell you more about the pipe.

 

[retrogrouch]

There are no threads in the airway for a screw in stinger. The dots are light blue, I do not know if that is significant.

 

[dmcmtk]

There are no threads in the airway for a screw in stinger

The diameter of the airway should be slightly larger than a "conventional" airway. The pattern, placement, and color of the dots all look correct. Here is mine as a comparison,

 

[retrogrouch]

The dots do look the same, sort of a squashed diamond. The stem does not have the step of many British pipes. I suspect it had a friction fit stinger earlier in its life. Incidentally, that is a very nice pipe.

 

[dmcmtk]

The dots do look the same, sort of a squashed diamond.

Note also the "robin's egg" blue color. Just thinking off the top of my head here, but the Edgware is not in the "mid 1930's" catalog, so maybe there was some variations in the early versions of the shape, which would account for the shorter shank we're seeing here. Comoys made a similar shape, 188. The 188, this one The Guildhall,

 

[dmcmtk]

This is a Sasieni made pipe, shape 93 (marked 903) that I think was a pre-war ~ early post-war rustication experiment.

It doesn't look the way it is in the pictures anymore.

 

[retrogrouch]

You have a good eye. The shank on the pipe in the illustration appears to be about as long as the stack is tall. The shank on the pipe I have here is definitely shorter. Smokingpipes had one on their site that looks like the one in the catalogue.