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A Wally Frank Apology

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piffyr

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
I have a bit of thing for Wally Frank pipes and ephemera. This past week, I picked up a couple of really nice examples of both.
First, there’s a letter typed on Wally Frank letterhead dated from July 12, 1941. The letter apologizes to the customer because of the necessary replacement of one of the purchased items due to the situation with the war in Europe. I think the letter is fascinating not just because of its age and Wally Frank connection, but also because it’s an indicator of what was going on in the American pipe market at the time.
FZQkX4T.jpg

Second, there’s the nice, old Special Straight Grain pipe pictured below the letter. This neat, little, Brit-made Liverpool dates to 1933-36. I love to snatch up the old boys whenever I get the chance.
Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked about both.

 
ophiuchus

ophiuchus

Lifer
Mar 25, 2016
1,560
2,059
Wow! Old wartime customer service, worthy of framing and displaying. Thanks for sharing images of real business communication history. That's a fine looking pipe, too! :clap:

 
A

aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
That is an exceptionally interesting piece of ephemera, to me at least. Well worth preserving.
And as for the other comments, it would be nice to see that included somewhere in the curriculum of a business degree. Perhaps it could take the place of "Deliberate Ignorance of What's Happening on the Floor 101" or the seminar on "Pathways in Haughty Dismissal of Perfectly Sensible Ideas".

 
jackswilling

jackswilling

Lifer
Feb 15, 2015
1,777
24
How cool is that. I have an ephemera disorder. EAD

Many members are old enough to remember that world, i.e. typewriters, personal customer service and so on. "Over 25,000 Pipes and 5 Tons of Tobacco in Stock"

 
daveinlax

daveinlax

Charter Member
May 5, 2009
2,001
2,711
WISCONSIN
Very very cool! I understand your thing for ephemera. Do you know where this came from. There were a couple of large paper collections that got dispersed years ago. I got a couple of my gems from them.

I enjoy my Castello ephemera collection almost as much as I do the pipes. I've got a real neat small black Lucite "agency for Castello pipes" point of sale sign that came from the flagship WF shop in Manhattan in the collection.
How refreshing. Not an email and genuine concern for their customer!
Click to expand...

LoL! It's a form letter. It's not personalized so the same letter was sent to 100's of customers. 8O

 
piffyr

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
@daveinlax -- No, sorry, I don't. I agree that the ephemera can be as attractive as the pipes. More rare as well. When the grandkids are digging through that attic, they might see some small value in a pipe, but the paper items and associated folderol usually get trashed.

 
tuold

tuold

Lifer
Oct 15, 2013
2,133
166
Beaverton,Oregon
That's a very nice piece of pipe history there.
I've read that there was at least one other shortage of briar pipes earlier on in 1906 when pipe makers went on strike at St Claude and Nuremberg. That caused scarcity and high prices for some time.

 
sablebrush52

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,775
45,371
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I've read that there was at least one other shortage of briar pipes earlier on in 1906 when pipe makers went on strike at St Claude and Nuremberg. That caused scarcity and high prices for some time.
Click to expand...
2V2iMCC.jpg

Here's an article from that time, with a quote from a Director of BBB. It was because of this strike that Barling ceased importing bowls and commenced making all of their own stock. The other marques continued to import after the strike was settled.

 
tuold

tuold

Lifer
Oct 15, 2013
2,133
166
Beaverton,Oregon
There was also a pretty bad earthquake in Italy at the time, which I believe was a source of briar. That also put a dent in production.
It's nice we have access to these old news accounts.
U8K3GXb.jpg


 
piffyr

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
@sablebrush52, @tuold -- Great clips, guys! Thanks for sharing.
I'm now curious about what the deal was behind the rise in vulcanite costs. I would have thought production would have started evening out by then. If anything, I would have expected prices to be coming down.

 
piffyr

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
Puffer, I nearly bid on that letter. I am glad it went to a loving home.
Click to expand...

Thanks for stepping aside, mate! :wink: Though, I'm sure it would have been just as happy at either abode.

 
piffyr

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
Maybe a pic of all your Wally Frank pipes/material together you have?
Click to expand...

Only if I can get it all together while the Lady of the Manor is out of the house or there will be some heinous hell to pay!

 
buroak

buroak

Lifer
Jul 29, 2014
1,867
14
Piffyr, The letter may not care, but I think it means even more to you than to me. By the way, sorry about botching your screen name; autocorrect strikes again.

 
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