Another Ben Wade challenge

Hi Hoppes,
Another cool pipe! I'm traveling on business and can't look up all the answers to your questions right now, but I can tell you that EW was Edwin Wade, oldest son of Benjamin and Eliza (nee Heselwood) Wade. HW was Herbert Wade, their second son. After Ben died in 1880 his widow Eliza took over the business; in 1883 Edwin, very young indeed, joined her. Herbert entered the business in 1885, and when Eliza retired the two brothers became partners. Edwin managed the factory while Herbert handled sales. When Edwin died in 1927 Herbert became sole proprietor, and upon his death in 1933 Herbert's sons Philip (who joined the firm in 1922) and RB (Richard Benjamin, who joined in 1928) took over.
I have a few scraps of information on the Free Bore and the 1 in 12 somewhere at home, and will try to dig it up when I'm back.
Jon

A most worthy project. There's a beauty of a pipe under all those years. Let us see it eventually when you've had time to bring it along.

I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out.

I think that hallmark on the band is a Y with a squiggle under it is a Birmingham one which is for 1898-1899? This is very probably the original band for the pipe. In those days, they used a glue-type paste to fix the band to the shank and this stuff can disintegrate after a hundred years which causes the band to become loose and become a 'larger diameter' and consequently go further on the shank. This band is probably loose? and originally the hallmarks would be presented on the front/selling side of the pipe. I have not seen this stamping before and this could be a very early example of Ben Wade stamping on the reverse side. It could be a proto-type for this line of pipes - Free-Bore.

Apologies, it is in fact Sheffield Crown Y for 1916 - my error. I am sure jguss will shed more light on Free-Bore.

The Charatan Underboar may have been a response to this line!

Nice job & pipe

Hi Hoppes,
I said I'd follow up with whatever snippets I could find about the Free Bore and the 1 in 12. Unfortunately my info is fragmentary in the extreme, and amounts to this. First, the Free Bore is mentioned in trade directories of fancy goods brands for quite a while; the earliest directory I have access to that includes the Free Bore is 1921 (although clearly based on your hallmark the Free Bore dates at least to 1916), the latest mention is in 1941. The One in Twelve (as the 1 in 12 is also called) is mentioned in my copy of the 1922 trade directory of fancy goods brands, and again persists through the 1941 edition. I know the two brands vanished from trade directories by 1951, but since I don't have directories from the period immediately after the war I'm not positive when they actually disappeared. My personal guess is during the war, when pipe production of all kinds was curtailed as manufacturing capacity shifted to munitions and other war-related materiel. This guess is supported by the evidence of trade price lists, where we find the "Ben Wade '1 in 12' Silver Mounted" retailing at 10/6, appearing from 1925 (the earliest copy I have) through the beginning of the war. 10/6 put it in the top tier, price wise, in 1925 alongside the de-Luxe and the Bourchier Briars, Silver Mounted. Eventually the 1 in 12 was superseded, at least in terms of price, by the Larnix (Gold and Silver), Super Grain, Selected Grain, and Paramount. None of the price lists show a separate listing for a Free Bore.
As for the source of the Free Bore and 1 in 12 names I have little to no idea. I can tell you that a couple of trade advertisements make it clear that Ben Wade offered a cleaning tool called the Free Bore, and at least for several years in the 1930s enclosed one with every pipe they sold (for a description of the tool see: http://www.pipes.org/forums/messages/23/83485.html?1280708290). This leads me to tentatively surmise that the Free Bore was a cleaning tool, while the 1 in 12 was a higher end pipe model. Perhaps the double nomenclature indicates your 1 in 12 pipe dates from a time that co-packaging with the Free Bore tool was taking place; that's a pure guess, and personally I wouldn't bet anything either way.
I'll root around a bit more and if I find anything will let you know, but I suspect this is the crop, at least as far as what I know is concerned.
Regards,

Jon

That's a lovely revival of this classic pipe, a joy to see. You did just enough and not too much to bring it back to itself.

If the hallmark is accurate then the "HW" is likely Harriet Wade.
From the tombstone the children were three: Harriet, Kate and Edwin.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125073222/eliza-wade

...and don't apologize for the patina on the silver and briar on a pipe this age; it proves out its elegant history. You don't want it to look new. This is perfection.

Indeed hoppes! I've been meaning to get in touch with Jguss, I was told by sablebrush52 that he's the guy I need to contact to answer my Ben Wade questions.