James Upshall "Countryman"

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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,892
12,744
Covington, Louisiana
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I've always been a fan of Charatan's "Countryman" shape, it's oddly attractive to me. As far as I know, Charatan was the first to make this. I'd later read that James Upshall also made this shape, which isn't surprising as Barry Jones had then moved to James Upshall with Ken Barnes. Currently, Northern Briars makes this shape. They are always quite large, approaching 90 grams in weight.
While I'd heard of the James Upshall version, until recently, I'd never seen one on the web or in person. That is until my friend Dave grabbed this one from Smoking Pipes.
https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=203110
They listed this one at 107 grams!
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I PM'd Ken Barnes about the shape and below was his reply. So, given that there were only a handful of these made under the Upshall name, it's not surprising that I've never seen one to this point. An excellent grab by my buddy.
Hi Al, I just spoke to Barry and he told me that he made about 6 of them in total. It got too dodgy (dangerous) to make anymore because when turning the 'bead' on this shape the chisel is extremely close to the shank and his wrists were not as strong as they once were, so he stopped doing them. So, as a result, this is a very rare shape to see as a James Upshall! Very best wishes, Ken

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,219
6,663
Central Ohio
That is a beauty! I really like it and have never seen that shape before. I agree- Great score by your buddy! Thanks for sharing........... :puffy:

 
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