Peterson Mark Twain Questions

xrundog · Mar 20, 2015

I've picked up another Mark Twain to refurbish. Checking the hallmarks shows it to be a 1981 pipe (P).

I thought I remembered the '81 pipes being numbered editions. So I checked Pipepedia and yes, they show '81 Mark Twains numbering 1-1000. But I cannot find a number on this pipe. Where should the number stamp be? Or was the numbering only in the associated paperwork? I didn't get a box sock or papers with this pipe.

Of course Pipepedia might just be wrong too.
What say you Peterson collectors?

huntertrw · Mar 21, 2015

xrundog:
According to Richard Carleton Hacker in his book titled "Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Smoking,"Next came the 1981 re-creation of Mark Twain's Peterson, copied from the 1896 original in Hannibal, Missouri. Only 400 limited edition gold banded "firsts" were to be produced, but the pipe proved to be so popular that the number was quietly increased to one thousand, with each of these high grades being individually numbered. These pipes originally sold for $350 to $400 apiece, and came in either a red presentation box or a special case shaped like a book. In addition, 2,500 silver banded "seconds" were offered, and sold for $75."
Unless yours is gold-banded, then my guess is that it is one of the 2,500 seconds which were not numbered.

xrundog · Mar 21, 2015

Thanks for the onfo hunter. Are the numbered pipes from other years gold banded as well?

pylorns · Mar 21, 2015

I have one that is un-numbered but clearly marked mark twain:

huntertrw · Mar 21, 2015

xrundog:
To the best of my knowledge only the 1,000 original-issue (1981) pipes with the gold bands were numbered. If I am mistaken in this, then someone here on the Forums will correct that statement.

xrundog · Mar 21, 2015

Here's the Pipepedia entry. http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=A_Closer_Look_at_the_Mark_Twain_Original_and_New_Pipes
Some good info, but the fellow obviously had not seen Hacker's book.

To summarize:

Looks like 1980 had 1-400 numbered editions, probably gold banded. There may have been silver banded pipes not numbered. And this was definitely the case in 1981 with 1000 gold banded numbered pipes. I guess later Twains were silver banded and not numbered. The last one I had was a silver banded 1986.

mso489 · Mar 21, 2015

That's a great Mark Twain but a classic Peterson. At the time, $75 was considerably more than it is today.

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xrundog

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