Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes

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mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
3,976
11,065
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
The mother lode ended tonight, five incredible pipes.

Unsmoked James Upshall B grade, with gold band.

View attachment 47778

Unsmoked Charatan Crown Achievement

View attachment 47779


Unsmoked Charatan Achievement

View attachment 47780
My goodness. I wonder how much the artisans who made those pipes were paid.
 

Kottan

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 5, 2020
508
1,329
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Unsmoked Charatan Supreme

View attachment 47781

Unsmoked Charatan Coronation

View attachment 47782
And another pipe from this seller.
Look at the fantastic birdseye on the rim.
(What a price for this unsmoked beauty).

 

Kottan

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 5, 2020
508
1,329
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
The Upshall is awsome. I had expected a higher price. According to the last price list a (lower) P grade in this size would have cost $ 560.00 without a gold band from Les Wood. I guess the sold Upshall was made when Ken Barnes was still part of the firm.

Here is a Charatan retail price list from 1970

Retail 1970.png
 

Kottan

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 5, 2020
508
1,329
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
9 k is only 33.75 % gold. Overhere it is actually prohibited by law to sell as gold.
Ah, ok and how are the 9K wedding rings now advertised?
Goldesque rings?

My wife and me are wearing the old wedding rings from my grand parents. Her ring is 585 gold and mine 333. I asked my mother about this difference and she said that in those days (when my grand parents) got married, men usualy did the harder work in their jobs than women who were at home. Hence the softer and more expensive 585 (14 K) for women.
 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,317
11,068
Maryland
postimg.cc
I have my grandfathers wedding ring, my grandparents were married in 1926, it is marked 585. I found it in some of my mothers jewlery, and it appeared that he never wore it (he owned a vineyard). The jeweler who sized it for me was able to heat and shrink it because of the high gold content, something he said you couldn't do with modern gold jewelery.

Ah, ok and how are the 9K wedding rings now advertised?
Goldesque rings?

My wife and me are wearing the old wedding rings from my grand parents. Her ring is 585 gold and mine 333. I asked my mother about this difference and she said that in those days (when my grand parents) got married, men usualy did the harder work in their jobs than women who were at home. Hence the softer and more expensive 585 (14 K) for women.
 
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Dec 10, 2013
2,316
2,942
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Ah, ok and how are the 9K wedding rings now advertised?
Goldesque rings?

My wife and me are wearing the old wedding rings from my grand parents. Her ring is 585 gold and mine 333. I asked my mother about this difference and she said that in those days (when my grand parents) got married, men usualy did the harder work in their jobs than women who were at home. Hence the softer and more expensive 585 (14 K) for women.
Overhere is in the Netherlands, in England and Germany f.i. it is legit to sell 9 k. as gold.
Nevertheless Dutch online jewelry sellers advertise 9 k. as gold.
 
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kenbarnes

Can't Leave
Nov 12, 2015
441
374
I think that some of these pipes were bought from Lionel Melindi who owned the store called De La Concha on Avenue of The Americas (6th Avenue). I remember Lionel well, he loved Charatan and Upshall pipes.

These Charatan straight grains are so rare and when I worked at the Charatan factory I recall that at the end of a typical week there was a tray or sometimes two trays of high-grade pipes like this – possibly 10 pieces from the several hundred turned.

Since I started selling pipes in the Charatan shop, Jermyn Street in 1971 and later making pipes at the Charatan factory, I learnt that top quality straight grains were the easiest pipes to ‘sell’. In fact, no selling required.

Working at Upshall/Tilshead, at times, when money was short and I needed to pay the taxman or pay the workers their wages etc, I would pick out ten or so gorgeous plateau blocks from the shelf, cut them, Barry would turn, fit and finish them and I would drive up to London on a Saturday morning and ration them out to the ten or so shops that we supplied – cash in the bank!

In six months, I reach retirement age and recently I went onto the UK Government website to see what state pension I will receive. They have details of all my ‘wage slips’ since 1968. I do not want to look at them as this could bring up so many feelings at once which may be quite overwhelming!

I do remember my first wage at Charatan was £7 a week. This was working in the cellars of the Charatan factory when I was 13 years old (1968), My task was to help load the sacks of briar blocks stored there into the lift and take it up to the turning department. I also emptied the contents of split briar sacks and put them in new sacks. Handling briar for the first time and I was keen to learn.

I do remember Barry talking with Stan one day saying how lucky they were to get paid for doing something they really enjoy.

The pipes here with very tapered tobacco chambers were turned by Stan Haney and the others by Barry Jones or Dan Tennyson.
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,526
Minnesota USA
This is a lovely James Upshall X grade craig61a. It was made just after I left the company as it is engraved FH which indicates it was made after 1989.

With a chamber that’s unsullied... it’s always interesting to me to look at the plateau on something like this and try to see how it might reveal the grain underneath.

With my limited experience at pipe making, I can’t always make the connection.

However, the plateau on this piece I’m working on didn’t seem to reveal much, but I’m surprised with what I ended up with...

75919CF5-1E86-408A-9D42-B7A84CEE0613.jpeg9D6F9161-F01F-4867-846D-78429EE3F1E5.jpeg
 
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ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
18,317
11,068
Maryland
postimg.cc
Here is a puzzler, to me. Peterson 999's are popular but $176 for a Republic era pipe, that looks like it was dipped in vaseoline seems on the high end. I graduated in 1979 and was going to bid on it, but not at that price. I picked up a family era Sasieni Ashford instead, this morning.


1603663704207.png
 

craig61a

Lifer
Apr 29, 2017
5,765
47,526
Minnesota USA
Here is a puzzler, to me. Peterson 999's are popular but $176 for a Republic era pipe, that looks like it was dipped in vaseoline seems on the high end. I graduated in 1979 and was going to bid on it, but not at that price. I picked up a family era Sasieni Ashford instead, this morning.


View attachment 48423

That’s ePay for you...