You’re welcome. In case you’re interested this is how it was done. The key was making two provisional assumptions: 1) that after examination of the logo on the fitment it was a stylized representation of the initials JB, and 2) that the markings on the briar, in English but stating “Vienna Make”, suggest that the seller of the pipe had operations in both England (with London being the most obvious location) and Vienna.
The next step was to test these hypotheses. I pored over London city directories from the relevant time period (for various reasons I focused on 1890-1910, although the fitment clearly post-dated that timeframe) looking for a briar pipemaker or meerschaum importer (the latter being a key specialty of Viennese firms) with those initials, and one either identified as having an additional address in Vienna or at the least possessing a Germanic or eastern European surname. I got lucky fairly quickly and found the listing I reproduced in my post. The logo in the listing is both distinctive and identical to the one on the fitment, and together with the reference to a Vienna location, clinches the identification. Between them they clearly indicate Brix or his children (or more precisely their company) made & sold your pipe.
With the name Johann Brix in hand it was fairly straightforward to find other references to his involvement in the meerschaum and briar industry, including the beautiful catalog whose cover I inserted in my previous post. If you’re really interested you might be able to find the patent underlying the fitment, which was probably granted in the twenties or thirties, as a way of narrowing the date of manufacture of your pipe.
Cheers,
Jon
