One of a kind pipe?

[Wesley pipes]

I just purchased this pipe and can’t find any information on it, it says in cursive “New york“ on the front of the bowl and Joseph Ellworth on the side. The word “Ellworth“ is the only stamp on the pipe, there is the possibility of a slight imprint of a w in front of Ellworth, making it say “Wellworth“ but if so it wasn’t stamped hard enough, could have bin sanded off when the cursive engraving was done. The stem also has a large red dot on the Side. Any ideas? Pipe looks To have never bin used. If I had to guess I’d say 40s-50s make. Not sure yet if I’m going to keep it. I love mysterys

 

[mortonbriar]

It looks to me like it has been customized by the customer, rather than off the shelf with all those markings...

 

[Wesley pipes]

I was thinking the same thing. The only name brand I could find even close to that is Joseph Ellsworth of New York. He invented the rotating bowl insert pipe, though I forget the actual name.

 

[xrundog]

Your dating seems good to me. The hand engraving is very skillful. Maybe somebody bought some pipes, engraved them and sold them as souvenirs.
The pipe by itself is pretty average. With the engraving I’m definitely taken with it. There’s so much bad engraving out there that when I see a professional style like that I’m just.

 

[Wesley pipes]

Yeah! Was definitely done by a skilled hand, with the way the cursive goes around the curves like that. I purchase lots and lots of pipes over many years and resell the one I don’t want, but sometimes you find yourself a pipe with a mystery attached to it.

Your dating seems good to me. The hand engraving is very skillful. Maybe somebody bought some pipes, engraved them and sold them as souvenirs.
The pipe by itself is pretty average. With the engraving I’m definitely taken with it. There’s so much bad engraving out there that when I see a professional style like that I’m just.

 

[Wesley pipes]

I personally don’t like any rustic carving on pipes like in the 3rd picture, and I almost never keep pipes with stems that are not black, just a preference. I woud switch out the stem but I would feel like I committed a crime if I altered this pipe in any way.

 

[Wesley pipes]

Couple more pictures. Great shape, no fills, never used. but in my opinion it’s a little ugly in a beautiful way… if that makes sense