Anybody Else Super Fascinated by Stanwell?

[Hillcrest]

Thats another of the Facet line designed by Jess Chonowitsch.
Its listed as the "Hexagonal" by Jess
Chonowitsch. Mine is the only one that doesn't have a designer name attached. Ive seen this Hexagonal pipe around, ive never seen another of the "194" pipes like ive got. I've emailed Stanwell, ive talked to several Stanwell experts and collectors, but nobody has seen a 194 before. Im not even sure if the one I have is a 194. It doesn't have a number on it. Im just going by the description in the list I posted.
After many years of searching, I have not found a single picture of the 194. I've easily found pictures of all the other pipes in the "Facet" line, but not the 194.
Thanks for the information though.

Super rare Deepfake ??

 

[Sig]

Super rare Deepfake ??

Its definitely real, there just weren't many made im guessing. Its listed and described, I just cannot find any other examples.

 

[Alanon]

@Sig That particular model has been in production since at least the mid 90s, though I don’t believe it was made for very long. I’ve actually handled about 4-5 of them from various stages and of various ages but all had acrylic stems.

Sadly I don’t have decent pictures at the moment. This one is from the mid nineties early in the acrylic stem transition as denoted from the dot next to the S. It has a "softer" brown-tinted vario contrast, which is why I liked it (not that you can see from the dreadful picture) but I gave one that looks exactly like yours but with the same dot to a friend.



The next image is, I believe, a close cousin of this shape, once removed. The main distinction being that the side facets are left smooth, not the front facing ones, and it also seems to me the cousin has a more convex bowl rim profile. The pipe above has a gentle curve to the rim, while the one below has a much more aggressive one. I don’t have them on hand to compare, but I also believe one of these two has a flatter shank profile along the bottom, while the other has a round one.

I don’t know if this qualifies it for designation as a separate shape? Regardless, I have seen this second variant smooth and stamped RO 25 - making it part and parcel of the other Facets like the hexagonal 163. If these are two different shapes, then the second one is, in my opinion, probably the candidate for shape No. 194. and most likely by Tom Eltang.



I have seen them both in smooth and vario finishes. I have seen them mostly without shape numbers. I believe this has to do with when they were made, i.e. whether they were part of some re-issue, special line, or what have you.

To make things even muddier, there is also a very similar shape that is not faceted but round and has the same curved bowl rim and thick walls. This one had some cross-pollination with the Danske Klub line (can’t dig up the pictures for this one sadly) so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the hexagonal ones there as well.

I love Stanwell, but the (over)production in their heyday truly has made a mess of trying to figure out anything firm about the pipes.

 

[Sig]

@Sig That particular model has been in production since at least the mid 90s, though I don’t believe it was made for very long. I’ve actually handled about 4-5 of them from various stages and of various ages but all had acrylic stems.

Sadly I don’t have decent pictures at the moment. This one is from the mid nineties early in the acrylic stem transition as denoted from the dot next to the S. It has a "softer" brown-tinted vario contrast, which is why I liked it (not that you can see from the dreadful picture) but I gave one that looks exactly like yours but with the same dot to a friend.

View attachment 436704

The next image is, I believe, a close cousin of this shape, once removed. The main distinction being that the side facets are left smooth, not the front facing ones, and it also seems to me the cousin has a more convex bowl rim profile. The pipe above has a gentle curve to the rim, while the one below has a much more aggressive one. I don’t have them on hand to compare, but I also believe one of these two has a flatter shank profile along the bottom, while the other has a round one.

I don’t know if this qualifies it for designation as a separate shape? Regardless, I have seen this second variant smooth and stamped RO 25 - making it part and parcel of the other Facets like the hexagonal 163. If these are two different shapes, then the second one is, in my opinion, probably the candidate for shape No. 194. and most likely by Tom Eltang.

View attachment 436705

I have seen them both in smooth and vario finishes. I have seen them mostly without shape numbers. I believe this has to do with when they were made, i.e. whether they were part of some re-issue, special line, or what have you.

To make things even muddier, there is also a very similar shape that is not faceted but round and has the same curved bowl rim and thick walls. This one had some cross-pollination with the Danske Klub line (can’t dig up the pictures for this one sadly) so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the hexagonal ones there as well.

I love Stanwell, but the (over)production in their heyday truly has made a mess of trying to figure out anything firm about the pipes.

Thanks.
Thats about as much information ive found on this pipe. Ive even talked to a couple hard-core Stanny collectors who have never seen one in person. Funny enough, about 15 years ago I emailed Tom Eltang and Jess Chonowitsch (RIP).
Tom replied that it was not his shape, but was probably a Chonowitsch shape. Jess did not reply, so I didn't get any further. The Stanwell collectors I talked to said although its not a super high end Stanwell, it is uncommon. They suggested either finding a dedicated pipe auction, or trying Steve Fallon. They highly suggested to NOT auction it on Ebay. They said knowledgeable collectors would be the best bet. The guys who must have ALL the Stanwells, may not have one. Either way, im thinking that eventually it will find its home.
Thank you for the information, and for showing me the first picture of one ive ever seen.

 

[Alanon]

Thanks.
Thats about as much information ive found on this pipe. Ive even talked to a couple hard-core Stanny collectors who have never seen one in person. Funny enough, about 15 years ago I emailed Tom Eltang and Jess Chonowitsch (RIP).
Tom replied that it was not his shape, but was probably a Chonowitsch shape. Jess did not reply, so I didn't get any further. The Stanwell collectors I talked to said although its not a super high end Stanwell, it is uncommon. They suggested either finding a dedicated pipe auction, or trying Steve Fallon. They highly suggested to NOT auction it on Ebay. They said knowledgeable collectors would be the best bet. The guys who must have ALL the Stanwells, may not have one. Either way, im thinking that eventually it will find its home.
Thank you for the information, and for showing me the first picture of one ive ever seen.

Boy, that is fascinating! I had no clue it was either rare or particularly desirable. For some reason I believed it was Eltang, but if he says it’s not his... that does complicate things. If the shape wasn’t part of the specialty lineup in the catalogues, then perhaps it isn’t crafted by one of the masters. But then it’s a curious choice to elevate it to Facet...

I currently have just those two. Here’s a crop from an older image from a buddy that has a smooth and a vario, similar vintage:



Another buddy ended up with one more vario facet and one or two of the round varieties. I’ll have to ask them all to take a peek at the stamps and tell me what they have, then I’ll report back.

 

[woodsroad]

Closing today (not mine!) :

Lot of 5 Vintage Stanwell 969-48 Denmark Smoking Tobacco Estate Pipes Free hand | eBay - https://ebay.us/m/jQd3WZ

 

[PLANofMAN]

In case anyone is wondering, "RO 25" is the stain/finish code.

 

[Alanon]

In case anyone is wondering, "RO 25" is the stain/finish code.

I think there was/is some confusion about that, because I’ve only ever seen RO25 on specialty shapes so it kind of became associated with them. Sort of like some people instinctively call the 163 just the Facet etc. because that’s frequently the only stamping on them.

Of course specialty shapes like the 163 could have (and did have) many more finishes and not simply RO25, but the lack of consistency, including the seemingly random stamping of RO 25, the shape number, the series, etc. really make things difficult to pin down.

Some pipes have it all stamped on the wood, and some have absolutely nothing. Go figure... It’s always been my assumption that Stanwell probably did this in batches or production eras/cycles, whatever you want to call it. So one series of specialty shapes will have it all stamped, but then maybe 5-10 years later when they do another run, they drop just the shape numbers.

RO25 itself is a kind of reddish-burgundy stain on a smooth finish, and I’m not a huge fan.

 

[MontyTX]

Stanwell MADE in Denmark 126 Colonial Freehand. This thing is head and shoulders above every other briar I’ve ever bought, including a Castello. I’ve bought 6 other Stanwells over the last 10 years, but it took me that long to figure out that they weren’t made in Denmark anymore.

 

[PLANofMAN]

...

RO25 itself is a kind of reddish-burgundy stain on a smooth finish, and I’m not a huge fan.

Black understain, cranberry/oxblood (or similar) overstain, two tone finish. Some pipes took the black stain better than others.

It's a finish that CAN look amazing, but many examples online don't look great. I think the chess series may have also used that stain, or a variation of it, on the lower grades.