Barling 1914 Catalogue Question

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

Celius

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 17, 2019
121
154
EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title (See Rule 9)

Found the 1914 catalogue on the web recently.
Can be downloaded here:

What surprised is, that all pipes in the catalogue have a silver mount/band.
So no "plain" shanks and pipes at all.

When did Barling started to make pipes without silverbands/mounts as well?


Another thing that surprises me are the similarities of some models.
Like the "Parade" and "Blenheim" pipes
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: greeneyes

greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,126
12,193
Another thing that surprises me are the similarities of some models.
Like the "Parade" and "Blenheim" pipes
Seems given the disclaimer saying the illustration is 2/3rd the original size, that the "Blenheim" is the next size up in size from the "Parade."
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,860
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Hi Guys,

Well, well, look at that. The Chinese have stolen yet another piece of intellectual property, this time mine, in publishing my copyrighted restoration of the Barling catalog. China is the world leader in IP theft. It's what they do.

Had the POS who runs this site had the integrity of character to contact me and ask permission, I would have given it. I restored and published this catalog to preserve its contents from disappearing so that other pipe enthusiasts could benefit from it. But the person who runs this site is a well intentioned, but thieving POS, and didn't ask.

Moving on then...

This is the catalog that Hacker categorically stated did not exist.

Oooops...

So, a little about this catalog. I bought it in 2013 with the intention of doing a digital restoration and publishing it so that its contents would not be lost to others interested in the history of the British pipe trade. As far as I know, mine is the only complete copy of this catalog known to exist. There are a few partial copies that have popped up. Loring included a portion in his xerox publication of a selection of catalogs

Mine survived because it was one of two surviving reference copies that were in the company's archives following the company's sale. I bought it from a former director of the Barling company. He had worked under Ron Harden and later been made a director. So I'm assuming that this catalog was saved when the factories were shuttered around 1970.

The original is nowhere in this kind of pristine condition. In addition to the usual results of aging, it has seen quite a bit of use, so there were creases where the pages had been dog earred, some water damage, some rust staining from the staples that had held it together also resulting in some of the paper rotting away around the staples, etc. The outside front cover had been cancelled with a large in "X" across it. There was also some company marginalia on a number of the pages. In addition, there was some occasional ink bleed through that obscured some of the detailing in the illustrations.

I had the original conserved and stabilized, and while the leaves were separated, I borrowed them back to make high resolution scans, for which purpose I bought a new high end scanner.

About 150 hours of very painstaking work went into producing the restoration. I was literally painting back in paper around the ink. The goal was to not touch the actual ink on a page, but to remove the errata, the damage, resulting in a reproduction of the book as it appeared when it was new. I had the original to reference for all of the color and tonal values. The original is stored away and I intend to donate it to a library, probably the Huntington, so that it doesn't disappear into someones library.

The catalog is a small slim volume, about 8 1/2 by 5 3/4 " and 28 pages. All pipes illustrated therein are produced at 2/3 scale.

The catalog doesn't include every model Barling made, alas, but their most popular models and was intended to be given out to their dealers and their best customers.

There were a number of things the contents revealed that we hadn't known. For one thing, Barling named their models. For another, Barling used a completely different model numbering system than the familiar four digit British numbers and the three digit Nichols numbers. With the help of this catalog and other dips in the river, I've been able to build a very rough chronology for the model numbering system. These are "Pre-Nichols" numbers. You may occasionally read some ad copy on a commercial pipesite regarding "Pre-Nichols" numbers, and they're talking (or writing in this case) out their ass.

One of you noted that every pipe has a silver band of some kind. Prior to WW1 that was very much the fashion. Bling was king. Look at other catalogs of the period and you will see much the same thing. Pipe bling became less of a thing in the early 1920's.

As a matter of interest, Barling published catalogs earlier and later than this one, besides the two well known 1962 catalogs. If copies exist of their 1904 catalog, or anything from the '30's it hasn't come to public light. We know they issued catalogs because surviving newspaper advertisements mention them.

In answer to when Barling began making their own pipes, it is a two part answer. They were pipe mounters from the beginning, 1815 according to research by Jon Guss, and not 1812 as the company claims. In any event, they were nearly a century old when Dunhill started their own pipe business.

Like all other British companies Barling imported unfinished stummels from France and fitted them with stems and did the finishing work. The generally accepted year for when Barling began making some of their own pipes from scratch is 1895 because it's the earliest year that a "Barling's Make" stamp can be dated by the sterling hallmarks on the band. They converted to wholy making all of their pipes starting in 1906, in the wake of the St Claude carvers' strike.
 
Last edited:

Celius

Starting to Get Obsessed
Oct 17, 2019
121
154
Hi Guys,

Well, well, look at that. The Chinese have stolen yet another piece of intellectual property, this time mine, in publishing my copyrighted restoration of the Barling catalog. China is the world leader in IP theft. It's what they do.

Had the POS who runs this site had the integrity of character to contact me and ask permission, I would have given it. I restored and published this catalog to preserve its contents from disappearing so that other pipe enthusiasts could benefit from it. But the person who runs this site is a well intentioned, but thieving POS, and didn't ask.

Moving on then...

This is the catalog that Hacker categorically stated did not exist.

Oooops...

So, a little about this catalog. I bought it in 2013 with the intention of doing a digital restoration and publishing it so that its contents would not be lost to others interested in the history of the British pipe trade. As far as I know, mine is the only complete copy of this catalog known to exist. There are a few partial copies that have popped up. Loring included a portion in his xerox publication of a selection of catalogs

Mine survived because it was one of two surviving reference copies that were in the company's archives following the company's sale. I bought it from a former director of the Barling company. He had worked under Ron Harden and later been made a director. So I'm assuming that this catalog was saved when the factories were shuttered around 1970.

The original is nowhere in this kind of pristine condition. In addition to the usual results of aging, it has seen quite a bit of use, so there were creases where the pages had been dog earred, some water damage, some rust staining from the staples that had held it together also resulting in some of the paper rotting away around the staples, etc. The outside front cover had been cancelled with a large in "X" across it. There was also some company marginalia on a number of the pages. In addition, there was some occasional ink bleed through that obscured some of the detailing in the illustrations.

I had the original conserved and stabilized, and while the leaves were separated, I borrowed them back to make high resolution scans, for which purpose I bought a new high end scanner.

About 150 hours of very painstaking work went into producing the restoration. I was literally painting back in paper around the ink. The goal was to not touch the actual ink on a page, but to remove the errata, the damage, resulting in a reproduction of the book as it appeared when it was new. I had the original to reference for all of the color and tonal values. The original is stored away and I intend to donate it to a library, probably the Huntington, so that it doesn't disappear into someones library.

The catalog is a small slim volume, about 8 1/2 by 5 3/4 " and 28 pages. All pipes illustrated therein are produced at 2/3 scale.

The catalog doesn't include every model Barling made, alas, but their most popular models and was intended to be given out to their dealers and their best customers.

There were a number of things the contents revealed that we hadn't known. For one thing, Barling named their models. For another, Barling used a completely different model numbering system than the familiar four digit British numbers and the three digit Nichols numbers. With the help of this catalog and other dips in the river, I've been able to build a very rough chronology for the model numbering system. These are "Pre-Nichols" numbers. You may occasionally read some ad copy on a commercial pipesite regarding "Pre-Nichols" numbers, and they're talking (or writing in this case) out their ass.

One of you noted that every pipe has a silver band of some kind. Prior to WW1 that was very much the fashion. Bling was king. Look at other catalogs of the period and you will see much the same thing. Pipe bling became less of a thing in the early 1920's.

As a matter of interest, Barling published catalogs earlier and later than this one, besides the two well known 1962 catalogs. If copies exist of their 1904 catalog, or anything from the '30's it hasn't come to public light. We know they issued catalogs because surviving newspaper advertisements mention them.

In answer to when Barling began making their own pipes, it is a two part answer. They were pipe mounters from the beginning, 1815 according to research by Jon Guss, and not 1812 as the company claims. In any event, they were nearly a century old when Dunhill started their own pipe business.

Like all other British companies Barling imported unfinished stummels from France and fitted them with stems and did the finishing work. The generally accepted year for when Barling began making some of their own pipes from scratch is 1895 because it's the earliest year that a "Barling's Make" stamp can be dated by the sterling hallmarks on the band. They converted to wholy making all of their pipes starting in 1906, in the wake of the St Claude carvers' strike.

I am very sorry Sabblebrush, wasnt aware that the catalogue PDF was stolen.
Was trying to google some info about 19th century Barling army mounts and this link poped up.
I must say I was a little bit surprised that the website was in Chinese.

So if I understand correctly Barling produced plain pipes even back then?

Did Charatan was also producing pipes with bling at this time period?
I have the impression that Charatan pipes were rather plain, as well as the pipes from Dunhill.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,860
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I am very sorry Sabblebrush, wasnt aware that the catalogue PDF was stolen.
Stuff happens. The Web is very Confucian.

So if I understand correctly Barling produced plain pipes even back then?
They probably did. I haven't seen any earlier than the 1920's. It would be difficult to date them without sterling hallmarks. Keep in mind that B. Barling & Co were silversmiths and that the pipe business was part of their overall silver smithy business in the 19th century. In the early 1880's Barling did the silver work for BBB.

Did Charatan was also producing pipes with bling at this time period?
Absolutely! Bling was popular so makers provided what the public wanted. If you were positioning yourself as a high end maker, catering to the carriage trade, bling would be part of that image. If the customer didn't want bling, then the pipe maker would provide that customer with what he or she wanted.

I have the impression that Charatan pipes were rather plain, as well as the pipes from Dunhill.
The Frederick Era pipe were generally smaller and in classical shapes. Some had bands and some didn't. They were a small producer, so not many of these pipes have survived.
Dunhill produced pipes with and without silver work. I haven't seen any Dunhill pipes that were Pre WW1, so bling might have played a more prominent role before the war.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,860
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
So shape 71a was the "Gladiator"...I like that. :col:
And there's a nice little dainty one called a Nymph.

I no longer have any financial stake in the catalog. Once I made my costs I turned it over to Gary Schreir at Briar Books Press, who issued their own edition. This looks like one of the very last of the copies that I released, as it's numbered. Probably bought off of eBay.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmcmtk

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
19,632
44,860
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Sorry, it was lazy of me not to include the complete nomenclature.

MADE IN
ENGLAND

BARLING’S (arched)
MAKE
YE OLD WOOD
15
T.V.F
The 15 dates to the pre-WW1 period, and like many of these model numbers, was not changed when Barling adopted the British four digit model numbers and created the separate Nichols numbers for the American market at the point that Barling returned to the US market in 1926.
Your example is post WW2. The EL size didn't appear in Barling's price lists until 1938. Use of the TVF stamp didn't become common until after WW2. If I had a clear picture of the Barling's Make stamp I might be able to tighten the dating. Is there either a reg'D number or "Barling Design" stamped on the bottom of the stem? Reg'D # is 1940's. "Barling Design" is 1950's and later. Not all stems have the stamp, so a lack of one isn't significant, though it points to more recent manufacture.
 

bent1

Lifer
Jan 9, 2015
1,138
2,999
64
WV
I can only guess the amount of work (knowledge & time) that went into cleaning up an old copy of a catalog, let alone one that’s a century old. I have a well preserved 1938 Kaywoodie catalog, but even then it would be tough to scan. Thank you for that work.

I’ve never seen a silver banded Barling in person, the pictures posted here are make me wish for one, especially as I like the classic British shaped pipes. Maybe someday I’ll luck into adding one to my collection.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CoffeeAndBourbon
Status
Not open for further replies.