Browsing on the internet brought me to the Ye Olde Briars.com site where it looks like the Barling page has changed; gone are the example photos of selected shapes, and added is a very complete looking (?) list and description of Nichols-era shape numbers: two- and three-digit U.S. numbers, and a separate listing for the four-digit numbers concurrently in use in the U.K.. Yet confusion exists: a pipe listed a few weeks ago on ebay, a Barling Fossil EXEXEL apple #271 shows up here (the shape number) as a #217, while the #271 is listed as a EL billiard. Anyway, I hadn't visited this site in quite some time and was glad to see this addition, even if it raises a question.
Barling Shape Numbers...Yet Again.
- Thread starter Lemuel Pitkin
- Start date
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Nice to hear that the site has been updated. Much of its content was out of date. I’ll have to check it out.
The model number error reads like a typo.
The model number error reads like a typo.
OK...it appears that there are TWO Barling pages on the Ye Olde Briars site. The BARLING page remains as I have seen it in the past, but when I typed in BARLING's MAKE it brought me to a different page...the one detailed above. I also did a bit of looking into the #217/#271 question and found two photo examples of the #271 as the EL billiard as listed on the Y.O.B. page, which I have to believe is correct (how can I not?). The apple #271 listed on ebay must be a #217 and listed incorrectly. And finally, I realize I should have just appended this post to the previous Barling numbers thread rather than starting a new one. My apologies.
Or it could have been a 274 listed incorrectly. In any event, from what I can tell, the list is largely correct, at least with regard to the model numbers I know without looking them up.
The rest of the information, such as the "Nicols Williamson Barling (Monty Barling's son-in-law)" and "Barling started carving briars in 1854" contains fabricated myths, misinformation and just plain bullshit mixed in with some good factual information. Tread carefully.