Bing Crosby Pipe Details Wanted.

[JimInks]

Since it's fairly well established that Bing preferred Merchant Service pipes, a friend and I were wondering if anybody here knows the exact dimensions of the Bing pipes? Bowl height and width, shank and stem lengths and diameters. Were the banded ones real silver or an alloy of some sort?

 

[huntertrw]

JimInks:
I answered some of your question in a post to the thread titled "Bing Crosby Pipe Shape?" Here is the relevant part of that post:
"My Merchant Service Special measures almost seven-inches (six and 29/32" according to my drafting ruler) in length. Its bowl measures one and 22/32" in height, and one and 5/32 in outside diameter (26/32" inside diameter as measured from the top)."
The stem length (seated) is three and 13/32". The length of the shank (as measured from its juncture with the bowl) is two and 1/8". The diameter of the shank is 3/8".
Mine does not have a band, so I cannot answer address that part of your query.
I hope that you find this information to be useful.

 

[JimInks]

Hunter: thank you. I knew the question had been answered before, but my memory faltered on where I had seen it. I also figured you had the answer.

 

[huntertrw]

JimInks:
With regard to the banding, below is an image of one of Mr. Crosby's banded Merchant Service pipes which was sold by Butterfield's at the Bing Crosby Memorabilia auction sponsored by Mrs. Kathryn Crosby back in 1982. The material was hallmarked sterling silver.
Incidentally, this pipe fetched $575.00.

 

[JimInks]

Hunter: thanks for finding that. I notice that bands on Bing pipes are not always the same size, and sometimes, his pipes have no bands. Maybe he liked having variations on the same style of pipe?

 

[huntertrw]

"I notice that bands on Bing pipes are not always the same size, and sometimes, his pipes have no bands. Maybe he liked having variations on the same style of pipe?"
No, I do not believe so. Rather, my best guess is that given his fondness for the Merchant Service pipe, and due to the small diameter of their shanks, many of the bands were applied (possibly at different times by different craftsmen) as repairs to breakage.
As an interesting sidelight, notice that the pipe pictured in the image above features a fishtail stem. According to Richard Carleton Hacker in his book titled "Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Smoking" this was a rare option. He also stated that the pipe could feature a factory-applied silver band, and shows an image of one. That band is much shorter than the one shown in the image above.

 

[JimInks]

You could be right about the bands, but I've seen small bands on his pipes that looked like they were meant to be there, as you mentioned. Could some of those larger bands be there from the start to insure less breakage? I wonder if Bing was sentimentally attached to his pipes in the way many of us are. I would think he would have been with some, at least.