I came close to finding a birth year Dunhill only a year ago when my local B&M had a few estates for sale, all popular brands, and all ridiculously cheap. I snatched almost all of them, but two in particular were fantastic- one was a four-panel Becker that cost me $40 and the other was a Dunhill Shell for $48. None of the pipes look as if they had ever been smoked more than five times if that! The Dunhill Shell is from 1979, but I was born in 1978. So close!
That’s the second Dunhill that I’ve ever found for ridiculously cheap - my first, and my first ever Dunhill, is a Patent Shell from about 1942 or 43; I forget exactly which year now. I found it at an antique store in Havre De Grace, Maryland for $18. I sent it out for professional restoration and it’s one of the jewels in my collection. I keep hoping that I’ll come across a 1978 for dirt-cheap and it may happen one day; Lord knows I never believed that I’d find a World War II Dunhill Patent Shell for not even twenty American smackers!
Now if I can just come across an Ivarsson, a Nordh, a S. Bang, and a Chonowitsch for dirt-cheap at a flea market or antique store I’ll be able to die a happy man.
