G'day all
I usually steer clear of Hardcastles for no other reason than, try as I might, I can never nail down a date for them, particularly where there are no patent numbers/silver etc., and their post-family reputation is far from stellar. So when I won this at auction I was fairly surprised since I thought I was bidding on a nice little Dunmore and had obviously loaded the incorrect item number into my sniper.
I know this is a relatively modern pipe - apart from anything else it has the St Andrews Rd address on the box - but I was expecting a very poor pipe, and this is not. Cheap, perhaps - the finishing on the stem and smooth panel is lacking finesse, but the blast is nice, there are no fills or defects, drilling is spot on. There is nothing that suggests this is a anything but a fairly high-end pipe and if they'd spend another couple of minutes on the stem, I wouldn't be disappointed if I had paid for a white spot.
But I can't even get a ballpark for the date. The only stamping is as seen in the 2nd image - straight line, no apostrophe. I know De Luxe was an early line, but Special De Luxe? The pipe and box have Hardcastle branding (no mention of Parker). It is unsmoked but doesn't have a contemporary feel and the box looks dated (and indeed rather cheap).
So I was rather hoping that some kind person in the know is able to shed a little light on this pipe. It's not going to set pulses racing, but the pipe doesn't seem to fit the fairly dire reputation of a post-family Hardcastle.
Many thanks.
Geoff
I usually steer clear of Hardcastles for no other reason than, try as I might, I can never nail down a date for them, particularly where there are no patent numbers/silver etc., and their post-family reputation is far from stellar. So when I won this at auction I was fairly surprised since I thought I was bidding on a nice little Dunmore and had obviously loaded the incorrect item number into my sniper.
I know this is a relatively modern pipe - apart from anything else it has the St Andrews Rd address on the box - but I was expecting a very poor pipe, and this is not. Cheap, perhaps - the finishing on the stem and smooth panel is lacking finesse, but the blast is nice, there are no fills or defects, drilling is spot on. There is nothing that suggests this is a anything but a fairly high-end pipe and if they'd spend another couple of minutes on the stem, I wouldn't be disappointed if I had paid for a white spot.
But I can't even get a ballpark for the date. The only stamping is as seen in the 2nd image - straight line, no apostrophe. I know De Luxe was an early line, but Special De Luxe? The pipe and box have Hardcastle branding (no mention of Parker). It is unsmoked but doesn't have a contemporary feel and the box looks dated (and indeed rather cheap).
So I was rather hoping that some kind person in the know is able to shed a little light on this pipe. It's not going to set pulses racing, but the pipe doesn't seem to fit the fairly dire reputation of a post-family Hardcastle.
Many thanks.
Geoff
