Apparently. when Dunhill bought Charatan, they used that to identify the old stock left over, that they did not produce. The lower grades were x'd like yours and, although I've never seen one, the higher grades were spared, using a single, larger X. I understand they were sold at a discount and not covered by warranty.
Mike S. Also, welcome!
Hello Mike
a seller on ebay was so kind to post a picture of page #98 of Richard Hacker's book 'Rare Smoke', where he (Hacker) explains the x'd out Charatan markings. Saying.... it was Lane Ltd. who did this (on approx 800 pipes they still kept in their stock) for the industry trade show in Chicago 1988. Then they were sold out at a substantial discount as you said.
If Hacker is right my x'd Charatan would have been kept (unsold) in Lane's stock for at least 8 years, because the CP-Logo on its (original) stem is definitely from the period before 1980 when the C still enters the P. (Same thing with the x'd out pipe from the guy who posted the scanned Hacker page #98).
Seeing the ominous looking x-stampings on the pipes many people believed that Charatan would no longer make pipes, Hacker writes. However, he had visìted the London factory in 1989, where he had discovered (sic!) that Charatan pipes were still produced.
I hope, no one had told Hacker that since 1989 Charatan pipes were manufacrured in France, and he quits writing fairytales.
