Charatan Super graded pipe

[orlandofurioso]

Dear friends,
From over the pond is a lovely Charatan Super graded heading towards me.I was the lonely bidder on the Bay and I'm burning with anticipation.

Supposed to be rare and I have never seen one of this before. The ever modest and kind Ken Barnes I occasionally contact got enthusiastic and posted me a link from brbpipes.ru, but I just do not manage to translate it.

The super graded pipes I believe preceded the special ones and are from the twenties.

I need more info, please help

Sincerely yours

 

[ssjones]

Supreme grade. Charatan's bulldog is the 109, a lovely shape! Any pictures?

 

[pagan]

Yes, we love to see the photos

 

[orlandofurioso]

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Vintage-Charatans-Make-London-England-Pipe-Estate-Smoking-Tobacco-Pipe-/172307464851?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=hka
Hi Al and Pagan,

Thank you for jumping in. Tell me more folks, I am unfamiliar with this grade !

This is not a 109 btw.

 

[newbroom]

I'd call it a billiard with a deep saddle stem.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Hi newbroom,

Thank you for uploading the picture; I'm all thumbs when it comes to doing stuff like that .

I agree, a billiard with a saddle stem, bowl looks a little canted ?

 

[jvnshr]

I do speak Russian, the link please.

 

[orlandofurioso]

http://brbpipe.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/T-shop_1-2011-12_56-69_3.pdf
Thank you jvnshr

 

[jvnshr]

Wow, 14 pages Which part do you need to be interpreted? Super grain?

 

[ben88]

Perhaps that Super was the best straight grain and sometimes it is mixed up with supreme grade

 

[orlandofurioso]

You save the day jvnshr .

It is about the super grade, page 2.
Hi Ben,

Not really straight grain this one, but a nice mix I think.

 

[ben88]

That's what is written there. That Super grade was usually a best straight grain and carvers tried to follow the grain, so the end result were forms somewhat different then classics. Time to time there were even freehands.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Hi Ben,
According to the int. charatan collectors society, the super grade preceded the special.

By far not a supreme imho, but I understand the semantic confusion.

Thank you, you are more knowledgeable than I . Can you tell us more, like when was it initiated and when was it discontinued?

 

[ben88]

Hi. I'm not an expert of any sort, I just translated the article. There is no mention, in the article, of the Special grade. It also says that if your pipe is missing a stamp with shape #, it was most likely carved by a lead carver at that time

 

[orlandofurioso]

No, which I think is odd. About the Deluxe, the underboar and the Extra, not the Special.

So far I could not detect a shape number

And no CP logo, but an S , which I cannot retrieve from the Bay pictures.

 

[jvnshr]

SuperJust best straight grain. Pattern following regularly and automatically - abandonment of classical forms. Occasionally found in natural free-hands. The kit included hard case or leather bag with tobacco and accessories compartment. On the stem, instead of putting "CP" that was popular at that time, there was single "S" reminding marking of Stanwell in its first years (without a crown), not to the left side but to the up side. The price in the beginning of 30s was up to 20 pounds.

Author's speculation: Sometimes this grade is confused with the Supreme grade. Thus, this confusion can be seen in articles such as Ted Gage argues (claims) that higher grade Charatan from 20s is considered to be Supreme. Most likely it is not true - at least Derek Green believes in this one and I tend to agree with him. Still, I didn't come across any Supreme with reliable pre-Lane stamp. So we leave this question until there is complete explanation.

Hope that helps.

 

[dmcmtk]

Super-Just best straight grain. Pattern following regularly and automatically - abandonment of classical forms.

Well, certainly none of this is found in this example. The grades I've seen examples of from the period, Special, DeLuxe, Selected, Supreme...and now Super, but the problem is there is very little information available from this period. Does this Russian article have any pictures?

 

[ssjones]

Very interesting, I'd not seen this Charatan grade previously.

 

[mso489]

Great price for what could be an interesting pipe. You're taking your chances on the way the stem joins the shank. Could be a structural breakdown, a rough repair, or just time and wear, but something significant is going on there, so if you like the pipe, it might require some hours of your time or a pipe repair person to put it right. The stem might or might not be original, or repairable. But at this price, it might be a fair gamble, and it could clean up in an amazing way, and smoke great. Let us know!

 

[orlandofurioso]

It was not really like entering king Tut's tomb, but I feel a little special, retrieving this old pipe from the past and possibly from oblivion. Like Al and the honorable Ken Barnes ( Oh Brother where art thou ? ) I had not seen it before. The stem is the least of my worries. Actually I think it looks in fair condition, maybe it got stuck, but the last picture shows a decent alignment to the shank and I find no reason to suspect a repair.

The bowl looks just fine, a nice clean rim and thick, even walls .

Once refurbished I will try to upload pictures, or a kind forum member will post some for me.

Thank you jvnshr for translating, if there is more to add please post and thank you mso for responding on my post!

If anyone out there can contribute, please do. As dmcmtk remarked; there is little information from this period available. The russian article btw shows pictures of the shank nomenclature and the stem logo.

Thank you all