COMOY SPECIMEN 1962 / Horry Jamieson
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Beautiful pipe! And agreed, the quality of Jameson’s work definitely declined as he aged; this is evident in much of the work he did in later years.
If your pipe is definitely dateable to 1962 it would have been made when Jameson was about 56, and not long after he left Barling in the wake of the sale to Finlay. As you know he wound up landing at Cadogan, primarily carving pipes bearing the Comoy or GBD stamp (plus a line bearing his own name).
I'm hoping you can help me with dating Comoy's pipes: I have three Comoy's myself...one, an oversized, gold banded Tradition is stamped with the 1933 Chicago World's Fair imprint. The other two, a Specimen Straight Grain #342, and a London Pride #129 Extraordinaire stamped with the Arthur Leonard Shop name on the right side, leave me stumped,,,50's to mid-70's is about as close as I can narrow it. What Specimen grade is yours, and how did you pinpoint the date so exactly?
(As an aside, I've always wondered if the Comoy takeover by Cadogan wasn't a few years earlier that the 1981 I often see referenced. When I was an employee at a local pipe shop we had a Saturday afternoon meeting with Doug Lumsden, the mid-west Comoy's rep with a twenty-year history with the company. He remarked that Comoy's and GBD were made in the same factory; as he put it "They make Comoy's in the morning and GBDs in the afternoon. This meeting was @1977. I also note that Comoy's Centennial pipe issued in 1975 did not have a three-piece C, but rather an affixed one piece, maybe presaging things to come. Scant evidence for sure, but food for my thoughts.)
(As an aside, I've always wondered if the Comoy takeover by Cadogan wasn't a few years earlier that the 1981 I often see referenced. When I was an employee at a local pipe shop we had a Saturday afternoon meeting with Doug Lumsden, the mid-west Comoy's rep with a twenty-year history with the company. He remarked that Comoy's and GBD were made in the same factory; as he put it "They make Comoy's in the morning and GBDs in the afternoon. This meeting was @1977. I also note that Comoy's Centennial pipe issued in 1975 did not have a three-piece C, but rather an affixed one piece, maybe presaging things to come. Scant evidence for sure, but food for my thoughts.)
Oh boy, I’m afraid you have much more information about Comoy’s than I do. Actually I learned a few things from you!!!
Sorry I wouldn’t be able to help you.
My pipe simply days Specimen on one side and 14 on the other side with the Made in England engraving.
The pipe was on display by a doctor in Washington DC for decades, and there was paperwork attached showing the year he bought it. So it may be even older. Sorry again.
Thanks for the response; the paperwork would make the date pretty definitive! Your pipe is probably not any older if made by Jameson and he made the transition from Barling to Comoy/GBD in that year.
Hey Lemuel, the first pipe is reasonably straightforward. When Comoy decided to participate in the 1933 Century of Progress world's fair held in Chicago they went all out, erecting a fantastic booth to serve as both exhibit and store, and offering a variety of their models bearing the 1933 stamp on the pipe and (if cased) the case as well. Here's a photo of the booth as it appeared at the time:
And here's a trade notice boosting both their presence at the Chicago Exhibition and the relocation of their US headquarters to Rockefeller Center:
As you can see above in the initial notice to the trade it refers to the booth as a store, but lest there be any doubt that Comoy was offering pipes for sale at the Fair see this advertisement published late in 1933 as the Exhibition was winding down:
As for the other two pipes I think your estimate of a date range is about right, although I'd be inclined to narrow it to the 1950s and 1960s. Still if you post photos of the nomenclature someone else might chime in.
As for the relationship between Comoy and Cadogan, that's a larger topic than I have time to go into right now. In brief it dates back to the merger; Comoy wasn't in the first round to participate (that happened on July 24, 1928); in fact they were the last one to jump in the pool on February 22, 1929. For decades thereafter the participating companies were run more or less independently, but as the pipe industry languished in the mid sixties the Adler family began to exercise more direct control over operations and the consolidation of sales and production capacity began.
Thanks for the post...VERY cool to see the photos of the display at the Chi show! That pipe was once the possession of John Loring, and while I lack the ability to post a photo, you can see it on the Loring pipe collection page. A few years ago someone apparently sold some of his pipes to SPC, where I got this one along with a Sasieni one-dot XXL panel, Dunhill Root 843 and Dunhill Bruyere 806, all three w/patent numbers. SPC never mentioned Loring and I didn't make the connection until some time later, accidentally.