Dunhill Group Number Stamp On Stem?

[lightmybriar]

Greetings good people (and all the rest of us),
I received a beautiful 1968 Dunhill Shell poker in the mail today, and was looking it over, and realized that there wasn't a Group number or the usual "S" stamp for Shell. I know that sometimes Dunhill will stamp a poker on the bottom of the bowl, and other times on the bottom of the shank, and this one is stamped on the shank. Shape 90. Looking closer, I saw very faint marks on the actual stem, which turned out to be the buffed away remains of a circled number (can't make it out but based on the size of this pipe, I believe this to be a Group 3), and the bottom curl of an S. I've seen a good amount of Dunhills but I've never seen one with stampings on the stem (besides patent numbers on some of the much older pipes). Have any of you guys ever seen that before? It's an uncommon sight to me but maybe I just haven't seen the right pipes?

 

[shaintiques]

Never seen anything stamped on a Dunhill stem. I have a few older ones and have sold many others. Never seen that. Can you post a pic?

 

[lightmybriar]

It's very faint, so it's difficult to get a good picture of. See if this helps any...

 

[lightmybriar]

Here are a few more pictures.

 

[dmcmtk]

Nice looking pipe. Maybe the chaps at Dunhill had a few too many pints at lunch that day... :wink:

 

[lightmybriar]

Hahaha that's exactly what I was thinking!

 

[doctorbob]

I have seen finish and group numbers (sometimes both) on smaller Dunhill pipes if there wasn't room to stamp on the shank.
Doc

 

[lightmybriar]

Thanks, Doc!

 

[clickklick]

Any chance it was the inner tube number or does it follow the same design stamping as a shape number?

 

[lightmybriar]

I can tell there was a circle and I'm pretty sure there is the bottom portion of an S beside it, which would be expected for the Shell pipe. It is a pretty limited bit of briar, so I can see why they couldn't fit it, but I had never seen it go onto the actual vulcanite before so that was an interesting surprise. I wish it photographed better.

 

[doctorbob]

My post above should say I have seen the stamps on the stem. Particularly, I had a small shell bent with the group number applied to the bottom of the stem. My impression is that particular pipe predated 1975.
Doc