Well, minutes ago the auction ended for the pipe I wanted.
The price was a little high, but the shape is fairly hard to come by, although I do think Bill Taylor made quite a few LC/120 pipes, they don't seem to show up often, and there are shaping variants (just like Dunhill) - this one appears to be modeled on the very early LC and looks to me like a near perfect "swan neck", and it's my favored XX size too.
1994
I wish there was more than just one picture.
It appears to be have been smoked a good bit, but well taken care of.
This is an instance where the shape beat out blast quality in my book.
Would like to hear frank opinions as to price,
did I overpay?
Will post more when it arrives, which will probably be a while since it's coming from Italy,
~sigh~
ASHTON PREBLE GRAIN XX MADE IN ENGLAND 14 SPLENDIDA PIPA FUMATA SMOKED PIPE
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A very cool LC comparison tool over at Pipephil:
http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/dunhillLC-comp.html
...I think Bill comes the closest to the original there.
I do hope this thing lives up to my expectations.
I only have 1 fullbent billiard in my rack,
so I'm excited about adding another.
A total classic shape!
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