GBD New Standard query.

[mawnansmiff]

Good afternoon chaps, am after a little help here and am hoping some forum member might oblige.
Today arrived another bundle of estates, one of which is a lovely GBD New Standard Canadian. Along the top of the (oval) shank with the usual stamps is 'John Cotton 100 Princes St. Edinburgh' and '39 Gordon St. Glasgow'. I understand John Cotton to be a tobacconist. On the bottom of the shank is 'A26' and 'London Made'.
The stem is the shortest I have ever seen on a pipe (~1 inch) and has the aluminium GBD roundelle. I wonder if anyone is able to roughly date the pipe and tell me if the A26 somehow refers to a shape number.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jguss]

Jay,
The John Cotton story is too long to go into here in any depth at all. In very brief, the eponymous founder was a snuff and later tobacco manufacturer, with a retail store in Edinburgh. The business grew quite large before being sold and resold several times. What's left of it today belongs to Gallaher, which in turn is now part of Japan Tobacco.
More relevantly to your question, John Cotton had a facility at the Gordon Street address in Glasgow from 1926-1934 according to contemporary phone books. As far as I can tell the New Standard was introduced in the early thirties (it appears in the 1933 industry price lists but not the 1931 or earlier editions). That part's a bit fuzzier because industry price lists aren't always comprehensive. But if we accept these two pieces of information at face value, your pipe dates from about 1932-1934. That narrow a range in dating a briar pipe is a remarkably good result; normally it takes a hallmark to do anywhere near that well, and even then you get scoffers who point out that silver bands can be added subsequent to manufacture.
Regardless, I'm sure it'll be a beauty. Enjoy it when it arrives.
Best regards,

Jon

 

[ssjones]

Ah thanks Mr. Guss. I assumed the time at the Glasgow address was the key.
I'll look foward to the pictures of this one!

 

[mawnansmiff]

Blimey Jon you have done it again with your seemingly bottomless font of pipe knowledge, very many thanks :worship:
I was amazed to hear your date range for the pipe, I had in mind ~1960's!
I did a quick cleanse of the pipe & stem and loaded it up with Condor LC and it smoked great.
I shall of course post images Al once I have worked on it ::
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Well chaps I did get around to work on the pipe but have yet to tackle the (very short) stem. Below are a couple of pictures of the work thus far. It's not the longest Canadian in my nascent collection (13 1/2 cm) but is one of the most attractive.

Looking at the before picture of the bowl/rim it is hard to see the bevel finish under all the grime.

Thanks again fellas.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[iamn8]

Beautiful! I'm only just now beginning to love the Canadian shapes. Awesome job!

 

[ssjones]

I'm also starting to appreciate the Canadian shape. I love the beveled bowl top on a GBD. Nice job.

 

[mawnansmiff]

Nate & Al, yes the Canadian shape is an attractive one though I do personally prefer bent bulldogs. One thing about this particular pipe that puzzles me is the use of aluminium for the roundelle. I have other GBD pipes where I'm pretty sure it is brass, or could it be a brass coating on aluminium?
It would be interesting to hear what materials were used and over what timescale.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ssjones]

The color of the rondell has always been a bit of a mystery and unfortunately appears to shed no light on any particular era. Early on, I buffed a GBD logo (brass colored) a bit too hard and removed the finish, it was black underneath.

 

[mawnansmiff]

That is interesting Al, I have rubbed a 'brass' one only to find it was aluminium beneath hence me wondering if they did indeed coat them
Regards,
Jay.

 

[ssjones]

Here's a rondell buffed off. "When buffing goes wrong"...

 

[mawnansmiff]

Al, that is partly the reason why I am having second thoughts of acquiring a buffer. I have seen so many damaged pipes on here where over buffing has caused irrepairable damage such as rounded off sharp corners on bulldogs and misshapen stems. If I do ever get a buffer it will be used solely for applying wax. Everything else will be done by hand.
Regards,
Jay.