S
ScienceSmoker
Guest
I'm a bit of a collector of Georg Jensen pipes. From early on when I started smoking a pipe, I liked GJ pipes, they were on par with (or better than) Stanwell quality-wise, but were half the price. Prices of GJ pipes have gone up a bit since I started collecting, but they're still fairly inexpensive for the quality.
The only problem I see with GJ pipes is the weirdly haphazard way they name, number, and stamp their pipes. There are countless "model" names and pipes with the same name that seemingly have no relation to each other. And it's the same with the shape numbers, some have 2 digits, some 3, some 4 - and they all seem meaningless. I have a GJ "Excellent" which has grain far less beautiful than one of my Achat's. Then there are the mysterious "other" stampings - what do they mean? Who knows. I mean, I know what "straight grain" and "flame grain" mean... but what does "starline" mean? What does "de luxe" signify? Also, I've seen GJ "straight grain" or "flame grain" pipes which *really* didn't deserve that stamp. It's all quite mysterious.
Still, for a couple years, I've been trying to collect the myriad model names and decipher the shapes associated with GJ's numbers.
In this post, I'm talking mainly about Georg Jensen pipes... not any of the various secondary lines, of which there were many. The second lines that I am aware of are: White Star, North Dane, Jen Briar, Danets, and York (Monopol Briar). There may be others, but I don't know them.
Due to some copyright issues with the silversmith Georg Jensen, pipes meant for the US market are stamped only "Jensen" instead of "Georg Jensen". They aren't technically a "second", still I tend to stick to only Georg Jensen stamped pipes.
The most common "main" stamp is "Georg Jensen / Made in Denmark PIPES" but even the main logo stamp went through a few iterations. There are two "Georg Jensen" stamps in normal capital letters, the very common one, and a smaller one with a slightly different font and "Handmade in Denmark".
Here is the most common one:
Now the second one:
And then there is a "script" type main stamp, this one:
Now, I don't know the dates of these stamps or in what order they came or if they signify anything specific. But I do know there is a fourth main stamp that is *very* rare, and that is the "signature" stamp. I actually got one pipe with that stamp early on in my collecting and it puzzled me for a while. Eventually I actually saw Per Georg Jensen on Facebook and asked him about that mysterious signature. He said it was his father's and they only used it on "the very best pipes". I have two pipes with it now, and they're both exceedingly difficult to take a picture of. They're hard to find examples of online as well. But here is the best example of it I could find:
So, those are the main name stamps. Now on to the real strangeness - the models.
The model names were generally in all capital letters... but there were plenty of GJ pipes that had no model name stamp at all. Here are the model names that I have seen:
-SUNRISE
-GOODWILL
-REBILD [named after Danish woodland region]
-ÅCHAT
-72 EKSTRA
-DANIA
-GRANAT
-ANTIK
-AMBER
-WEGA
-ZENTA
-CRAZY [painted/lacquered in modernist colors resembling automotive paint - I've only seen silver and seafoam green. Also... I'd kill for one.]
-ONYX
-DE LUXE
-GRAND PRIX
-INDIAN
-REDSKIN
-FIREFLAME
-RED FLAME
-ORANGE
-ORANGE EXTRA
-ORION
-SAFIR
-SIRIUS
-HARMONY
-ARSPIBE [Rare - Means "Annual Pipe" in Danish. Always followed by a year, eg.ARSPIBE 2005 - strangly, I've read that Georg Jensen went out of business in 2001, but I've seen several ARSPIBE pipes *after* 2001, like an ARSPIBE 2008 or 2005. Also, I've often seen GJ pipes with only a year, but no "ARSPIBE". For example, I have a pipe stamped with only the main stamp and "2001" and seen others with various other years.]
-jUL [always associated with the script Georg Jensen stamp, and interesting stems - some with 3 dots or lucite stems]
-KONTRAST [with large wood circle on stem where the GJ logo usually is - GJ logo is on the other side]
-Intarsia [in script - usually has a wood accent diagonally on the top of the stem]
-ROYAL NAVY [has an accent ring at the end of shank with 3 or 4 brass stripes - I suspect that GJ planned on making a line of "Royal Navy" pipes, with some "Commander", some "Admiral", and maybe some other rank names. As it turned out, I've never seen a "Commander" stamp without a "Royal Navy" stamp... but I have seen "Admiral" stamps without the "Royal Navy" stamp.]
-Admiral [in script - has an accent ring with 4 brass stripes]
-ALU BAND [has an aluminum band]
-Brassring [pipe has a brass ring accent at end of shank - usually has the older style "Georg Jensen" stamp]
-Brass Band [in script - pipe has a brass ring accent at end of shank - usually has the script style "Georg Jensen" stamp]
-SPECIAL
-EXCELLENT
-SUPERB
-SUPREMO [Only 49 were made, to celebrate GJ's 49 years in business - they're each numbered "X of 49". I really want one.]
*Other Stamps [all in script]*:
1st Edition
Starline
de Luxe
Straight Grain
Flame Grain
Hand Cut
That's it for now. If anyone has more info, I'd love to hear it and have it added. Also, I'll try to get some information ready on the shape numbers... but that's it's own jumble of mayhem.
thanks!
The only problem I see with GJ pipes is the weirdly haphazard way they name, number, and stamp their pipes. There are countless "model" names and pipes with the same name that seemingly have no relation to each other. And it's the same with the shape numbers, some have 2 digits, some 3, some 4 - and they all seem meaningless. I have a GJ "Excellent" which has grain far less beautiful than one of my Achat's. Then there are the mysterious "other" stampings - what do they mean? Who knows. I mean, I know what "straight grain" and "flame grain" mean... but what does "starline" mean? What does "de luxe" signify? Also, I've seen GJ "straight grain" or "flame grain" pipes which *really* didn't deserve that stamp. It's all quite mysterious.
Still, for a couple years, I've been trying to collect the myriad model names and decipher the shapes associated with GJ's numbers.
In this post, I'm talking mainly about Georg Jensen pipes... not any of the various secondary lines, of which there were many. The second lines that I am aware of are: White Star, North Dane, Jen Briar, Danets, and York (Monopol Briar). There may be others, but I don't know them.
Due to some copyright issues with the silversmith Georg Jensen, pipes meant for the US market are stamped only "Jensen" instead of "Georg Jensen". They aren't technically a "second", still I tend to stick to only Georg Jensen stamped pipes.
The most common "main" stamp is "Georg Jensen / Made in Denmark PIPES" but even the main logo stamp went through a few iterations. There are two "Georg Jensen" stamps in normal capital letters, the very common one, and a smaller one with a slightly different font and "Handmade in Denmark".
Here is the most common one:
Now the second one:
And then there is a "script" type main stamp, this one:
Now, I don't know the dates of these stamps or in what order they came or if they signify anything specific. But I do know there is a fourth main stamp that is *very* rare, and that is the "signature" stamp. I actually got one pipe with that stamp early on in my collecting and it puzzled me for a while. Eventually I actually saw Per Georg Jensen on Facebook and asked him about that mysterious signature. He said it was his father's and they only used it on "the very best pipes". I have two pipes with it now, and they're both exceedingly difficult to take a picture of. They're hard to find examples of online as well. But here is the best example of it I could find:
So, those are the main name stamps. Now on to the real strangeness - the models.
The model names were generally in all capital letters... but there were plenty of GJ pipes that had no model name stamp at all. Here are the model names that I have seen:
-SUNRISE
-GOODWILL
-REBILD [named after Danish woodland region]
-ÅCHAT
-72 EKSTRA
-DANIA
-GRANAT
-ANTIK
-AMBER
-WEGA
-ZENTA
-CRAZY [painted/lacquered in modernist colors resembling automotive paint - I've only seen silver and seafoam green. Also... I'd kill for one.]
-ONYX
-DE LUXE
-GRAND PRIX
-INDIAN
-REDSKIN
-FIREFLAME
-RED FLAME
-ORANGE
-ORANGE EXTRA
-ORION
-SAFIR
-SIRIUS
-HARMONY
-ARSPIBE [Rare - Means "Annual Pipe" in Danish. Always followed by a year, eg.ARSPIBE 2005 - strangly, I've read that Georg Jensen went out of business in 2001, but I've seen several ARSPIBE pipes *after* 2001, like an ARSPIBE 2008 or 2005. Also, I've often seen GJ pipes with only a year, but no "ARSPIBE". For example, I have a pipe stamped with only the main stamp and "2001" and seen others with various other years.]
-jUL [always associated with the script Georg Jensen stamp, and interesting stems - some with 3 dots or lucite stems]
-KONTRAST [with large wood circle on stem where the GJ logo usually is - GJ logo is on the other side]
-Intarsia [in script - usually has a wood accent diagonally on the top of the stem]
-ROYAL NAVY [has an accent ring at the end of shank with 3 or 4 brass stripes - I suspect that GJ planned on making a line of "Royal Navy" pipes, with some "Commander", some "Admiral", and maybe some other rank names. As it turned out, I've never seen a "Commander" stamp without a "Royal Navy" stamp... but I have seen "Admiral" stamps without the "Royal Navy" stamp.]
-Admiral [in script - has an accent ring with 4 brass stripes]
-ALU BAND [has an aluminum band]
-Brassring [pipe has a brass ring accent at end of shank - usually has the older style "Georg Jensen" stamp]
-Brass Band [in script - pipe has a brass ring accent at end of shank - usually has the script style "Georg Jensen" stamp]
-SPECIAL
-EXCELLENT
-SUPERB
-SUPREMO [Only 49 were made, to celebrate GJ's 49 years in business - they're each numbered "X of 49". I really want one.]
*Other Stamps [all in script]*:
1st Edition
Starline
de Luxe
Straight Grain
Flame Grain
Hand Cut
That's it for now. If anyone has more info, I'd love to hear it and have it added. Also, I'll try to get some information ready on the shape numbers... but that's it's own jumble of mayhem.
thanks!
Last edited by a moderator:
