Got Me a Big 'ol Marxman

[tuold]

I like big chunky pipes. So when I saw a Marxmen listed on ebay for $9.99 with free shipping I had to go for it. From the blurry, dim picture provided by seller it was really hard to tell the condition. As luck would have it (for a change) the pipe is in like-new condition except for the finish being faded or bleached a bit. Pipe cleaners and swabs can out white as New England snow.
I cleaned and buffed the pipe, then applied a thin wash of black dye which I wiped off before it dried. Here she is:

Pipedia says Marxman was in business from 1934 to 1953. Here's an ad from the 40's:

 

[jpmcwjr]

Great find and a great cleanup! Congrats!

 

[puffy]

Really Nice Pipe

 

[gloucesterman]

It's nice when the "Pipe Gods" smile on you. Nice find. Enjoy.

 

[danielplainview]

Nice score. Nice work as well. It looks as good as new. I've seen a few Marxman ads and they were pretty pricey back then.

 

[tuold]

dave g observed:

I've seen a few Marxman ads and they were pretty pricey back then.

I think this pipe would have been from Marxman's "Jumbo" line and retailed for $10.00. In today's money that's over $100.00.

They also made a "400 Line" with 14k gold bands that went for considerably more.

 

[gtclark]

I always love finding old dis-regarded pipes and bringing them back into service. There's a lot of great briar out there bearing long forgotten nomenclature.

 

[philobeddoe]

<p>Marxmans tend to slide under the radar and that's just fine with me!

 

[colorduke]

Very nice pipe,I have a Jumbo and it smokes great.

 

[dadgy]

Does yours have a stinger? I recently picked up a Deluxe model and it had an interesting stinger design. It was just pushed into them stem and came out with almost no effort, so I plan to leave it out while I have it.

 

[tuold]

Dadgy, It does have one and I removed it as well. I keep it with the pipe in case I sell it someday....which isn't likely. The stinger looks like one of those Russian "onion dome" church spires.

 

[tuold]

Here's another Marxman I picked up from Etsy. This one if very different being smaller and having a carved bowl. The stem has a screw tenon and the threads for it are drilled into the shank, something I'm more used to seeing in a meerschaum pipe than a briar.
It hasn't been smoked much but shows wear from bouncing around in storage for some amount of years. I've given it a light cleaning and polishing and will leave it at that.
I'm curious to know if any Marxman collectors know when this pipe might have been produced. I can't find anything from the usual sources on the Web.

 

[mso489]

Love the looks on these. How's the weight on these? I only ask because some large pipes are surprisingly light weight, but even if they're heavy, they're classics.

 

[ejames]

Both are nice but I really like the looks of that yellow stemmed pipe!

 

[tuold]

mso489 wrote:

Love the looks on these. How's the weight on these? I only ask because some large pipes are surprisingly light weight, but even if they're heavy, they're classics.

They both feel light though the larger one has a wider stem and a substantial button so it's easier to maintain a grip on it without too much effort.
They weigh respectively 1.85 and 1.4 ounces.

 

[mso489]

For pipes that look quite massive, they are not heavy at all! Makes them all the better in my mind.

 

[tuold]

I imagine age has lightened them quite a bit (?)

 

[deuce26]

I really love the contrast between the rustication and smooth. Beautiful.

 

[huntertrw]

In his book titled "Rare Smoke - The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Smoking" author Richard Carleton Hacker had this to say, in part, concerning Marxman pipes: "Bob Marx opened his New York factory in 1934. His wife, Helen, took care of the administration activities while Marx handled the sales. There were seven carvers, one of whom was Lewis Cowan, who had previously worked for Loewe & Co in London. Each pipe was polished with a special formula known only to one man in the shop, Hugo Sohn, who had four decades of tobacco blending and pipemaking experience in Germany."
The Jumbo was one of five styles offered by Marxman. Regarding it Mr. Hacker wrote, "As its name implied, the Jumbo was a much larger pipe, part carved, part smooth and occasionally exhibiting variations on classic stylings. In a way, it was one of the forerunners of the freehand.?

 

[Loomungus]

Love those Marxmans. Custombilts too. The chunkier, the better