I have a tiny vintage Dunhill and in researching I keep coming back to this forum so I'm hoping some experts out there can help me. The tiny bowl is marked Dunhill London 2468 (or possibly 2488) Made in England. There is NOT a digit following England. There is a dot on the stem. Total length is less than 5". The bowl is about 1" tall. I have owned it 20 or 30 years and no doubt I bought it at an estate auction. I have been told that it MUST have that digit following England and that it must be a fake. It's so obviously old and has been smoked, that I find it hard to think someone could go to all the effort to fake it. Opinions? So far I haven't seen how to add photos.
Help identifying / authenticating tiny vintage Dunhill
- Thread starter totalneophyte
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Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Postimage; Dropbox, etc. Photobucket), or on virtually any site, including this site's album such as eBay; Amazon Pinterest; Facebook; an online Pipe retailer; you-name-it, select the full sized image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose "copy image location" or similar words. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg or .png) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.
There are other good illustrations and steps on how to post photos under "Latest Discussions" in different formats:
LINK to that thread
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.
There are other good illustrations and steps on how to post photos under "Latest Discussions" in different formats:
LINK to that thread
The person who told you that a Dunhill "must" have a digit following MADE IN ENGLAND doesn't know what he's talking about. Henceforth, ignore that person, nay shun him for the ignorant witless cuckold that he be.
However there's more involved than the lack of a digit in determining the age and/or authenticity of a Dunhill pipe. We need to see pictures of the actual nomenclature. So kindly provide pictures. However, this much I can tell you. If it is stamped "SHELL" and is a smooth pipe it's a fake. There are some fabulous fake Dunhills floating around, including fakes made by Dunhill employees from wood "lifted" from the Dunhill pipeworks.
However there's more involved than the lack of a digit in determining the age and/or authenticity of a Dunhill pipe. We need to see pictures of the actual nomenclature. So kindly provide pictures. However, this much I can tell you. If it is stamped "SHELL" and is a smooth pipe it's a fake. There are some fabulous fake Dunhills floating around, including fakes made by Dunhill employees from wood "lifted" from the Dunhill pipeworks.
I have finally got my photos figured out. 3 of the 4 digits are pretty clear, but the third one is only clear along it's rounded bottom portion so could be a 3, 5, 6 or 8 and it's either a stray mark or there may be an apostrophe between the third and fourth digit. My husband doesn't think it was ever smoked, he says it looks more like years of dust in there. I never cleaned it in any way.
Bowl Markings
Full View
Bowl
View Showing Dot Placement
View Inside Bowl
Bowl Markings
Full View
Bowl
View Showing Dot Placement
View Inside Bowl
The small size of the pictures makes it hard to tell much, but to me it looks like the rim has been charred and the chamber either over-reamed or lined with some sort of pipe mud. Maybe it is just the lighting and low resolution. As far as date and authenticity, I have no idea.
I've never seen such a Dunhill. Heres the same model on Ebay, guessing it might be yours? I used one of the pictures below, that is tiny. The shape number doesn't pop up in any of the usual places. The stem dot does not look authenticate to me. Dunhill makes a "Don" shape with a similar stem fitment, but to my knowledge, never that small.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Small-Smoking-Pipe-DUNHILL-2468-England-Wood-Bowl-Vulcanite-Stem-/372633476015
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Small-Smoking-Pipe-DUNHILL-2468-England-Wood-Bowl-Vulcanite-Stem-/372633476015
YES, that's mine! Wow you did a great job with photos! I couldn't get them posted like that! Any chance you would post the one with the numbers that I added to my item on ebay? I added it as a separate post but yours are bigger. Thanks so much!
I'm going to go against the flow, here, and say I'm strongly leaning toward it being legit.
Dunhill made some truly odd shapes and sizes early on, would make one-off, un-shape-numbered "owner designs" by request, and anyone intent on faking a pipe these days---previously smoked tobacco pipes were considered the equivalent of used underwear until the late 1980's, remember---would use their copying talent (and stamps!) for a shape that was recognizable and unarguably valuable. The button also looks right.
Dunhill made some truly odd shapes and sizes early on, would make one-off, un-shape-numbered "owner designs" by request, and anyone intent on faking a pipe these days---previously smoked tobacco pipes were considered the equivalent of used underwear until the late 1980's, remember---would use their copying talent (and stamps!) for a shape that was recognizable and unarguably valuable. The button also looks right.
I’m with George on this one. Dunhill occasionally did some very strange things, and this one just has that certain typically-untypical look to me...? But I speak with no authority.
Now that I can see that it's not a 4 digit code I have less reservations about it. It did occur to me that it could be an OD, but I don't know enough about those to know how they might have been stamped. This "Dunhill" over "London" was used from around 1922 to 1952, so during the patent era. Would an OD have lacked any patent stamps?
It does seem more logical that a forger isn't going to make something that looks so unorthodox. There's little to no monetary reason for doing so as unusual shapes appeal to a relatively limited market.
It does seem more logical that a forger isn't going to make something that looks so unorthodox. There's little to no monetary reason for doing so as unusual shapes appeal to a relatively limited market.
Faking a pipe like that does make little sense. I definitely defer to George! And as mentioned, it is a Don-like shape.
This gets me thinking about how many people would work in an operation like Dunhill over all those decades, and surely some of them tinkered around with custom pipes for themselves, and adding the stamps and white dot for fun??? Just an idea...
Yes there is "Made in England" stamped in. On a supersized detail of that number it looks more like 24 then an odd symbol then an apostrophe and lastly the 8. I'm going to try again to post an enlargement. SSJONES did a great job posting large photos so he inspired me to keep trying. I thank everyone very much for all the help.
https://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=836671&ppid=1122&image=1030093120&images=1030093120&formats=0&format=0&lgdin=1[/img]]Close-up[/url]
That appears to work! But you have to click the URL instead of the photo showing on it's own.
https://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=836671&ppid=1122&image=1030093120&images=1030093120&formats=0&format=0&lgdin=1[/img]]Close-up[/url]
That appears to work! But you have to click the URL instead of the photo showing on it's own.
The image Al posted is on Ebay. Your larger images on auctiva are protected, except in the size above.
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