Help identifying maker?

[jck5]

Hi, I bought this pipe on a whim and am curious as to the maker, but am sadly unfamiliar with the world of pipes. As far as I can discern there is no maker's mark, words, symbols, or anything identifiable on the pipe or stem. It seems to have been heavily used, there is a lot of char in the bowl and the rim is heat darkened. No idea what material the teeth are made of. The last picture is of the case it came in - it says Warranted Genuine French Briar. At first I thought that might be the maker but could not find it on pipephil and the words are too generic to be useful in normal internet searches.
http://imgur.com/a/Koia8

http://imgur.com/a/rUtJD

http://imgur.com/a/pVIDz

http://imgur.com/a/YHttv
http://imgur.com/a/3KFsL
Any hints as to the maker or age would be helpful. I'd also like to know a safe way to the clean the outside, there is a lot of dust gathered in the lions main.
Thanks

 

[clickklick]

There are a lot of no name carved briar pipes out there. My guess is that you'll never find the exact maker. You should enjoy smoking it regardless!

 

[igloo]

It is a old Sommer .

 

[jck5]

Hehe, that's no problem clickklick. I didn't expect much luck, although I was maybe hoping someone could identify it by style or tell me to check for a maker's mark somewhere I haven't thought to look.

Any chance you can tell how old it might be, or what material the teeth might be made of?
Hi, igloo, thanks for the tip about Sommer. It seems similar in style to their vercingetorix pipe, but alas there still is no makers mark on the pipe, no matter how many times I look. It may have been on the stem,I do not know if it is original or not, but the stem seems fairly loose and does not line up perfectly to the shank.
That said, while I was on the page about Sommer's Vercingetorix, I got led to a page about Lamberthod's duplicating machine (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/lamberthod.html) and a lion carved pipe it made- http://www.pipephil.eu/oddpipes/bestiaire/lion1.html. It bears an almost too coincidental resemblance I think. There are some differences though - I have no idea how closely machine could duplicate each time, and in case the pipes appear to have been finished by hand carving anyway. Mine does appear to have been carved in more detail, especially with the numerous lines of the main. Mine also does not have the inset eyes, although they could easily have fallen out and the eyeholes were certainly carved deep enough to hold them. As last points, the curve of the shank does not match between the pipes, and the main in Lamberthod's pipe extends over the lion's head, but not on mine.
I will try to do more research tomorrow, but let me know what you guys thing.

 

[hextor]

Man I do not know, but the lions head reminds me of a 18th century drawing, it is a beautiful piece.

 

[mawnansmiff]

A lot of those figurative pipes were carved in Italy. I have an elephant's head with ivory (?) tusks and a native American's head, both made in Italy.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[pagan]

It is a beauty, I know there are a lot of carved nic-nacks out there done by machine, laser carvings, that they pass off as "hand carved" but don't know if there are any Briar pipes, hope you have a true Artisan Pipe