"Us Yanks would have never caught that detail on the case!"
Wow, that is a rare seven day set beefeater33 and the year I was born. I also think you got a really good deal there. I am beginning to wonder how they made up thier sets in those days. I am pretty sure that your case itself was made before the death of King George V1 and gradually, over time they would select the pipes and prepare the mouthpieces to fit into each 'pocket' in the case. Dunhills may have wanted it that way rather than sending their pipes to a case maker for them to fit the pipes. I do remember Charatans sending Crown Achievements and Summa Cum Laudas to the case maker. When I say 'send' them, I mean that my father or Dennis Marshall would personally take them to the case maker and had educated the case maker to take care not to scratch the pipes whilst making the templates etc.
On reflection, I think that Dunhills may have had an in-house craftsman who made these cases and they may have held some stock of them which were already lined with silk/satin and stamped by royal....
And to answer your question mawnansmiff (not sure if you were serious or not), Dunhills were the tobacconists to Queen Elizabeth 11. They supplied the Royal Family with cigars, humidors etc for the 'heads of state' that she used to entertain. Her sister Princess Margaret smoked and had comissioned Dunhills to make her cigarette holders.She was a collector of cigarette holders. I remember she comissioned Paul Bently (from Astleys) to supply her with a seven day set of cigarette holders. They were gorgeous. They were made by a Russian craftsman that Paul knew who used to work for Karl Faberge and still had some of the old materials from Faberge to make this set!
