Information and Advice Sought On Antique Pipes

[radio807]

I just got hit with a bug to pick up a very old pipe, something from the 1920s or earlier. Dunhill pipes would be an obvious choice, but I'm not yet psychologically prepared to spend several hundred dollars on one. My ideal pipes would be any quality pipe from 1923 or 1927, which are my parents' birth years, but I don't know of any pipe maker from back then other than Dunhill who dated their pipes to the year of manufacture. If anyone knows of another, less expensive brand from that time period who dated their pipes, I'd like to know about it.
Along the same lines, I think it would be a hoot to have any decent briar pipe from the early part of the 20th century, or even the 1800s. Can anyone on the forums tell me what brands may have been available back then? I'm already on the lookout for a Kaywoodie, which as a brand dates back to 1919 and for which there are ways to narrow down manufacture dates to certain ranges of years. What other very old brands are out there that I might look for?

 

[sergemoat]

If it's a dated pipe you want I would suggest finding a pipe with silver on it that was made in England. Hallmarks are relatively painless to look up and a great way to date pipes made by manufacturers, who do not date stamp the pipes themselves.

 

[cleidophoros]

Go for a Peterson. A Patent Era is exactly what you want.

http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Peterson

 

[captainsousie]

+1 on the hallmarked English pipes. Recently saw a BBB that was hallmarked for 1911 and it went pretty cheap.

 

[radio807]

Guys, thanx for the information on hallmarking and Petersons. I had no idea about hallmarking, and that bit of information alone opened up a whole new range of possibilities. It's going to be a fun hunt!