It's not every day that an unsmoked Barling shows up on eBay.
BARLING'S MAKE YE OLDE WOOD 166 L TVF MADE IN ENGLAND. STEM HAS THE REG NO 98046 AND CROSS BARLING LOGO. B i dding on : <<<< < UN SMOKED BARLING'S MAKE FOSSIL SADDLE BILLIARD 166 MADE 1939-1949 REG NO 98046 >>>>>.
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But I have reservations about this one, not whether or not it's unsmoked, I have no way of knowing whether that's true, but whether or not it has been subjected to some level of "restoration" by someone. Given the final price, I suspect that others felt the same way. It certainly is, in most respects, in clean condition. All of the stampings are crisp and the stem nomenclature appears to be crisp, both good signs, as the stem nomenclature is easily worn down.
What is bothering me most is the chamber wall. It looks freshly scoured. There are horizontal lines visible, which I have never seen in any other unsmoked Barling. The wood looks totally fresh, not like the wood of a 70 year old pipe, which will have darkened slightly over the years. Since I own several unsmoked Barlings I pulled them out to compare and the chamber wall on all of them is slightly darker. There are no horizontal lines.
The jig marks in the side of the chamber appear to be a little shallower and less distinct in this Barling than the ones that I own. Nor are there dark spots against the fresh wood in my unsmoked Barlings. The patina is uniform.
Another concern is the bit of wear on the rim. Barling used two different stains on their fossil pipes. The undercoat was red, over which was applied a black coating. The purpose of this was to develop a pleasing pattern of reddish highlights to the blast, over time, as the pipe was handled and enjoyed. There appear to be reddish highlights on the rim. On my unsmoked fossil there are no reddish highlights. The dark top coat is unbroken.
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