Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes

[sablebrush52]

That is really strange, but ... 4 or so years ago I bought another mismatched pipe with a Peterson p-lip stem exactly like that one. It could be that back in the early 20th century, it was recognized that an amber p-lip stem was very desirable, but couldn't be made by anyone other than Peterson, without infringing on the patent - besides, this wasn't an easy thing to create. So people bought a Patent and used the stem for a different maker's pipe?

On the one below, the bone screw in the shank was twice as wide as the piece that was broken off in the amber stem. There is glue residue on the facing of each, so they probably removed the tenon in the stummel, broke off the Peterson tenon coming out of the stem, and glued the two together.

I have been waiting ever since for a stemless 155 Patent bowl to show up!

The dimensions of the amber stem are also larger than the Barling shank, as can be seen in this picture. Definitely not original to the pipe.

 

[runscott]

The dimensions of the amber stem are also larger than the Barling shank, as can be seen in this picture. Definitely not original to the pipe.
View attachment 367742

Yeah, Barling's certainly would not have been copying amber p-lips in 1906 - Charles Peterson was battling p-lip patent violations at that time.

 

[runscott]

This auction features a set of 1910 (not 1897) amber-stemmed Petes, one with the same stem we just discussed.

pair of 1910 Petes with amber stems

Here's my stem above it, for comparison. The silhouette is also of mine.