Interesting Completed Ebay Auctions - British Pipes

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Ahi Ka

Lurker
Feb 25, 2020
6,851
32,688
Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Sometimes something comes along that I find intriguing, especially if it's a Barling designation that I've never seen before. I can't decide whether I like or dislike the looks of this pipe but it's certainly an odd looking little cuss. I think what caught my attention was that it's called a Barling Unique. Horry Jameson, who carved FREAK pipes for Barling in the 1920's and went on to carve a great many of their quaints, left Barling to create his own line for GBD, also called Unique. So the Unique appellation conjures up pleasant associations for me and I figured that I'd make a bid on it if it didn't cost too much.

Here's the pipe and you can see what I paid for it. Weird looking thing, innit?

That pipe has @TheIronMonkey written all over it. Congrats on the score.
 

Terry Lennox

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 11, 2021
539
2,820
Southern California

mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
4,258
12,604
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,003
50,319
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
Amazing find and buy! I can't believe the Barling faithful overlooked that one. What era do you date it to?
That would be interesting to learn the behind the scenes. I doubt the GBD Uniques were that successful that they were to be copied?
The pipe arrived yesterday and I am able to reasonably confirm that it was made by GBD, which used the same "Unique" stamp on this Barling Unique as was used on the GBD Unique pipes.

The script font has an oblique swirl leading into the U in Unique that's a match between the two manufacturer's stamps, as well as other style and font spacing that's a match between the stamp "Unique" on the GBD pipes and this Barling pipe.

The pipe is an early '70's era product and could have been made by Horry Jameson, but not necessarily so, because GBD augmented Jameson's output with other carvers around this time.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there weren't a lot of these Barling Unique pipes made.
 

Bassman65

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 30, 2022
519
989
Canada

runscott

Lifer
Jun 3, 2020
1,294
2,841
Washington State
Glokar stem?

1911-12 BBB with Glokar stem?

s-l1600.webp

bbb11-1.jpg
 

ssjones

Moderator
Staff member
May 11, 2011
19,044
13,173
Covington, Louisiana
postimg.cc

niblicck

Can't Leave
Oct 7, 2020
395
3,154
Alabama
I've also never seen an LC shape GBD.

The seller's dimension has the pipe @ 11 inches.

Must be a Prehistoric Churchwarden.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,003
50,319
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
The Moorgate shape is pretty common, but I don't think I've seen it with a 8-dot stem.

Wow! I have a 4 dot Moorgate. Paid $135 for it about 8 years ago. It's a good smoker. That's a lot to pay for an extra 4 dots.
 

sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,003
50,319
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
I've also never seen an LC shape GBD.

That's a truly gorgeous rendition of the swan's neck shape. I'm not surprised that GBD made something like this as it's a standard French shape and they were a French company at the beginning. As I recall, Genod's rendition was the inspiration for Dunhill.
 
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sablebrush52

The Bard Of Barlings
Jun 15, 2013
21,003
50,319
Southern Oregon
jrs457.wixsite.com
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runscott

Lifer
Jun 3, 2020
1,294
2,841
Washington State
This has got to represent some kind of a record for a WDC pipe.

I've never seen an 8+" amber stem before. That, alone makes the price seem heading toward 'reasonable'.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays, All.
 
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xrundog

Lifer
Oct 23, 2014
1,298
9,211
Ames, IA
This has got to represent some kind of a record for a WDC pipe.

Those come up now and again. But not in unsmoked pristine condition. That probably is a record. I’d personally rather have one in nice condition that’s been smoked so I can smoke it. I don’t expect that one to see flame.