Interesting Dunhill Humidor-Pipe Rack

[Humblepipe]

Gents,

I cleaned this old Dunhill Humidor/Pipe Rack up for a very good friend of mine. I believe he will eventually have me sell it for him. Not sure... I have perused the web, attempted to research with no results. I did not even find anything similar to this particular humidor/pipe rack. I would love to come up with a ball park date on it if possible. Perhaps the metal stamped branding at the bottom "LONDON" over "ALFRED DUNHILL" over "NEW YORK" helps? Obviously it did not help me LOL.

Best,
Humblepipe

 

[Humblepipe]

Bump

 

[hauntedmyst]

No clue on value but its a beautiful piece. If I had to hazard a guess I say from the 80's or 90's since Dunhill was still pro tobacco during that period and it was mostly like sold in one of their stores.

 

[daveinlax]

Very Nice! I’d be very interested when you price it. I have one with a flat top, green felt on the spring seal without the pipe stands. You can research the patent on the spring seal to get an idea when it was probably made after. I’d guess it was post war to the 60’s but I really don’t know.

PS the older prewar pipe furniture I’ve seen had an inlaid ivory (?) logo

 

[Humblepipe]

Very Nice! I’d be very interested when you price it. I have one with a flat top, green felt on the spring seal without the pipe stands. You can research the patent on the spring seal to get an idea when it was probably made after. I’d guess it was post war to the 60’s but I really don’t know.

Thanks, gents. It is certainly in great shape.

 

[guylesss]

For what it's worth, at least from the 1920s--along with its somewhat overwhelming and dizzying array of other smokers' accessories--Dunhill made quite a number of different models of "air-tight" "caddy racks," humidors, cigarette boxes, pouches and the rest. Their postwar catalogues are rather less lavish than earlier efforts, but my own guess (like daveinlax) is circa 1950s. The page below comes from the 5th Edition of About Smoke (1927).

 

[orlandofurioso]

Thanks, gents. It is certainly in great shape.

Triple lovely.
If I may be so bold to ask ; how did you clean it up ?

 

[orlandofurioso]

Very Nice! I’d be very interested when you price it. I have one with a flat top, green felt on the spring seal without the pipe stands. You can research the patent on the spring seal to get an idea when it was probably made after. I’d guess it was post war to the 60’s but I really don’t know.

PS the older prewar pipe furniture I’ve seen had an inlaid ivory (?) logo

I take care of two pre war ( twenties-thirties ) pipes stands, one is quite spectacular.
It's probably not ivory, but I will again study them under the magnifying glass for Schreger lines,

 

[Humblepipe]

Triple lovely.
If I may be so bold to ask ; how did you clean it up ?

Cleaned up: compressed air, detail/cleaning brushes, and a minor bit of Howard's Feed-N-Wax on a soft polish rag for the wood... lots of elbow grease and attention to detail. I did disassemble the spring mechanism in the upper lid and stretched the spring out a bit (it had compressed over the years and lost some 'memory'), cleaned all interior components and carefully reassembled. The aluminum "bowl' was mostly hand polished with buffing compound and a polishing rag (that took a lot of time and muscle - LOL).

 

[Humblepipe]

For what it's worth, at least from the 1920s--along with its somewhat overwhelming and dizzying array of other smokers' accessories--Dunhill made quite a number of different models of "air-tight" "caddy racks," humidors, cigarette boxes, pouches and the rest. Their postwar catalogues are rather less lavish than earlier efforts, but my own guess (like daveinlax) is circa 1950s. The page below comes from the 5th Edition of About Smoke (1927).View attachment 175372

This is very good reference material @guylesss. Thanks for this. Grateful!

 

[orlandofurioso]

Cleaned up: compressed air, detail/cleaning brushes, and a minor bit of Howard's Feed-N-Wax on a soft polish rag for the wood... lots of elbow grease and attention to detail. I did disassemble the spring mechanism in the upper lid and stretched the spring out a bit (it had compressed over the years and lost some 'memory'), cleaned all interior components and carefully reassembled. The aluminum "bowl' was mostly hand polished with buffing compound and a polishing rag (that took a lot of time and muscle - LOL).

Hats off , awesome ! Compressed air to remove dust only , suppose not to remove dirt and no liquids involved ?
Seems a little abbrasive to me ?
We are the buffs LOL.

 

[Humblepipe]

Hats off , awesome ! Compressed air to remove dust only , suppose not to remove dirt and no liquids involved ?
Seems a little abbrasive to me ?
We are the buffs LOL.

A soft touch is needed for sure. I go after some areas more than others. There were a few grimy areas on this piece that were kind of gross. I personally like the patina/vintage-ness to be showcased. Mostly, I focus on removing dust and grime so that it does not obstruct the beauty of a vintage piece like this.

 

[orlandofurioso]

Thank you for sharing and I learned a lot about an alternative method than mine !


First thing is to find an air compressor that fits my bench :

 

[orlandofurioso]

It takes a lot of love and work, elbow grease sometimes too, not to overdo a restoration
This is imho what we all should pursue;
a thing of beauty like this humidor that does not look like a factory new one, but like a very, very well maintained
object of historical significance ( well, to some of us ). I try to achieve such when refurbishing my pipes .

 

[Humblepipe]

Thank you for sharing and I learned a lot about an alternative method than mine !


First thing is to find an air compressor that fits my bench :
View attachment 175457

Hilarious. This is the best. Hahahaha...

 

[Humblepipe]

It takes a lot of love and work, elbow grease sometimes too, not to overdo a restoration
This is imho what we all should pursue;
a thing of beauty like this humidor that does not look like a factory new one, but like a very, very well maintained
object of historical significance ( well, to some of us ). I try to achieve such when refurbishing my pipes .

I am so sentimental about these vintage pieces. You are right, they deserve a lot of respect and tremendous care.

 

[Humblepipe]

Thank you for sharing and I learned a lot about an alternative method than mine !


First thing is to find an air compressor that fits my bench :
View attachment 175457

More like this

 

[orlandofurioso]

My thin air :

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If the Dunhill ashtray thread is any indicator of pricing, then this should sell for about $5,000.

 

[Humblepipe]

If the Dunhill ashtray thread is any indicator of pricing, then this should sell for about $5,000.

Jeez! We shall see.