Intriguing early French-made GBD

[armonts]

He added this:

"after visibly it is according to the two letters on each side of the hieroglyphs For mine it allowed me to situate it between 1913 and 1938"
https://servimg.com/view/19575108/2140#tabs-3

 

[osiris01]

Hi armonts. Yes, that is a Birmingham mark - English marks were date stamped in that period. Most still are as a general rule. The French mark is not date stamped. I shall upload it later today when I get home.
Cheers.

 

[osiris01]

The site has disabled right-click and I can't find another example of it. But if you follow the link, it is the third one down.
Albert Beaufort

 

[osiris01]

Found one. Mine doesn't have the Minerva head but the boar instead.

 

[craiginthecorn]

osiris01, thanks for the information about my new old GBD. It arrived today. The surprise is that what looked to be oxidized Vulcanite was actually orific-style horn, and in quite nice condition. I have to believe some refurbishment has already been performed. I tidied up the rim, polished the mouthpiece, and gave it a coat of wax, but it took all of ten minutes.
Also remarkable is that the oval shank and mouthpiece are in perfect alignment. No shims needed to prevent overrotation. The stummel is in great shape, too. One unusual feature is a small "11" stamped in the center of the front of the bowl. I'll post photos tomorrow.

 

[osiris01]

Craig, it sounds absolutely wonderful and likely from roughly the same era. It will be interesting to see if your one is in the 1895 catalog. They were numbered, but it may have been an internal numbering system for Harrod's. Looking forward to the images.
Cheers,
Geoff

 

[craiginthecorn]

Here are some photos from my phone. Sadly, in better light I'm seeing that the back wall of the chamber is perilously close to burning out. It's surprising that there isn't more darkening on the outside of the bowl. I've had good success with pipe mud in these situations, though, so not all is lost. The pipe was still a pretty good bargain. I was purchased from the UK eBay site, by the way. The only nomenclature is the GBD logo on the top of the shank and the "II" in the front of the bowl.

 

[osiris01]

Wow, looks wonderful. Shame about the chamber, but taking it easy with a bit of pipe mud or stove mortar or similar and I reckon it'll be fine. That stem still fits like a glove. This is from the 1895 catalog. bottom one looks closer, but it looks like it may have an angular shank (which would be odd) it's not easy to tell from these images, but a definite maybe. These are the only two in the catalogue that arn't silver mounted. No idea on the 'II' stamp.

 

[skaukatt]

Outstanding catalog grab!

 

[osiris01]

It is an incredible catalog from an incredible resource, and is in the pubic domain. A 1500 page catalog produced for 1895 - I can't even comprehend the effort (and cost) that was required to produce it. I don't know how well Harrod's is known outside of the UK, but these were the glory days of the up-market department store.
I should have cited this earlier, but the url: Digital Library wisc
Back to the pipe - that bowl looks huge for that time period.

 

[craiginthecorn]

That catalogue is fascinating! Thanks for the help dating my pipe. I think its safe to say it’s 100+ years old. I love the history of pipes.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks for sharing that catalog, it's certainly the oldest GBD ephemera I've come across.

 

[osiris01]

It's a wonder of the modern world. You have to hand it to the Victorians - what they lacked in moral flexibility, they made up for in class. (And the nameless soul that made it open source has my undying gratitude.)