Dunhill's relationship with Namiki (also known as Pilot) probably dates back to about 1927, and while lighters, cigarette cases, pencils, ladies compacts, and sundry other small articles (
maybe a pipe or two, though I'd be surprised) were made in Japan by Namiki and sold by Dunhill (more out of the Paris store than elsewhere), it was
fountain pens-- varying in sizes ranging from small to giant, in plain black lacquer, or ascending grades of decoration (more often than not signed by individual Japanese artists)-- that were the partnership's focus. And to which the OP's pipe pays a somewhat grotesque homage.
At least from the look of ads and a couple of catalogues from the 1930s, a range of remarkably beautiful things were featured among Dunhill's line of desk accessories and writing instruments right up until the world began its gradual drift towards the Second World War.
And though Pilot/Namiki resumed production of luxurious, lacquer covered pens by the late 1950s (and pre-war Dunhill-Namiki pens were very avidly collected like, say, Dunhill aquarium lighters, as minor "works of art"), the real frenzy began with a December 2000 Bonhams auction in London. Here a very large (#50 "giant" or "emperor" sized) pen, dating to about 1928 (and decorated with a pair of dragons in cloudy skies with lightning bolts by an artist known as Shogo) set a record price of approximately $250,000.
I'm a bit hazy about the exact date that Dunhill and Namiki began to reestablish their relations, but I believe it was around 2005.
Of course, nothing is really made for actual use like writing (or smoking). Rather like the five-figure, limited edition pens that Montblanc produces, most of what's made will end up in a safety deposit box until it's auctioned off, in original box and papers, to some other "collector" at a profit or loss.
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