James Upshall Pipes - A Discussion

[londonmake]

sorry---was trying to upload a new pipe pic!
unsuccessfully....
Edit: Pictures added/Al

 

[kenbarnes]

I had problems when I started to try it. I did not realise that I had to delete the https... in the box before I paste the photo link. If it is not that, perhaps you could send a private message to ssjones (the post above yours).

 

[londonmake]

One more try;

This is a nice fat pot bent billiard

 

[kenbarnes]

Nice grained 'P' grade. I think this is quite an early piece made in the 1990s. The FH for 'freehand' was something that Barry started after 1989.

 

[londonmake]

Thank you Ken.

Love the early JU work!

Also, thanks, Al for loading up my pics. I now have a new hosting site for photos... until they start charging for it, that is!

 

[fishingandpipes]

I feel like this thread has some crossover with Charatan, and I'm hoping Ken can give me some insight.
I purchased this Charatan Selected last year - best as I can tell, Lane era but with a DH stamp and no double comfort bit, so plausibly made before Lane took over and then they added the L stamp after.

Ken, if you're still around, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Piecing the brand together has been a challenge and this is the only one I own, but it does smoke quite well.

 

[kenbarnes]

Hi fishingandpipes.

What a lovely piece. I have never seen a shape like this with a spur. This Selected, in my opinion, was made in the early 1960s (1960-62). I think that from the late 1950s (1959 onwards) was when the first Charatan 'Freehands' were produced and stamped FH.

Barry Jones who started his apprenticeship in late 1958 started making these Freehands along with Joan Nicholson in 1959. Before this time Reuben Charatan would select blocks of briar which had straight grain potential and hand-turn orthodox classical catalogue shapes in straight grain.

Herman Lane became the exclusive Charatan distributor for the U.S. in 1955. The L stamp was used as an identifier to monitor pipes exported to the U.S. I am not sure when the L stamp was first used-possibly around this time (1960-62?), and if I remember, I will ask Barry the next time I speak with him. I have seen the first FH Charatan ever made (which Barry made) and Reuben said he could keep it as it was his first.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Love that pipe! The foot is reminiscent of the old clay pipes. And it looks to be in stellar condition. I wonder if the double comfort mouthpiece would have been impractical to make here, since it’s quite short. The combination of the L stamp and a standard tapered mouthpiece isn’t really that unusual, according to this article.

Charatan records indicate the DC (Double Comfort) bit was introduced in the 50’s, but some report seeing them in earlier production. Still others indicate they were introduced by Lane in 1960. Regardless, the DC bit is not an accurate way to date a pipe because many Charatan’s were made with regular and saddle type bits throughout the “Lane Era”.

 

[kenbarnes]

The DC mouthpiece was designed by William Williamson-Barling and first patented in England in 1965 with the US patent application in January 1966

 

[sablebrush52]

That's a gorgeous pipe! I do wish that someone would do a decent article on Charatan. It was a superb make and deserves better documentation than it's received.

 

[fabioptrn]

Hello everyone! I am a new user who writes from Italy, precisely Turin. I am a great lover of the British brands of a few decades ago, in particular Charatan and Upshall. This is one of my Upshall, without gradation and with the mark on the left side of the stem. I joined this forum because I saw that Ken Barnes participates a lot, I hope he can satisfy some of my curiosity about these glorious, but now lost, brand.
Edit: Fixed picture/Al (you have to enter the picture info, not the URL, this takes a right click to gain that info string)

 

[fishingandpipes]

Thank you Ken and all! I appreciate your help in dating this - it is in quite good condition to boot. I think I'll load it up now with some flake - it has a narrow, tall chamber that really draws the flavors out!

 

[ssjones]

Wow, Fabio, looks P grade or better from that picture!

 

[fabioptrn]

http://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/album/17733/20180106_190440-600x450.jpg
This is a picture taken now. I do not know if the grades A, S, P were for the color or the beauty of the briar grain. This is without indication of the grade. I am sorry that the JU mark has a little discolouration, unfortunately it was very oxidized. (Sorry for the bad photo, but I'm not very good at managing the light)

 

[kenbarnes]

Hello Fabio and welcome to the forum.

This Upshall reminds me of the styles we were making in 1980-81.

I think the James Upshall is stamped on this one rather than engraved and the same for the JU on the mouthpiece.

I do not know why it has no quality stamp/grade. This may have been one of some samples that we sent to Mario Lubinski in 1980 (who later became our distributor for Italy), samples to show the different finishes we could make.

 

[fabioptrn]

http://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/album/17733/20180106_193214-600x450.jpg
Thanks for the welcome, I am very happy to read who has experienced the time of Charatan's "geniuses".

What is the exact difference between printing and engraving the mark on the stem?

The history of samples in Lubinski is very interesting. I bought this Upshall without grade with the grade B, on this photo, in a shop here in Turin, both new. Now I'm waiting for another Upshall even without grade.

 

[kenbarnes]

In 1983/84 we bought an engraving machine that 'cut' the name into the shank and likewise the JU into the mouthpiece, so this is one way of dating the pipes. All the pipes that we made were stamped (or engraved) with a quality stamp-for the least expensive Upshall it was S, then P, B, G, E, X, and the highest grade and very rare XX.

 

[kenbarnes]

That's a gorgeous pipe! I do wish that someone would do a decent article on Charatan. It was a superb make and deserves better documentation than it's received.

Yes sablebrush, this is such an unusual Charatan and I like it very much - so much so that I am going to draw a template of this one and try to create one.

 

[fabioptrn]

http://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/album/17733/20180106_195326-600x450.jpg
Thank you for the clarification. The one above could be imprinted and the one underneath can be corrected?
http://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/album/17733/26553245_2016278948661751_373977212_n.jpg
http://pipesmagazine.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/album/17733/s-l500-1.jpg
Here another Upshall I'm waiting for (the photo is from the seller). Even it is without grade.

 

[kenbarnes]

These are all stamped, not engraved which does date them before 1984.