James Upshall Pipes - A Discussion

[kenbarnes]

I have never seen a pipe being filled with mastic/putty let alone knowing how to do it, so no, no Tilshead or Upshall or Charatan was ever filled and I am 100% sure that none were ever filled during Barry's tenure of the company. There have been a couple of people who claimed that Tilsheads had been filled in the early 1980s. The fact was a small flaw which was slightly open had taken in some of the pumice we used for very fine finishing and then this flaw 'took in' some composition wax - the next stage of finishing, which seemed to look like a fill.

Barry still does not understand the logic of what he was told to do as he said that, at this time in question, the shelves were full of high quality plateau briar and he had a load of rods to make mouthpieces from, so why?

I suppose if I could buy some poor quality pipes at $6 a dozen and strip off the stamp marks, re-stain, re-finish and stamp these Upshalls, and sell them for $480 a dozen the profit margin may seem massive but the cost, in my opinion is supremely massive. I know that for someone who had spent all their time developing a name of quality, their values may be completely different to someone who buys a name and tries to 'effectively exploit' the name and the market place.

 

[mawnansmiff]

That's quite shocking to read Ken. I just hope my three Upshall pipes are indeed Upshall pipes 8O
BTW Ken, what year did Barry Jones retire from pipemaking?
Regards,
Jay.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Upon receipt of my Tilshead pipe with the suspected fills, I gave it a very close inspection which proved to me that the photos did not lie. My newly purchased pipe has fills. No doubt about it. Still, holding out hope, I brought it into my workshop. I stripped the old waxes and dirt away with Murphy's Oil Soap and Acetone, then buffed it and waxed it. Now, the "fills" were almost invisible. Faintly there, but barely so. I set about taking a couple of photos to share. Upon processing these in Lightroom, I zoomed into an area below the Tilshead stamp where several smaller fills were thought to be. To my surprise and delight, it's obvious that these are not spots of putty as the grain of the briar is clearly visible in them in the photos. An old cabinetmaker's trick is to use a razor blade to add grain to a small fill to make it blend better, but there's no way any human did this. No, these spots were/are probably small sand pits with an accumulation of some foreign substance. -- most likely wax.
So, while I cannot declare with certainty that this isn't a lesser pipe with an upscale stamp, I think I can say that putty fills are not present. I'm quite happy with the pipe. By the way, the lighting and the extreme resolution of my camera are making the mouthpiece look awful. To the naked eye, it has a lovely, black shine.

 

[kenbarnes]

great, I am so pleased you got an ok one. It seems as though these marks were just stains on the briar. Enjoy it.

 

[ssjones]

Wow,a great outcome. Looking back, those spots may have been caused by fluid of some sorts? (lighter fluid splashed, etc.?) That's definitely grain there now. Those spots probably deterred some bidders, which worked out well for you.

 

[craiginthecorn]

I just smoked this guy for the first time and am pleased. It's my first James Upshall pipe of any type and am hoping to buy a full-blown James Upshall in the near future. It's strange but holding the pipe in my hand and looking at it in natural light, I honestly cannot see the marks at all now. It's a fine pipe and yes, ssjones, I think you're correct about it working out well for me. I paid $40 for it -- less than for any other Tilshead in recent history. I'm sure others were put off by the apparent fills. I had the same thought, too, about something perhaps splashing on the pipe. I thought maybe something acidic which might have clouded the wax.
Here's what I see in natural light now:

 

[elpfeife]

Very handsome pipe, Craig. I think you did very well!

 

[londonmake]

You did well. Great shape.
Here is another example of an early piece with J.U on the side of stem.
[BTW Ken, thanks for your reply ie: lucite stems on Upshall pipes]

 

[kenbarnes]

This 'pot-shaped Lovat' is a very early piece. This one is from 1979- early1980. There are various reasons why I know this and I think that this is the earliest J.U I have seen since working there in the 1980s.

This was made when Barry and I were possibly the only ones making pipes at Upshall- before Barry started training other people to work with us.

 

[craiginthecorn]

Well, I just became a serious James Upshall collector. I just won a lot of two dozen unsmoked James Upshall pipes in a display case. The photo from the auction house isn't very good, but based on the age of the case I have to believe these are from perhaps the 1980s. This came from a fantastic collection of tobacciana items of mostly very high quality. According to the auctioneer, there are 8 P grade, 9 B grade, 1 E grade, and 6 G grade, 18 of which have silver bands or spigots. I suspect the display case will ultimately be left behind in Australia due to shipping costs, but I'd like to have it if it's not outrageously expensive. Minus the case, I might decide to sell some of these to get my investment down a bit.
When it arrives, I'll take better photos to share. I'd be REALLY interested to know the period they're from, Ken. Did Les Wood do all the silver work for James Upshall throughout its history?

 

[kenbarnes]

WOW! They look like they are all from the original era- early 1980s. This is, in my opinion, a valuable 'clutch' of un-smoked Upshalls.

I am not so fond of the clips in this case as they can have a tendency to scratch the shanks of the pipes. The spigot mouthpiece that has fallen to the bottom of the case is hopefully a bent one which it seems to be and belongs to the bent pipe five down on the left column and the straight one which is in this bent pipe belongs to the forward canted 'Shannon' which currently has no mouthpiece.

The thing that also fascinates me is that we did not have an Australian importer/distributor so I think that, originally, these could well have been bought in London from say Sautter's of Mount Street, Mayfair.

Superb acquisition!

 

[ssjones]

Wow, that is unbelievable Craig! I agree with Ken on the stem swap.

 

[elpfeife]

That is a wonderful find. I'm sure you can live a full life with only one kidney! :clap:

 

[craiginthecorn]

You're spot on about the clips, Ken. Indeed, I inquired in advance about whether the clips had resulted in any difference in the color of the briar compared to the exposed wood. He replied that there were no issues of that type, but that there were light scratches from the metal clips. I'm expecting that the scratches can be removed with some buffing. We'll see. Fingers crossed.
Good point about the mouthpieces! I'm not sure it would have occurred to me that there might have been a mixup like that in a collectible display, but who knows how they were handle during shipment to the auction house.
The collection definitely had a heavy British bent. A couple lots that come to mind were a pair of similar display cases of brass pipe tampers in the shape of famous British historical figures and another that was an enormous collection of British clay pipes spanning several centuries. But the items spanned the globe. It was tempting to buy more, but the James Upshall lot was near the end and I needed to keep my dollars in reserve. I ended up with an extremely unusual footed pipe from Ceylon, which looks to be of clay and silver. I made a separate post about it. Lastly, I won a lot which included a most unusual Butz-Choquin cavalier-style pipe with a fanciful Bakelite body and a removable briar bowl. It's certainly not to every man's taste, but I think it's cool.

 

[vulcan]

This is a wonderful discussion board. I am interested in assembling a 'reference collection' of Upshall Pipes and have learned a great deal from reading the postings. Happy to join the discussion. Be well, Louis

 

[balkisobrains]

craiginthecorn
Well, I just became a serious James Upshall collector. I just won a lot of two dozen unsmoked James Upshall pipes in a display case.

8O 8O 8O

 

[balkisobrains]

8O

 

[craiginthecorn]

I've been reviewing this wonderful thread and noticed the discussion of the gold versus white stamps. I think I can provide a definitive answer for pipes produced from 1982 to approximately 1990. I have two dozen James Upshall pipes, a mixture of P, B, G, and E -- all from this same period. I base my dating on the fact that the pipes are engraved, rather than stamped and they all lack the "FH" mark which is reported to have begun around 1990. Ten of my pipes are spigots, which were never stamped with a logo because, as Ken Barnes has told me, there simply wasn't a place to put it. The non-spigot pipes are all consistent. P grades had white logos. B, G, and E grades had gold.

 

[ssjones]

Yep, those gold logo pipes are the cream of the crop

 

[londonmake]

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