Lamb & Co, Sydney - Shape 256 (Comoys?)

[ssjones]

I didn't bid, but was watching this Shape 256 today. It is stamped "Lamb & Co, Sydney". The 256 is a classic Author shape and has to have been made by Comoys. The silver band looks like a repair (add says "all original, seems unlikely). Google didn't yield anything on "Lamb & Co, Sydney" but "Lamb & Australia" sure brings up a lot of lamb-related hits!
Lamb & Co had to have been a tobacco shop or department store in Australia. Has anyone seen a Comoys stamped this way?
This one has some wicked fills on the heel and I didn't think it was worth more than a $50 bid, but it had 37 bids! That goes to show you how rare the Comoys 256 shape is on Ebay, and why finding one has been quite a challenge.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1940s-Lamb-amp-Co-Briar-Pipe-No-256-With-Sterling-Ring-All-Original-Beauty-/390947884378?nma=true&si=PFxJlfv%252FZVyIkuJj3xxl4IRtpnI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

And a Comoys 256 for reference (from Neill Archer Roans collection)

 

[snagstangl]

so did you check who had the first bid? I started one hell of a trend. I sure wish you get out of my mind.

 

[ssjones]

I thought it was going to go around $50!!

 

[dmcmtk]

Watched it also. I would say definitely Comoy's made. Whether the sterling band is a repair, or an original adornment, one would have to see the pipe. I commented to another member here about how well the band was fitted. Here is my reasoning on the possibility of the band being original; the pipe was made as a private label pipe for Lamb & Co. in Sydney, yet I found a reference to the MP hallmark as a London mounter. Now I'm sure we could come up with a few scenarios where a pipe sold in Australia came to have a London repair, but I began to wonder if the fitment had been done prior to export. I don't know what the hallmark requirements are for commonwealth countries, and to be honest, I did not research that...because the price started to climb.

 

[ssjones]

That scenario makes sense Dave, I couldn't quite discern the MP hallmark on the band.

 

[jguss]

Lamb & Co. was established by Samuel Lamb at 307 George St. in Sydney.
Lamb had spent three years working for the government as its expert "in charge of government tobacco plantations at Moonbi and Nemingha". The results of this experiment in local tobacco-growing were mixed, and his contract was not renewed. Lamb then started a tobacconist business under his own name in Sydney in 1898; the license authorizing him to sell tobacco, cigars & cigarettes was issued August 16th. By 1900 the business was listed as Lamb & Co. in the Sydney directories of the time, which it remained through 1913. Thereafter the business disappeared from subsequent directories.
There is a Samuel Lamb who died in 1914 in Chatswood (about half a dozen miles from downtown Sydney), but it's not clear to me if it's the same man. Certainly if it was this would explain why the business disappeared after 1913.
It would also explain the appearance in June, 1915 of a firm named Prior Brothers, which advertised itself as the "successor to Lamb & Co".
All this suggests that your pipe might well date to before the first world war.

 

[dmcmtk]

Jon, GREAT information!

 

[klause]

Gorgeous pipe, and a great thread - smashing information, fella's.
Well done.
Would love to see that pipe cleaned up! Oh! Well!

 

[jguss]

Thanks Dave; I appreciate the props.
Getting info about people and companies from Australia is trickier than it is for many other countries; I wish more was available.
For the record, I'm on the same page re: this being a Comoy private label pipe. I'm less sure about the likelihood it's a century old. Yes, I'm confident that my info about the rise and fall of Lamb & Co. is right as far as it goes. I'm just not sure that it looks like that old a pipe to me...but then you never know!
Regardless of its history, it's a beautiful example of a beautiful shape.

 

[ssjones]

Thanks Jon! I drew a big fat zero using Google.

Unfortunately no one here won the pipe, I was just curious about it's history.

 

[misterlowercase]

Two different specimens of the 256 showed up on the 'bay this week...
...the Virgin looks pre-war,

wish there was more pix of it:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Comoys-Pipes-Lot-Of-2-/381604281341?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=xIsUHo6MeM8ug05hc2l6jG%252BjqFE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
The Tradition has a good

array of images though...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-USED-COMOYs-Briar-Tradition-AUTHOR-Shape-Made-in-London-England-1960-/361537739941?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=xIsUHo6MeM8ug05hc2l6jG%252BjqFE%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

[ssjones]

Several of us were watching the first one, not sure about the 2nd.
The 256 Virgin is unusual and I've not seen one before. The COM stamp was used after 1921 into the 1930's.

It was in pretty decent shape, but the winning bid surprised me a bit.
The solo pipe was in much worse shape, and went too rich for my blood,which was good, since I forgot about the auction until it ended!