That would be nice, 7charb, I hope you can get one, it would be in good hands. Charatans with this shape (# 58) are rare. As you can see in the pictures below mine has pretty much scratches, the stamping is faint, the CP logo has disappeared completely but as I said before, it was “a must have“.
Beautiful pipe. In the years I worked at Diebel's (1970s), and we carried Charatan's, I never saw this shape. A keeper!!
Ziggy, since I was young (16) tobacco shops always fascinated me. In my hometown we had 3 of them. They all had this special flair that gave me a fine feeling whenever I entered them to buy little things I could afford at the time. I admired the pipes shown and whished I could buy me one later, when I would have saved the money for it. That was the time when my two best friends and me talked pipes in a very expertly manner w/o having ever hold one of these top-pipes in our hands but smoking Clan or Lincoln Cavendish in a basket pipe. ‘Dunhill' was the magic word until one friend came up with the statement, that Charatans were much better than Dunhills. (he had heard this from an old experienced pipe smoker). That must be the moment the name ‘Charatan' was branded in my brain though I still had'nt seen one. None of the tobacco shops in my town sold Charatans. Years later (76/77?), now living in Frankfurt, a very friendly Lady in a small tobacco shop, who always showed me several pipes from different makers in my price range once put also a smaller, smooth bent Charatan (211 DC Belvedere) on the counter. I bought it and still smoke it today. I don't know what I would have done if I had been sitting close to the spring like you. ?
My gosh, the first Charatan I could afford after starting work in the pipe shop was a Belvedere #211 pictured here. I still remember the day it came in from the wholesaler and was put in the Charatan tray; I just couldn't believe the bird's eye on the crosscut, and NO pits plus it was a '4' - really large which I liked. I had to have it, and have never regretted it. Its a sweet, sweet smoker; Too sweet as I bit through the end of the bit over time. I cut a black lucite replacement as you see in the picture. Now here is another Charatan mystery for us. This pipe wasn't a 'DC'. It's stamped #4211 only. The original bit was a tapered oval with the 'Cp'. So I just hand cut and lathed a tapered oval in lucite. I regretted losing the 'Cp' and experimented duplicating it using my stamps, but the lucite is too hard and I couldn't get a really good match - "close but no cigar". It was frustrating because I can replace the Dunhill and Comoy logos in stems, but not Charatan. By the way, Comoy's inlay is a pain in the ass!
