The same way I take my fly rod seriously. It's all in good fun. Unless that is something that is against the law in some places,
Limited Edition Lee Star Grades
- Thread starter Briar Lee
- Start date
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I mean, what else would we be here to talk about?The same way I take my fly rod seriously. It's all in good fun. Unless that is something that is against the law in some places,
I’ve not counted yet, but maybe Lees make up half my stash of pipes, or maybe not. I have lots, and lots, and lots of pipes, but maybe a hundred Lees
I sold maybe a hundred plus pipes about three years ago. I’ve not missed any, yet.
Rusticated Lee pipes aren’t common.
As a general rule a Two Star was five and Three Star ten dollars retail, which in modern money would be $75 or $150.
Really nice, carved Briarlee pipes were as low as a dollar ($15 today).
Rusticated pipes are like sexy fat girls. Most don’t like ‘em’ and some do.
Lee tried to make every price and grade of pipe from competing with Grabow on the low end to out pricing a Dunhill on the top end.
I’ve never seen a patent on a Lee Star Grade yet, but I’d love to see one.
Lee used on Star Grades and even some Briarlee production a better, improved, recessed, and hidden version of a Kaywoodie Syncrolock. I’ve always wondered if he didn’t have patent rights, or good lawyers, to keep KB&B at bay. It’s not identical, but it’s the same concept only the pipe looks like a push stem, the stinger removes, and the tenon is adjustable at home.
In my opinion the greatest advantage Lee would have had, and not for long, was that according to jguss Lee had the first big batch of briar that hadn’t been picked over since probably June 1940, when Italy joined the war on Hitler’s side.
After that, no more briar shipments from the Mediterranean until after May 8, 1945, and peace in Europe.
And until September 1945 and total peace, I can’t imagine briar shipments deserved cargo space.
Early in the war Kaywoodie advertised they’d put up a huge briar supply before the war, even one famous advertisement where they got the last shipment as war clouds loomed.
Later on in the war there were Kaywoodie “Hand Mades” that utilized the scraps they had left, and “Mission Briar” that was not briar at all.
Here’s an example of how plain a wartime $10 Kaywoodie Flame Grain was. It’s not yet stamped IMPORTED BRIAR, but the stinger is small, meaning that aluminum was all going to the war effort.
Lee was like the rest of us, trying to make a dollar.
But he was a real life, flesh and blood forties man, taking a brand new pipe company from an idea to making pipes that competed with Wally Frank, Kaywoodie, Marxman, Weber, Mastercraft, Yello Bole, Grabow, Medico, the English makers like Dunhill, and the big dogs, KB&B.
I bought a Wally Frank today, because it’s pretty and it only cost $22 delivered.
Wonder what the Wally Frank catalog said about Pipes by Lee?
Wally Frank was the big catalog merchant in 1946.
I sold maybe a hundred plus pipes about three years ago. I’ve not missed any, yet.
Rusticated Lee pipes aren’t common.
As a general rule a Two Star was five and Three Star ten dollars retail, which in modern money would be $75 or $150.
Really nice, carved Briarlee pipes were as low as a dollar ($15 today).
Rusticated pipes are like sexy fat girls. Most don’t like ‘em’ and some do.
Lee tried to make every price and grade of pipe from competing with Grabow on the low end to out pricing a Dunhill on the top end.
I’ve never seen a patent on a Lee Star Grade yet, but I’d love to see one.
Lee used on Star Grades and even some Briarlee production a better, improved, recessed, and hidden version of a Kaywoodie Syncrolock. I’ve always wondered if he didn’t have patent rights, or good lawyers, to keep KB&B at bay. It’s not identical, but it’s the same concept only the pipe looks like a push stem, the stinger removes, and the tenon is adjustable at home.
In my opinion the greatest advantage Lee would have had, and not for long, was that according to jguss Lee had the first big batch of briar that hadn’t been picked over since probably June 1940, when Italy joined the war on Hitler’s side.
After that, no more briar shipments from the Mediterranean until after May 8, 1945, and peace in Europe.
And until September 1945 and total peace, I can’t imagine briar shipments deserved cargo space.
Early in the war Kaywoodie advertised they’d put up a huge briar supply before the war, even one famous advertisement where they got the last shipment as war clouds loomed.
Later on in the war there were Kaywoodie “Hand Mades” that utilized the scraps they had left, and “Mission Briar” that was not briar at all.
Here’s an example of how plain a wartime $10 Kaywoodie Flame Grain was. It’s not yet stamped IMPORTED BRIAR, but the stinger is small, meaning that aluminum was all going to the war effort.
Lee was like the rest of us, trying to make a dollar.
But he was a real life, flesh and blood forties man, taking a brand new pipe company from an idea to making pipes that competed with Wally Frank, Kaywoodie, Marxman, Weber, Mastercraft, Yello Bole, Grabow, Medico, the English makers like Dunhill, and the big dogs, KB&B.
I bought a Wally Frank today, because it’s pretty and it only cost $22 delivered.
Wonder what the Wally Frank catalog said about Pipes by Lee?
Wally Frank was the big catalog merchant in 1946.
Hold up there cowboy.....I understand that flyfishing is said to be a matter of life and death but we all know it's much more serious than that.
Yes, but by the logic you suggested, my bamboo rods are just sticks with some eyelets threaded on them, lol. And my bassbugs are just pieces of painted cork, feathers and a hook.
I‘ve fly fished for over 50 years. I love it and really couldn’t think of any other way I would or could fish more in terms of enjoyment. But like my golf game, I will never take it seriously. It’s for fun.
When the more serious are selling off their high end equipment, I’ll still be catching brookees on the upper Colorado high in the Rockies.
Yup... they are....joking. I'm a big enough fan of split cane to have build a few of my own.
canucklehead said:
Do you have any ruminations about the Lord Davenport connection?
Trying to get both posts quoted…aargh! Anywho, since you asked…
Lee and Davenport had some kind of cross-patent agreement. Here are two Lees with the 1939 patent, one a 7-pt, the other 5-pt:
And two Davenports with the same patent…and also 7-pt and 5-pt stars:
Finally, a Davenport with the 1938 patent but also marked Patent Pending, so quite possibly from 1938 or 1939 since the 2nd patent was awarded just a year later:
Holy Flash Back, Batman. That’s what I saw. Can you send us a pic with the stem removed. Thx for the update.
GW - What pipe? 7-pointed stars and a patent :: Pipe Talk
Pic 1 stars AUR-----Grain, *something* Stem MAC---Stem, US Pat 2232092 Stem Connection I have a rhodesian shape (i think) with a saddle stem.. The stamping on the pipe is not the best, but it is novel, at least for me, in that the stem has 2 brass 7-pointed stars. I searched pipephil, and...
pipesmagazine.com
Here is a conversation on Patent Pipes by Lee with the Davenport connection discussed back in 2014.
Some things a man buys in this life really never change at all.
This November I’ll wear my pair of Red Wing Irish Setter calf length sport boots I bought in 1986, during deer season.
If I ever wear out the soles, I’ll have them resoled.
My Cross Townsend ceramic pen is forty years old, or so. It will be as good in forty more if it doesn’t slip through the floorboards of life.
Any Zippo I’ve owned since the first one about fifty years ago is as good as the one I bought last year, except the new ones have a better hinge and fifty per cent more brass.
And J W Ray’s tombstone looks exactly the same as it has all my life, when I take my son to warn him of the dangers of not taking even one long drink of home made moonshine. He died blind, in agony, in 1937 from taking just one drink on a dare, at age 16.
My early Lee Star Grain (not grade) Two Star Bulldog is as pretty and as useful today as it was 75 years ago when somebody paid $5 ($75 in present dollars) for it.
Things like my Ward’s Power Kraft 20 ounce claw hammer, a Case pocket knife, a good Elgin 571 B W Raymond pocket watch, and any Lee Two Star or higher grade pipe are truly timeless.
I think that Lee Star Grain cost me about twenty some dollars, I forget.
If I loose it buying another one is less than one meal out with my wife.
This November I’ll wear my pair of Red Wing Irish Setter calf length sport boots I bought in 1986, during deer season.
If I ever wear out the soles, I’ll have them resoled.
My Cross Townsend ceramic pen is forty years old, or so. It will be as good in forty more if it doesn’t slip through the floorboards of life.
Any Zippo I’ve owned since the first one about fifty years ago is as good as the one I bought last year, except the new ones have a better hinge and fifty per cent more brass.
And J W Ray’s tombstone looks exactly the same as it has all my life, when I take my son to warn him of the dangers of not taking even one long drink of home made moonshine. He died blind, in agony, in 1937 from taking just one drink on a dare, at age 16.
My early Lee Star Grain (not grade) Two Star Bulldog is as pretty and as useful today as it was 75 years ago when somebody paid $5 ($75 in present dollars) for it.Things like my Ward’s Power Kraft 20 ounce claw hammer, a Case pocket knife, a good Elgin 571 B W Raymond pocket watch, and any Lee Two Star or higher grade pipe are truly timeless.I think that Lee Star Grain cost me about twenty some dollars, I forget.
If I loose it buying another one is less than one meal out with my wife.
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That's awesome, pretty high technology in a pipe from 80 years ago.
My push-tenon Lord Davenport:
@Parsimonious Piper How often do you see these pipes come up with that type of fitting? I am upset with myself for letting the one I saw the other day get away.
That makes 4 times in the last few years since I first heard about them. I have 4 Lees and 3 Davenports with the cross patent/stars, a dual patent Davenport panel billiard, and the patent pending one I showed. And I’m the jerk that got the eBay pipe you saw. I made a private offer on it before there were any bids?
I thought that might have been you. It disappeared in a weird way. I should have locked it down with a bid.
Alas, Pipes by Lee are no more than a minor footnote in the history of American pipemaking. Weber was a pipe maker of some note for decades, yet there are a small number of devotees…
I’ve got a number of Webers I don’t smoke much anymore; let’s push the hype and drive the prices up…Well then let's start!