MARXMAN Pipes, Anyone?
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Had no idea about these, but now I doNice pipe !
It adds another category to collecting Marxman pipes.
Machine made transitional Royals and Deluxes of the middle fifties.
Look at all the shapes those came in.
I wonder if they made a Royal and a Deluxe in all those shapes before the curtain fell?
Very interesting, I had no idea there was a recession in the 50s. I never understood why Algeria stopped exporting briar after independenceAfter the war Robert Marx spent over $200,000 (3.2 million present day) a year advertising Mello, Benchmade, Jumbo, Super Grain, and (sometimes) 400 series pipes.
View attachment 368391
The average drug store price of a pipe in 1946 was about a dollar.
There never was any Marxman tobacco when Marx was in charge, I think is a safe assumption.
$2.50 a pound was outrageous. In 1954 that would be $30 a pound in our money. And the customer didn’t even get a description.
Other blends maxed out at about half that price.
There are no Benchmade or Jumbo or 400 series pipes in the catalog. Everything except the $5 figurals are machine made in a slew of shapes. The customer cannot chose a $5, $7.50, $10, or $15 size.
Unless those are on some missing pages at the end, which is strange. Marx was built on Benchmades and Jumbos, the more money the bigger. In my catalogs they were advertised near the front. The Dunsboros and Mellos and Select Grains were cheaper (relatively) pipes that were stained.
Only the $10 Deluxe, obviously machine made in dozens of shapes, is listed as “virgin”. All previous $5 and up Marxman pipes were unstained. They were ultra luxury products.
That’s a Mastercraft era catalog, I’ll bet.
Maybe the last one.
Somebody had to sell off the old stocks of briar and shut off the lights forever, you know?
Eventually they read Made in France and Algerian Briar.
Those must have been “transitional” Marxman pipes, made of Pre 54 briar in New York, but not full Monte Robert Marx era Marxman pipes.
At least one of Marx’s carvers named Cowan started his own pipe company. He could have bought out the remaining stock of old briar.
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View attachment 368394
There was a sharp and brief recession in 1953-4 that corresponded with the sale to Mastercraft and the start of the Algerian War of Indepence.
Recession of 1953 - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
Mastercraft likely gave a pink slip to everybody earning decent money.
Imagine if John Brown actually began a slave revolt in the Condederacy and the slaves won.
Other than the Belgian Congo perhaps, France’s occupation of Algeria is the most brutal colonial enslavement and exploitation of Africans in modern history.
After having starved and killed perhaps a million natives in the previous century, the French massacred thousands in one day on May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered,
Sétif and Guelma massacre - Wikipedia
What French briar merchants did not escape, it was very bad for them, you know?
And even if the natives had wanted to dig briar after independence, all the infrastructure of buyers and graders was long gone.
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Indeed it does, and I'm excited to be on the lookout!
So, Cowan was a carver under Marxs employ? At first? How long has this connection been known?
Since I read it on eBay buying a $21 (tax paid delivered) pipe that should arrive tomorrow.
Xxxx
Tobacco Smoking Pipe COWAN
Background:
In the mid 1930's, Lewis Cowan, who had previously worked for English pipe maker Loewe & Co in London, came to America, and became one of 7 carvers for New York based Marxman pipes. At some point mid-century, Lewis left to start offering his own line to pipes. It's not hard to see some similar design aspects in both Marxman and Cowan's own line.
There was another German that followed Marx from WDC.
He’d have been ancient by 1954.
By the way, we think we have inflation, and we do.
But Marx started in 1934 when there’d been massive deflation, making $5, $7.50, and $10 pipes. Between 1934 and 1954 dollars lost about half their value. A $5 pipe in 1934 is $120 in our money and in 1954 it was only $60. Wages increased even more.
Marx probably sold more $3.50 Mello machine made pipes than the higher profit Benchmades and Jumbos. Then he added a $2.50 Select Grain.
Whatever Cowan and the other carvers earned in 1934 might be tripled by 1954.
For example, a good friend of mine liked to tell how his father earned a dollar a day in 1940, and when he graduated high school in 1948 he got paid a $1 an hour as a kid to build a golf course.
The first minimum wage was 25 cents an hour in 1938 and 40 cents in 1940 and a dollar by 1955.
Add the rise of the cigarrete over the the pipe, and it’s one of them there deesasters for pipe makers, who couldn’t raise prices.
Since I read it on eBay buying a $21 (tax paid delivered) pipe that should arrive tomorrow.
Xxxx
Tobacco Smoking Pipe COWAN
Background:
In the mid 1930's, Lewis Cowan, who had previously worked for English pipe maker Loewe & Co in London, came to America, and became one of 7 carvers for New York based Marxman pipes. At some point mid-century, Lewis left to start offering his own line to pipes. It's not hard to see some similar design aspects in both Marxman and Cowan's own line.
View attachment 368500
There was another German that followed Marx from WDC.
He’d have been ancient by 1954.
By the way, we think we have inflation, and we do.
But Marx started in 1934 when there’d been massive deflation, making $5, $7.50, and $10 pipes. Between 1934 and 1954 dollars lost about half their value. A $5 pipe in 1934 is $120 in our money and in 1954 it was only $60. Wages increased even more.
Marx probably sold more $3.50 Mello machine made pipes than the higher profit Benchmades and Jumbos. Then he added a $2.50 Select Grain.
Whatever Cowan and the other carvers earned in 1934 might be tripled by 1954.
For example, a good friend of mine liked to tell how his father earned a dollar a day in 1940, and when he graduated high school in 1948 he got paid a $1 an hour as a kid to build a golf course.
The first minimum wage was 25 cents an hour in 1938 and 40 cents in 1940 and a dollar by 1955.
Add the rise of the cigarrete over the the pipe, and it’s one of them there deesasters for pipe makers, who couldn’t raise prices.
Be sure to let us know how it smokes when you get it.
A screaming bargain is on eBay for a marxman 400 stummel only, no stem.
I own two, and don’t need three.
Notice how they can turn almost black from use. Originally it was the same shade as the fills.
Marxman Smoking Tobacco Pipe The Foun Hundred | eBay
YOU GET WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTOS
www.ebay.com
I own two, and don’t need three.
Notice how they can turn almost black from use. Originally it was the same shade as the fills.
Bargain? Not likely. The pipe has been ridden hard and stored wet. The pipe is missing its original stem and of course the gold band. Cleaniing up the stummel, restoring it, making a new black saddle cut stem as well as a gold band will put the owner of the pipe out $150 plus dollars and you will still not own a complete 400. Let’s be clear - as someone who also owns two 400s. They are not better smoking pipes. As a project piece - yes, it is an interesting idea - rebuild the pipe. I note that this pipe likely is a fifth year 400 - judging by the serial number.A screaming bargain is on eBay for a marxman 400 stummel only, no stem.
Marxman Smoking Tobacco Pipe The Foun Hundred | eBay
YOU GET WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTOSwww.ebay.com
I own two, and don’t need three.
Notice how they can turn almost black from use. Originally it was the same shade as the fills.
I have hope I'll find a real nice 400 with the stem for this price, someday.
I do to, but they are generally between 160-200 dollars. Are more.
Yeah, never know, it's doubtful but one can always hope someone puts one up for cheap not knowing the value.
LOL. I am encouraged by your optimism. I am once again encouraged to believe a better and more peaceful world is just around the corner. But you never know. You might just find one.
I agree that’s likely a 1942 pipe, E being year five.
The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor, and all Algerian briar supplies stopped in late 1939 to early 1940.
My 400’s have fills, but not that many.
And somebody smoked that one nearly black.
One good thing about that one, is you are paying for only briar. In 1942 that was the most expensive factory pipe on earth at $25
If re-stemmed, they’d leave off the gold band, and that dark color is likely just a whisker deep.
This is why the restorers are in business.
$25 in 1942 is $480 in our money.
The nice condition originals are severely undervalued.
That one, would be to smoke the snot out of.
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Believe me , I'm usually not this optimistic, usually I'm more of a pessimist
My significant other says I'm very negative, anyway. We're all entitled to our opinions I say to her!
The issue I see is that the 400 isn't an exceptionally better or even slightly better smoking pipe. Owning a 400 really comes down to owning a piece of history - and that includes the gold band (as cheaply made as it was). The pipe carving itself is mediocre and the briar grain is nothing too write home about. While the briar can be refreshed, the issue is that the already oversized bore will be made even larger and this does negatively impact the way the pipe smokes. Of course one can purchase it to and spend the money to restore the briar and add a stem (and a band of course - the lines for the band are evident all ready). But what do you have? A pipe that is not original and will never have the value of what you put into it. Of course, you would be a Jr. Member of the 400 club.
It may be that you buy the pipe. I would have Briarville do the restoration. They are very familiar with 400s and have worked to restore many of them in the past. They may be able to even fit a cheap 14K band on it. Go with a black saddle stem and make sure they make the bit as close to the original as possible. I believe they may still have an example in stock to follow. The good news is that the writing on the pipe seems to be in good shape. At least you would have an example of the genre in hand.Believe me , I'm usually not this optimistic, usually I'm more of a pessimist
It's something to think about, but he'd have to come down in price some for me to want it, but right now I'm not really tempted considering the work it needs.