Marxman question

[telescopes]

When you read about Alfred Dunhill accidentally discovering the virtues of oil cured Algerian briar you realize Robert Marx did not have to plow that field.

When he started his own pipe company, he used a certain grade of Algerian.

After he left, the pipes may be Algerian but not graded by Marx.

After he left, they were Marxman in name only - but they were not Marx.

 

[towhee89]

After he left, they were Marxman in name only - but they were not Marx.

It's quite easy to tell the later ones, especially without the arrow strike, but they just don't look like Marxmans at all (cause they're not of course!)

 

[telescopes]

Nor do they look like Lees.

 

[towhee89]

View attachment 362027Nor do they look like Lees.

I do like it though!

 

[Briar Lee]

View attachment 362027Nor do they look like Lees.

That is a ten dollar grade Lee 7 point gold star pipe that went head to head with either a C grade Benchmade or Jumbo (which would swallow it) or a Royal Grain Marxman.

They none look like a Lee. The Royal would come closest. Ten dollar Lees were stained.

The $3.50 Mello Grade Marxman was stained but none $5 or higher.

A Marxman and Lee and a Kaywoodie of that era started at $3.50 when a decent briar pipe was a dollar and two dollars and up was a luxury pipe.

With a Marxman more money bought a bigger pipe, except for the Super Grain, Deluxe, and Royal, where it bought fancier grain.

My two $25 Marxman 400 pipes, which until Lee and Kaywoodie matched them, were the most expensive regular production cataloged pipes on earth, and they are nearly devoid of fancy figured grain.

 

[telescopes]

That is a ten dollar grade Lee 7 point gold star pipe

Look again my friend. That’s a 2nd Gen 3 Star Lee. With perhaps the finest grain on any Lee I’ve or others have laid eyes on.

 

[Briar Lee]

Look again my friend. That’s a 2nd Gen 3 Star Lee. With perhaps the finest grain on any Lee I’ve or others have laid eyes on.

I can’t prove it, but I think the brief run of 5 pointed star Lees signified a price change to five dollars a star. One star was five, two star ten, and the three stars raised to $15.