Mystery Comoy's 498 Blue Riband Extraordinaire

[bottils]

Hi all, long time lurker first time poster here. I have a Comoy's 498 that is a little unusual. The 498 as far as I know is a straight rhodesian/bullcap shape, whereas this one is a bent. The most fitting description would be a GBD 9438 dressed up as a Comoy's, 3-piece C inlay and all. Could this be an very very early Cadogan or "transition" pipe? Stampings and COM looks perfectly fine compared to my other Comoy pipes. Even has the taper mouthpiece that is a little slimmer at the waist. What do you gentlemen think? Will tey to post pictures(if I'm able tough, first post)

Edit: fixed the picture image and added the others/Al

 

[bottils]

Edit: Thanks a lot for the help, Al!

Do forgive my rather meagre photo posting skills.

 

[ssjones]

That is indeed a mystery! That shape, for Comoy's, is typically the 1057 and most of the time it has a stamped C stem.
Here's my 498, which is as you described.
I'd love to hear the backstory on how this one evolved!

 

[ssjones]

This 1057 thread was similar, Blue Riband and "Giant" stamping.

http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/heartbreaker-comoys-1057-blue-riband-giant

 

[bottils]

Very nice, that 498. Such a well shaped pipe.
Yes, it is very close to the 1057 shape. The 1057 as far as I understand was introduced late in the pre-merger era(could be mistaken here). However, as you can see this pipe is stamped 498, yet still bearing all the hallmarks of what we would consider a pre-merger pipe(inlaid C, etc) Very odd to see this combination of features and stampings. Did they at some point drop the straight 498 from the catalogue and moved this shape into the vacant lot? Then rename it 1057 at a later point? I don't know, seems lika a stretch... but theese little mysteries are part of the charm when collecting old british briar, I suppose. Came to me via a danish collector a couple of years ago, no idea of its life before that.
The resemblance of one of the 1057, the one with the drilled C, to my 498 is pretty close. Wonder how far apart their production dates are.

 

[ssjones]

I showed the 1057 Blue Riband to Neill Archer Roan a few years ago, he's never seen that Blue Riband shape either. Such is the mysteries of Comoys's in the latter years.

 

[Briar Baron]

A little off topic but I often wondered what the 3 piece C was? From the first photo I see no pieces in the C, is it that under magnification it can be seen? Also what period did the 3 piece C stop and the less collectible models began?

 

[Civil War]

Nice Pipe. Welcome to the Forums!

 

[bottils]

anthony416: I tried to get it to show in the pictures, but low lighting made it difficult to have it stand out. One can clearly see the "plug" in the gap of the C, though. The drilled and inlaid C was dropped some time after the Cadogan merger in about 1982 as a cost cutting measure, I have been told. Seems to be the consensus that overall quality was cut with it, not just at Comoy's, but across the Cadogan owned brands as a whole. GBDs lost their rondelles around the same time, if I am not mistaken.
civilwar: Thanks! Love the old Comoy's. Along with Dunhill and Parker, probably the focus of my modest collection. For now...

 

[Briar Baron]

bottils, thanks for the feedback. You have a lovely pipe, now I have to find one!