Old Kinda Odd Stanwell, Any Thoughts?

[agnosticpipe]

I like Stanwell pipes, and have a few of them. I don't know why, but my wife likes them better than any others, including her Dunhill. About a year ago I got this Stanwell because it looked different than most I'd seen. Maybe it's not that unusual, but I've seldom seen one like it. Anyway, I gave a the usual clean up for a pipe that wasn't very used. But for some reason I found myself ignoring it quite a bit. I don't know why, but I seldom selected it to smoke.
I got to thinking about it when I was looking at it in my Danish selection of pipes, and decided that it needed further cleaning and restoring. So I gave it some more attention, filled a little bite indentation in the bottom of the stem, and then filled it with some Shortcut to Mushrooms. This was a really nice smoking pipe!

I still don't know much about it, other than I feel it's an older pipe as it has the reg. number on it, and that seems to indicate that it is an older pipe. It's rustication is fairly deep, and the bowl is rather odd shaped, and stained darker at the top. The bowl is flat in the front and slightly pointed in the rear. Never seen this shape before.
Any Stanwell collectors or experts feel free to comment on this one, as I have no idea of what it's story is.

 

[samcoffeeman]

I have seen a couple with similar rustication from the older days, but never with that odd double stain. Very interesting!

 

[mso489]

Never seen anything like it. I'd guess 1950s/60s. I guess it's a billiard, but not like one I've ever seen. Maybe one of our pipe historians or Stanwell experts will come to our rescue here.

 

[fishnbanjo]

I think that is fumed and not stained, you may want to research if they ever fumed their pipes, if it has a model name and number that will help. Good luck

banjo

 

[jpmcwjr]

Interesting! Any pipe makers that are traditionally fumers?
I googled, but the first million hits were on glass fuming.

 

[dmcmtk]

Well, my first observation is that it may not be the original mouthpiece. I have seen the finish before, it's in my hand as I type, it has a crowned S stem (shape 85) same markings as yours. Also, the "Regd. No." stamping discontinued in late 1960s to very early 1970s, so that should give some sense of the dating. The shape, "9 Freehand, slightly bent, triangular bowl, special design mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson."

 

[mso489]

I'm surprised this is a Sixten Iversson design. I have one of the current Stanwell shape 86 pot pipes designed by him, which is an iconic sort of scoop/pot. This one, though a fine little pipe, seems to me a much more awkward design, a little meagre in the briar and pinched at the bottom of the bowl. I'm not surprised it wasn't retained in the production agenda. I guess there are Picassos and there are Picassos. It actually makes the great man a little more human.

 

[fishnbanjo]

Castello was one company known to fume the tops of their bowls here is an example.

banjo

 

[agnosticpipe]

Thanks for the info guys! I've been doing a little looking around again, and I did find a Stanwell with the same rustication and fuming around the bowl top on a Shiny Pipes ebay auction going for $65. So I'm assuming that these pipes are no great shakes, My stem could be a replacement, as I see no indication of any stamping on the stem. The fit and finish is fine, so that doesn't bother me. I remember paying about $25 for the pipe because I though it was interesting. So long as it smokes great, I'm glad I "rediscovered" it and I guess I'll be working into the rotation more often.
I have no idea how fuming is done, but I do remember seeing it before in the mid 80s on some Italian pipes like Caminettos and also some meers. I'm also not sure what the idea was behind it. Maybe to make the pipe look well used and smoked a lot?
Banjo, your Castello is a great example of of this process, and looks way better than my Stanwell.