About a week ago, my wife and I went to a nearby town to do some shopping and eat lunch. As usual, we had to go to the local antique mall to look around. I seldom see pipes around here, and when I do, they're not much to talk about. But I found a couple of interesting pipes in a display case, and for $15 for the pair, I couldn't resist.
The first is a Sterling Hall by Briarcrest. I'm only familiar with the Smokemaster pipes by Briarcrest and this little 8 sided panel pipe looked pretty nice. The second one is a Frank's Medico, that I bought mostly for the shape, a canted billiard, I would say. The Sterling Hall has a sterling band on it, and the briar looks fill free. It didn't need too much cleaning and was in decent condition. The Medico was a different case. Fairly heavily used, and had a varnished finish that was about 40% missing. I ended up removing the varnish and some of the stain with it, but left the color as it turned out, because I kind of liked it a lighter color rather than the darker color it was. That also explains the dark nomenclature. While cleaning, I found one little fill by the top of the bowl, which on a pipe like this doesn't make much difference to me.
I don't know much about the age of these pipes, and like many pipes, there doesn't seem to be too much info I can find about how to date them either. From what I've read, the Sterling Hall probably dates from about 1946-1949, and I believe that Briarcrest went out of business in 1950, even though Smokmaster pipes were made by Dr. Grabow conglomerate into the 1970s.(?) Correct me if I don't have this right. I don't what to think about the Frank's Medico, although I usually feel that pipes with Pat. numbers are older pipes, but how old I don't know. What I do know is that they smoke really good for older inexpensive pipe, especially the Sterling Hall.
Any of you pipers out there have any comments on these, it would be appreciated.
The first is a Sterling Hall by Briarcrest. I'm only familiar with the Smokemaster pipes by Briarcrest and this little 8 sided panel pipe looked pretty nice. The second one is a Frank's Medico, that I bought mostly for the shape, a canted billiard, I would say. The Sterling Hall has a sterling band on it, and the briar looks fill free. It didn't need too much cleaning and was in decent condition. The Medico was a different case. Fairly heavily used, and had a varnished finish that was about 40% missing. I ended up removing the varnish and some of the stain with it, but left the color as it turned out, because I kind of liked it a lighter color rather than the darker color it was. That also explains the dark nomenclature. While cleaning, I found one little fill by the top of the bowl, which on a pipe like this doesn't make much difference to me.
I don't know much about the age of these pipes, and like many pipes, there doesn't seem to be too much info I can find about how to date them either. From what I've read, the Sterling Hall probably dates from about 1946-1949, and I believe that Briarcrest went out of business in 1950, even though Smokmaster pipes were made by Dr. Grabow conglomerate into the 1970s.(?) Correct me if I don't have this right. I don't what to think about the Frank's Medico, although I usually feel that pipes with Pat. numbers are older pipes, but how old I don't know. What I do know is that they smoke really good for older inexpensive pipe, especially the Sterling Hall.
Any of you pipers out there have any comments on these, it would be appreciated.
