Vintage Dunhill Stain Discoloration

[tompetty]

I recently purchased a 35 Dunhill root briar online. Upon receiving it I noticed that a quarter sized spot on one side is noticeably lighter in color than the rest of the pipe. Could this be due to the finish rubbing off from coming in contact with the hand over the years or is this a common natural blemish that has likely been there since production? My ocd wants to have a touch up done by J.M. over at Boswells but at the same time I don’t want to alter a briar produced almost a century ago. Any advice is appreciated

 

[jpmcwjr]

Photos could make a large difference in informing your readers.
Once your photos are on a photo hosting site (such as Imgur.com; Postimage; Dropbox, etc. Photobucket), or on virtually any site, including this site's album such as eBay; Amazon Pinterest; Facebook; an online Pipe retailer; you-name-it, select the full sized image, then Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the image itself, then choose "copy image location" or similar words. Now paste that URL (the full web address, which should end in .jpg or .png) into the IMG box in the reply window of the thread you're posting to.
The site's album is also a good choice for displaying photos, and the same method works for obtaining the image's URL for copying into the IMG box.
There are other good illustrations and steps on how to post photos under "Latest Discussions" in different formats:

LINK to that thread

 

[tompetty]

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[tompetty]

1

 

[tompetty]

Pictures

 

[hugodrax]

Ees grain. Close-a da box.

 

[dmcmtk]

Not an issue. Stain penetrates "tighter" or "looser" areas of grain differently. What you are seeing is the desired effect of the finish, with the stain accentuating the grain's figuring. Nothing at all needs to be done to this pipe.

 

[mikethompson]

Very nice looking pipe! I like the stem on that one, it complements the briar very well.

 

[donjgiles]

I personally, love the "patina" and stain on that pipe.

If you want, remove the stem and plug the bowl with a cotton ball, grab an old toothbrush. I use the bathtub, but a large sink would work too.. can be a dirty job. Warm water, go slow and gentle, make sure the stain is not coming off! Dry and run a fluffy pipe cleaner inside to dry it out a bit. Apply some before and after restoration balm to the outside of the stummel and that pipe will be looking brand new, if not better!
Don

 

[mso489]

Perhaps it's not a purist stance, but that degree of wear looks just fine to me. You could make it look like a newer pipe, but why would you?

 

[stevecourtright]

Agree with dmcmkt. Appears to me that the coloring varies as a function of the direction of the grain.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Great username. One of my faves. Poor guy died before I had a chance to see him

 

[pepesdad1]

...and now his children are acting like...children...fighting over the estate.

 

[tompetty]

Thanks for the replies boys. I’m going to leave it alone

 

[danimalia]

Great looking pipe!