I have a couple of different Kai pipes (signed Kai) and one is from a different era. The button look much different than the newer one. I think every maker evloves and experiments.
Here are some KAJ pipes some with silver spike, some without.
I have found at least 10 pipes around the internet as estates marked KAJ and zero record of a KAJ maker. The only reference I have found connects directly to KAI. Of course that is not proof.
To me they look like earilier works that are a bit more traditional as he was moving into making his own interpretations as we see today.
See bottom two pipes also. One a KAJ estate, one a new KAI.
Weird.
KAJ ESTATE BELOW
KAI BELOW (new)
@briarblues Here is a KAI signed pipe I have with a button that is very different. Its still comfortable but different than the other I own and from others I have seen. Wider and tapered as opposed to thin.