Tag Archives: Dunhill Pipes

Breathing New Life into a Large Dunhill Group 6 Shell Briar 6401 Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a large sandblast Dunhill ¼ Bent Apple. It had a taper, vulcanite stem with a white spot. We purchased it from a seller who was selling an estate in Oregon City, Oregon, USA on 03/21/2024. The seller said that the pipe came from his father in Indiana, a long-time pipe dealer who had retired many years earlier. His father had originally purchased it from a friend of his who also was also a pipe dealer. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 6401. That is followed with stamping on the shank that clearly reads Dunhill in an oval. Next to that it is stamped Shell Briar [over] Made in England30. The rim was in good condition other than lava overflowing from the thick cake in the bowl onto the sandblast rim top. It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. The vulcanite stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There was a Softee Bit on the stem when we got it. Once it was removed, there were also scratches and tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the sand blast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and very readable as noted above. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 6401 is the shape number that unpacks as follows: the 6 is the bowl size, 4 is the identifier for a taper stem, 01 is the shape designation – an Apple. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 30 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a superscript 30 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”.I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4) or (11…39) led me to the section with a 30 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1990. From that I knew that the pipe was made in the 1990.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. You can see the flat finish on the rim top and the debris in the sandblast. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with some slight remaining oxidation. There are some scratches, light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I sanded the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the debris in the sandblast finish. It looked much better at this point.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. To address the scratches and marks in the surface of the vulcanite as well as some residual oxidation. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1990 Dunhill Shell Briar 6401 Apple with a ¼ Bent Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar dark brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 6401 Apple is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 3.03 ounces/86 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Breathing New Life into a Dunhill Cumberland Prince 44071 Made in England 23

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Prince with a smooth crowned rim. It had a taper, Cumberland stem with a white spot. We purchased it from a seller who was selling an estate in Oregon City, Oregon, USA on 03/21/2024. The seller said that the pipe came from his father in Indiana, a long-time pipe dealer who had retired many years earlier. His father had originally purchased it from a friend of his who also was also a pipe dealer. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 44071. That is followed with stamping on the shank that clearly reads Dunhill Cumberland[over] Made in England23. The rim was in good condition other than lava overflowing from the thick cake in the bowl onto the smooth rim top It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There may be some darkening or damage at the top and rim edge but I cannot be sure. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. The Cumberland stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There were also scratches and tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the grain around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar.   He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and very readable as noted above. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cumber1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 44071 is the shape number that unpacks as follows: the 4 is the bowl size, 1 is the identifier for a taper stem, 07 is the shape designation – a Prince. The additional 4 does not have any clear information though I wonder if it could be a designation for a Cumberland stem. The Cumberland stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 23 following the D of England would give the date the pipe.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a superscript 23 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4) or (11…39) led me to the section with a 23 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix which gives the pipe a date of 1983 (last digit hidden by the band). From that I knew that the pipe was made in the 1983.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Cumberland to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Cumberland

Introduced in 1979. Cumberland is another sandblast with a brown stain and a brindle stem (the material is more commonly called ‘Cumberland’ these days, thanks to Dunhill’s influence and the success of the finish over the past quarter-century). Originally, the Cumberland always featured a smooth brown rim, but in the current production the rim is sometimes smooth, sometimes sandblasted. Occasionally, a straight grain blast is finished with a Cumberland stain and a “Shilling Grain,” similar to the “Ring Grain,” resulting in a new variation on the traditional sandblast. The Shilling series is named for the British coin: the sandblast looks like a stack of shillings. Named after the warehouse on Cumberland Road. The old pipes that inspired this finish were found there.

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline. You can see that the Cumberland Finish was introduced in 1980 so this is definitely from the early releases of that finish from the factory.I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. You can see the clean bowl. The stem came out looking quite good. There are some scratches, light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I sanded the rim top and edges with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the cleaned up rim top and edges with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust. The rim top came out looking very good. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. To address the scratches and marks in the surface of the Cumberland I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the Cumberland with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1980s Era Dunhill Cumberland 44071 Prince with a Cumberland taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rim top is smooth and crowned. The Cumberland reddish brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished Cumberland taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Cumberland 44071 Prince is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one is already sold and it will soon go out to the new steward in Illinois. Thanks for your time.

Dunhill Shell Briar R, Made in England5 4S Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/02/2024. It is another Dunhill’s Shell Pot that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape letter R followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar [followed by] Made in [over] England. The date number 5 is after D and is the same size. The stamping ends with 4 in a circle followed by S which tells us it is Shell Briar in a Group 4 size. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and is browner than the newer Shell finish pipes. There is some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a heavy cake, tobacco debris and there was thick lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button on both sides. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy overflow of lava on the sandblast rim top. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge of the bowl at this point because of the lava. The stem shows heavy oxidation with scratches and tooth marks on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. You can also see the browner colour of this older Shell Briar in comparison to the newer ones of the 80s and 90s. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar Pipes to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.I turned to Pipephil to establish a date for a Dunhill with the stamping that was on this pipe. The date stamp 5 (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1b.html) I have marked the box below with a red box around the part of the date key that is applicable. The date can be established using the chart below. It has a date suffix after the D that is the same size so that dates it to the 1960s. Adding the suffix 5 to that makes this a 1965 Dunhill Shell Briar.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top and edge of the bowl. It looks very good with a little damage on the front inner edge that is minimal. The photos the stem to show its condition at this point. It is clean and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe looked remarkably good for its age.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all significantly, I sanded the marks that remained on the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They worked well to smooth things out and remove the tooth marks. When finished the stem looked much better. I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1965 Dunhill Shell Briar R Pot has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar R Pot is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot Made in England 34

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/11/2024. It is a Dunhill’s Shell Pot that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape number 4106 followed by Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England with a superscript 34 after D. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a light cake, tobacco debris and there was some lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was lightly oxidized, dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 34 which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 + 34 making the pipe a 1994.From there I turned to the Dunhill shape chart to unpack the shape number stamp 4106 on the heel of the bowl (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). This gave me the information I needed to interpret the 4106 shape stamp. The first digit 4 is the size of the pipe – a Group 4. The second digit is the style of the stem which in this case is a 1 telling me that the stem is a tapered stem. The last two digits the 06 tell me that the pipe is a Pot. I have included the shape below and encircled it with a red box.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. It really looked remarkably good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove the tooth marks and the remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I polished the aluminum inner tube with the micromesh sanding pads. Once finished I inserted it in the tenon in the stem.This 1994 Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell 4106 Pot is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces/40 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Patent Era Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” 24 Petite Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from a group of pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on 02/11/2024. It is a Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” Petite Prince that is in good condition. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the it is stamped with the shape number 24 followed by Dunhill’s “Shell Briar” [over] Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17 followed by a superscript 8. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has a mix of black, cordovan and brown stains on a sandblast finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was dusty around the nooks and crannies of the sandblast but otherwise fairly clean. The bowl had a moderate cake, tobacco debris and there was some lava on the sandblasted rim top or edges. The vulcanite taper stem was oxidized, dirty and had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show their condition and of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the deep sandblast grain on the pipe. It is a beauty. The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photo below. It looks very good and faint but readable. It reads as noted and explained above. Jeff captured the detail in the photos below. One of the first things I like to do is to unpack the stamping and understand each element in it. I turned to Pipephil helpful site and specifically the section on Patent era pipes to help with the date (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/patent1.html). I have included a screen capture of one that is stamped much the same as the one I am working on. Please note the message under the photo in the photo below.It reads: From 1921 through 1931 (inclusive) Shells were stamped DUNHILL’S “SHELL” if there was a MADE IN ENGLAND line. When the MADE IN ENGLAND was missing they were stamped DUNHILL’S “SHELL BRIAR”: this pipe hasn’t any MADE IN ENGLAND line.

I turned to another page on the pipephil site that would help me define the two patent numbers that are on this pipe. (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-guide.html?1926pat-shellbriar-1926z.jpg&18#). The two Patent Numbers: Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17. The patent numbers point to the patent for the “SHELL BRIAR” finish. I used the chart to locate the two numbers on the chart below. I have drawn a red box around those two numbers and the upward line point to the date mark for 1928 on the chart.Now it was time to verify the 1928 date for this pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1c.html). The pipe has a year suffix, a different patent no. and a sandblast finish so it fits the criteria for this Dating Key. It has the possessive form Dunhill’s. I have drawn a red box around the pertinent section on the Dating Guide. There the directions point to section on 1920 + the Suffix. With that information I added 1920 + the suffix 8 (8) giving the date of the manufacture of this pipe as 1928.

Now I had the data I needed for this pipe. The stamping DUNHILL’S “SHELL BRIAR” was used between 1917-1931 inclusive. The patent numbers point to the patent for “SHELL BRIAR” that Dunhill used from 1927-1931. The date code 8 identifies the date as 1928 which fits perfectly in the time period noted. The shape is that of a Petite Prince.

Now it was my turn to work on this old timer – a 1928 Shell Briar Prince. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it.

I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. The rim top and edges look quite good. The stem shows some light tooth marks on both sides and the button edge looks very good.

I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear, though worn in some spot but it is still readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the Petite Prince.The pipe looked quite amazing. I stared by rubbing the briar down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem on both sides with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on the surface. I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in those that remained with clear CA glue and set the stem aside for the repairs to cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and start blending them into the surface. I sanded the surface of the stem to blend in the file marks and the rest of the repairs smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1928 Dunhill “Shell Briar” 24 Prince Pat. Nos. 119708/17. 116989/17 has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is know for its craggy depths. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill “Shell Briar” 24 Petite Prince is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .60 ounces/16 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add this 1928 Petite Prince to my own collection of Dunhill Patent Era pipes. It is a real beauty that I will certainly enjoy. Thanks for your time.

 

 

 

 

Another Amazing Find 4109 Dunhill Shell Canadian with hexagon shank

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another Dunhill Shell Briar with a great looking blast on the bowl and a unique hexagonal shank and taper stem. The bottom of the shank and bowl is smooth so it is a sitter. This one came with a Dunhill box (wrong number on the outside but still very nice) and a leather (calf skin) pipe sock. In the box is a brochure on joining the Fellowship of the White Spot, a Dunhill tobacco brochure and one on Dunhill Pipes with the guarantee. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/11/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number 4109 followed by Dunhill Shell [over]Made in England with a faint date stamp that looks like 20 following the D in England. The number is approximately the same size as the D in England. The pipe had been smoked and there was a light cake in the bowl with some light lava on the rim top. The edges of the rim are crisp and clean with no damage. The stem is lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on the surface on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. Jeff took photos of the bowl and the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The bowl has a moderate cake on the walls and an overflow of lava on the rim top. The stem is oxidized and has scratches, tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the look of the sandblast. It really is a stunning pipe. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above. I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 20 which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 +20 making the pipe a 1980.From there I turned to the Dunhill shape chart to unpack the shape number stamp 4110 on the heel of the bowl (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). This gave me the information I needed to interpret the 4109 shape stamp. The first digit 4 is the size of the pipe – a Group 4. The second digit is the style of the stem which in this case is a 1 telling me that the stem is a tapered stem. The last two digits the 09 tell me that the pipe is a Canadian. I have included the shape below and encircled it with a red box.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. It really looked remarkably good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a unique piece of pipe history.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove the tooth marks and the remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I polished the aluminum inner tube with the micromesh sanding pads. Once finished I inserted it in the tenon in the stem.This 1990 Dunhill Shell 4109 Hexgonal Shank Flat Bottom Canadian has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite diamond taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell 4109 Canadian is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

What a Find, a Unique 4109 Dunhill Shell Diamond Shank Flat Bottom Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a Dunhill Shell Briar with a great looking blast on the bowl and a unique diamond shank and diamond taper stem. The bottom of the shank and bowl is smooth so it is a sitter. This one came with a Dunhill box (wrong number on the outside but still very nice) and a leather (calf skin) pipe sock. In the box is a brochure on joining the Fellowship of the White Spot and one on Dunhill Tobaccos. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/11/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number 4109 followed by Dunhill Shell [over]Made in England with the date stamp 20 following the D in England. The number is approximately the same size as the D in England. The pipe had been smoked and there was a light cake in the bowl with some light lava on the rim top. The edges of the rim are crisp and clean with no damage. The stem is lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on the surface on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. Jeff took photos of the rim top, bowl and the surfaces of the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The walls of the bowl had a light cake on them and some light lava on the rim top. The stem is lightly oxidized and has tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the look of the sandblast. It really is a stunning pipe. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above. I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 20 which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 +20 making the pipe a 1980.From there I turned to the Dunhill shape chart to unpack the shape number stamp 4110 on the heel of the bowl (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shapes.html). This gave me the information I needed to interpret the 4109 shape stamp. The first digit 4 is the size of the pipe – a Group 4. The second digit is the style of the stem which in this case is a 1 telling me that the stem is a tapered stem. The last two digits the 09 tell me that the pipe is a Canadian. I have included the shape below and encircled it with a red box.Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. It really looked remarkably good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a unique piece of pipe history.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to remove the tooth marks and the remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I polished the aluminum inner tube with the micromesh sanding pads. Once finished I inserted it in the tenon in the stem.This 1990 Dunhill Shell 4109 Diamond Shank Flat Bottom Canadian has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite diamond taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell 4109 Canadian is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.48 ounces/42 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Lovat Made in England 0

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table Dunhill Shell Briar with a worn or shallow blast on the bowl and a smooth rim top. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 01/22/24. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number 40 followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the date stamp 0 following the D in England. The number is approximately the same size as the D in England.  Next to that it is stamped 4 in a circle and S which tells me it is a Group 4 sized pipe and it is in the Shell Briar finish. The pipe had been smoked and there was a moderate cake in the bowl with some overflowing as lava on the smooth rim top. There is also some darkening and possible damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The stem is lightly oxidized and had wear on the surface on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. Jeff took photos of the rim top, bowl and the surfaces of the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The walls of the bowl had a moderate cake on them and some lava overflow onto the rim top – heavier toward the back of the bowl. There is also some darkening and potential burn damage that can be seen on the inner edge of the rim. The stem is lightly oxidized and has wear on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the look of the light or shallow sandblast. It is hard to know if it is just worn from use or if it came from the factory this way. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above. I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 0 same size as the D which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix 0 to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 + 0 making the pipe a 1960.I turned to Pipedia to verify this date on the pipe and have included the link and the post for that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipedia_Dunhill_Dating_Guide#Post-Patents). It verifies that date is 1960. I have included further information that was on the site for this time period. I have highlighted the pertinent information in red below:

[1955 up to 1969] Only a single suffix number.

The date code is just after ENGLAND: 1950 +: 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 50s and 0 for 1960 (they are smaller and underscored) then, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 60s (they are equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”).

  • Sometimes two suffix numbers (one after the other), but it’s an additional stamp for warranty control (see more here).
  • From 1961 up to 1964 we can find numbers without underscore – the code is a raised and smaller than the preceding “D”.
  • Sometimes the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9, in the 50s, are roughly equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”.
  • DUNHILL over finish stamp (BRUYERE or ROOT BRIAR). On sandblasted DUNHILL followed by the name of the finish (DUNHILL SHELL, etc).

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. The rim top shows scratching on the smooth surface and some darkening as well. There is also damage on the inner edge of the rim where it appears to have been damaged with a knife. The stem does not show tooth marks but the sharp edge of the button on both sides is worn and will need to be redefined.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear, though worn in some spot but it is still readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the rim top and also smooth out the inner edge and remove the cut marks. It looked significantly better at this point. There were still some spots of darkening on the rim top on the back and front but those will polish out further as the process continues.I worked further on the rim top with the 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I used them on the smooth surface as well as the inner edge. The darkening is less at this point and the top and edges are taking on a shine.I further polished the rim top and edges using micromesh sanding pads – I dry sand it with 1500-120000 grit pads and wiping it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The shine is deepening and though the darkening is still present in spots it is improving. I stained the rim top with a Maple stain pent to blend it into the bowl colour and to further mask the darkening. At this point the rim top looks quite amazing.Once the stain dried on the rim top I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a small file with a straight edge to redefine the sharp edge of the button. Once it was cut it looked better. I sanded the file marks with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out. I sanded the surface of the stem and the repairs smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Group 4 Lovat has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is shallow and worn. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 40 Lovat is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/35 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

What a Classic looking Dunhill Shell Briar 32 FT Billiard 1S

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a unique one and I think it is an older one. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 01/22/24. The pipe is a Shell Briar with a rugged sandblast finish. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number and the designation for a Fish Tail stem – 32 F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England with the date stamp 7 following the D in England. Next to that it is stamped 1 in a circle and S which tells me it is a Group 1 sized pipe and it is in the Shell Briar finish. The pipe had been smoked and there was a thick cake in the bowl overflowing as lava in the sandblast on the rim top. The stem is oxidized and had tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. Jeff took photos of the rim top, bowl and the surfaces of the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The walls of the bowl had a thick cake on them and lava overflow onto the rim top – heavier toward the back of the bowl. The stem is oxidized and has tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the depth of the sandblast. It really is a great looking blast that shows the grain underneath very well. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above.   I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 7 same size as the D which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix 7 to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 + 7 making the pipe a 1967.I turned to Pipedia to verify this date on the pipe and have included the link and the post for that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipedia_Dunhill_Dating_Guide#Post-Patents). It verifies that date is 1960. I have included further information that was on the site for this time period. I have highlighted the pertinent information in red below:

[1955 up to 1969] Only a single suffix number.

The date code is just after ENGLAND: 1950 +: 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 50s and 0 for 1960 (they are smaller and underscored) then, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 60s (they are equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”).

  • Sometimes two suffix numbers (one after the other), but it’s an additional stamp for warranty control (see more here).
  • From 1961 up to 1964 we can find numbers without underscore – the code is a raised and smaller than the preceding “D”.
  • Sometimes the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9, in the 50s, are roughly equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”.
  • DUNHILL over finish stamp (BRUYERE or ROOT BRIAR). On sandblasted DUNHILL followed by the name of the finish (DUNHILL SHELL, etc).

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. The rim top looked remarkably good. Unfortunately I forgot to take stem photos of the before and only took the ones below after I had some repair work on the top and underside.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift the majority of them. Those that remained I filled in with clear CA glue. Once the repairs cured I used a small file to flatten the spots. It looked much better. I sanded the surface of the stem and the repairs smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1967 Dunhill Shell Briar 32 F/T Group 1 Billiard has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 32 F/T Billiard is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .67 ounces/19 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.

A Prince of a Dunhill Shell Briar!

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a unique one and I think it is an older one. We purchased it from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/02/24. The pipe is a Shell Briar with a rugged sandblast finish. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and the underside of the shank on a smooth panel. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number 314 followed by Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. Next to that it is stamped Made in [over] England 0 7. The 0 7 is the date stamp but it is a bit odd in that it looks as if the 7 was stamped later than the 0 though both are underlined. Next to that it is stamped 2 in a circle and S which tells me it is a Group 2 sized pipe and it is in the Shell Briar finish. The pipe had been smoked and there was a thick cake in the bowl overflowing as lava in the sandblast on the rim top. The stem is oxidized and had light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. Jeff took photos of the rim top, bowl and the surfaces of the stem to give a sense of the condition of the pipe. The walls of the bowl had a thick cake on them and lava overflow onto the rim top – heavier toward the back of the bowl. The stem is oxidized and has tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a clear picture of the depth of the sandblast. It really is a great looking blast that shows the grain underneath very well.   He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and the shank. It is clear and readable and read as noted above.   He took the stem off the shank and took photos of the dirty inner tube apparatus in the tenon. It will need to be removed and cleaned.I turned to the dating key on Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to establish a date for the pipe. I drew a red box around the pertinent information below. It fits the criteria of a Sandblast with a year suffix and a Non possessive form Dunhill. The suffix is the number 0 same size as the D with an underscored 0. The second number 7 seems to have been added later. Typically, what that means is that the pipe was made in the year of the first number and then sold in the year of the second number which puts in the section below which notes 1960 + suffix 0 to establish a date. In this case it is 1960 + 0 making the pipe a 1960. The addition of the second number which is obviously stamped separately means that the pipe was sold in 1967. I turned to Pipedia to verify this date on the pipe and have included the link and the post for that below (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipedia_Dunhill_Dating_Guide#Post-Patents). It verifies that date is 1960. I have included further information that was on the site for this time period. I have highlighted the pertinent information in red below:

[1955 up to 1969] Only a single suffix number.

The date code is just after ENGLAND: 1950 +: 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 50s and 0 for 1960 (they are smaller and underscored) then, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 for the 60s (they are equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”).

  • Sometimes two suffix numbers (one after the other), but it’s an additional stamp for warranty control (see more here).
  • From 1961 up to 1964 we can find numbers without underscore – the code is a raised and smaller than the preceding “D”.
  • Sometimes the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9, in the 50s, are roughly equal in size to the “D” in the word “ENGLAND”.
  • DUNHILL over finish stamp (BRUYERE or ROOT BRIAR). On sandblasted DUNHILL followed by the name of the finish (DUNHILL SHELL, etc).

This information helped me to understand that the first number indeed was the year of manufacture. The second number is an additional stamp for warranty control connected to the date the pipe was sold.

Now it was my turn to work on the pipe. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took photos of the bowl and the rim top as well as both sides of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work. It really looked remarkably good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The photo of the stamping is clear and readable. I also removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe. It is a unique piece of pipe history.The bowl was in such good condition that I had to do some minimal work with it. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem smooth with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It worked well to smooth things out and remove remnants of oxidation. When finished the stem looked much better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I put the inner tube back in place in the tenon and the pipe was ready to reassemble and head to the buffer.This 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar 314 Group 2 Prince has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The rich brown/black finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has some great rugged sandblast that Dunhill developed and specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. It is critical to avoid buffing the stamping and to have a lighter touch on the sandblast briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar Prince is quite stunning and feels great in my hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .95 ounces/27 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I am going to add it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for your time.