Until the fall of 1922, Dunhill had sourced his bowls from other pipe makers, notably BBB for the larger pieces and the factories of St. Claude in France for the remainder. Meanwhile, he had purchased pipe making equipment from France, and even had a team of French workers come it to teach his craftsman how to use it. Thus he began producing all his bowls in-house. This pipe is from that first year of production. It is the earliest version of a 112 shell I have seen, a very refined long-stemmed apple with a charming and refined shape. But note the irregularity of the heel, resulting from the still experimental technique of sandblasting, which nevertheless had reached the point at which the catalog shapes could be recognized for what they were, irregularities not withstanding.
This pipe shows a very deep, craggy blast, and wonderful color. Moreover, it is so lightly smoked as to appear new, much as it did when sold from the Duke Street store. Even the original innertube with patent number is intact, and there are traces of the registration number on the bottom of the stem. It carries two patent numbers, one for the innertube, and the other for the sandblasting process. A very rare piece indeed.
#1 von
Arno
, 19.01.2010 22:14
