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254-RfCharatansMakeSpecial 33 grid

Charatan’s Make SPECIAL, Straight Dublin shape 33

R1,995.00

The stamping on this pipe is so worn it took the camera to show me the true credentials and value. Mind you I did have a clue when I picked it up – incredibly light.
A fine piece of briar, with a good-sized bowl.
The bowl has strong cross-grain front and back, with very faint BirdsEye between. It seems that there is too little soft wood for a distinctive grain. However the cross=grain continues over the shank showing a nice differentiation of hard and soft briar.
I don’t think the mouthpiece is original. Certainly there is no logo, and the join with the shank is not flush.
The pipe has been well cared for, only slight burn marks around the inside rim of the bowl, and very few dings.
Thanks to the camera I can just see that the stamping is “Charatan’s Make” “London England” SPECIAL 33.
But even the camera couldn’t help with the scratchings to the left of the stamp.
Dating is very difficult, maybe you could try for yourself. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dating_of_Charatans
It doesn’t seem to be from the period when the pipes were made in France since there are no letters after the shape number. It appears that all the other manufacturing periods provided pipes of Charatan/Dunhill quality – a great smoke.
Vital statistics:
Weight 33g
Inside bowl diameter 22mm
Inside bowl depth 39mm

SKU: 254-RfCharatansMakeSpecial 33 Categories: ,

Description

CHARATAN https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan
The first of the London Pipemakers to make entirely hand-made briars from the rough ebauchon to the finished pipe, including the stems. The nomenclature “Charatan’s Make” refers to this method of production. Dunhill was dissatisfied with the quality of the turned bowls he was importing from France and bought pipes from Charatan (paying high prices for only the best). Later Dunhill enticed one of Charatan’s best carvers, Joel Sasieni, to work in the Duke Street workshop.
Charatan continued to make high quality pipes and became very popular in the USA, being one of the first brands to break in 1960 the $100 per pipe barrier.
I found these quotes while investigating the two estate pipes.
“Charatan appeared different. The imprint left by its various managements, until the ’80s, was to commission the creation of new pipes to “master carvers” with individual characteristics in their work. The result has been a heterogeneous production, almost like an ensemble of hand made pipes, each one truly different.”
And “Some Charatan pipes are admittedly so grotesque that they are somehow appealing”
They are certainly good talking points

Additional information

Weight 222 g

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