A DUNHILL DATING CORRECTION

Written by John C. Loring
Contributed by Yang Forcióri

In the Summer – Autumn 2003 Ephemeris at pages 57 – 58 I suggested that an evenly aligned DUNHILL / LONDON stamping on a Bruyere ES coupled with a 3 date code indicated a pipe made in 1918 (the only year then known to employ an evenly aligned DUNHILL / LONDON stamping) and repaired in 1923.

Since then I have seen similar stampings on a Bruyere LB and most recently (at this writing) on yet a third Bruyere being offered on eBay. Unlike the ES I wrote about, nether of these two pipes show any obvious repairs. In this light I am now of the conclusion that my earlier suspicion was incorrect, that these pipes date to 1923 (not 1918) and that the evenly aligned DUNHILL / LONDON stamping was employed both consistently in 1918 and with the addition of a 3 date code stamping, occasionally in 1923.

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