GBD/fr: Difference between revisions

Les premières GBD ne comptaient qu'une unique gradation de qualité du bois, plus tard il y en eut deux, et le nombre de finitions était très limité. Mais après la fin du 19ème siècle, la demande changea. Par exemple les Britanniques préféraient les couleurs foncées. La plus grande diversification des souhaits de la clientèle entraîna l’introduction de marquages supplémentaires. GBD Xtra et GBD Special furent les tout premiers modèles dont le nom indiquait des traitements et/ou des garnitures spéciales. La qualité standard était simplement marquée GBD.

The premium lines of GBD offered very good values, and are considered amongst the most affordable high end pipe of the 1960's and earlier and a rival in quality, design, and price to Dunhill. Smokers' Haven was the main retail supplier for GBD's in the US until the early 1980's.

GBD produced consistently well made pipes, almost entirely of Algerian or Grecian briar. In the late 1960's to late 1970's, they introduced the "Collector" and "Unique" lines, made primarily by Horry Jamieson, who had carved for Barling for many years, and was skilled in freehand design. Older GBD pieces are excellent smokers and unique in design. They did an excellent executions of classic pipe shapes, as well as some beautiful freehands in the "Unique" line.<ref>http://www.smokershaven.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3772</ref>

The following list comprises the better grades in descending order:

Pedigree, Pedigree I, Pedigree II, Straight Grain, Prodigy, Bronze Velvet, Virgin, Varichrome, Prestige, Jubilee, New Era, Prehistoric, International, Universe, Speciale Standard, Ebony, Tapestry, New Standard, Granitan, Sauvage, Sierra, Penthouse, Legacy, Concorde.

== Circa 1973 chart of lines ==

'''Virgin''': "Only the finest of closely grained briar is utilized for this exceptional pipe. Natural finish"

'''Century''': "A golden finish created to celebrate over a century of manufacturing the finest briar pipes."

'''New Era''': "The beauty of this pipe's perfect briar is accentuated by the richness of the 'take-off' dual finish."

'''Prestige''':"This pipe features a black handcut perspex mouthpiece which precludes discoloration and 'bad taste' after continual smoking. Only the finest of the fine-grained bowls are selected for this handsome matt virgin finished briar."

'''Prehistoric Perspex''': "The deep sandblasting sillhouettes the grain in bold relief. The crystal clear mouthpiece creates an attractive contrast to the deep dark finish."

== Dating GBDs ==

''The following is from an A.S.P post by G.L. Pease dated 1996/05/18, and used by permission''

<blockquote>Dating GBD's is difficult. On older pieces with hallmarked silver bands, one can look up the hallmark. Once GBD and Comoy's became one, the linear "London England" stamp became the round "Made in London England" stamp used on all later Comoys.

Even the stem is not a sure-fire method. All the way through the 1960's and early 1970's, some pipes were fitted with molded stems, while others were hand-cut. Not all hand-cut stems are marked as such, and it doesn't depend on grade.  (In my collection is one of the finest Pedigrees I've ever seen. It is un-smoked, made in the 1960's, and has one of the poorest molded stems I've ever seen on a production pipe! But, the wood would make a Dunhill DRH, or a Charatan Coronation blush!) That said, you can be assured that if the stem has a painted GBD

rondelle, rather than a silver or brass one set into the stem, that it is a late-model, made after the merge with Comoy.  These were the beginning of the dark-days for GBD (and Comoy, for that matter) in my opinion.

In some cases, the grade gives some clues. Xtras haven't been made since the 1930's, for instance ''(the line discontinued in 1937 - editors addition)'', and the Century was first introduced some time in the 1960's or 1970's as I recall, from what scant literature I've been able to acquire.  GBD introduced new shapes and dropped shapes almost every year it seems (an exaggeration, I'm sure), so if you had a lot of shape charts, you might be able to find a range.</blockquote>

Incidentally, G.L. Pease has a beautiful collection of older GBDs, as shown is this very interesting article called, "[[Pieces From My GBD Collection]]".

[[Image:Gbd_150aniversary.jpg|thumb|right|Recent Production, 150 Year Celebration Billiard, Courtesy [http://www.smokershaven.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3553 Smoker's Haven]]]

== Current Production ==

Current GBD [http://www.oppenheimers.co.uk/gbd.htm website]. GBD is now made by [[Cadogan]], who also make [[Comoy]] of London, [[Dr. Plumb's]] Perfect Pipes, [[BBB]], and [[Orlik]] Pipes. [http://www.oppenheimers.co.uk/]. Since the merger in 1981 with Comoys, GBD pipes are not considered to be of the quality they were under the original companies. Metal rondelles were discontinued after the merger with Comoy. The brass rondell made a reappearance on new production GBD's. The new lines are Autumn Gold, Bermuda, Facet, Pub and CW (Churchwarden).

== Onsite links ==

== Offsite links ==

This site has some excellent [http://www.perardua.net/pipes/GBDlines.html GBD Model Information]

Here is a 1961 GBD Flyer from: [http://www.chriskeene.com/gbdpage.htm Chris' Pipe Pages]