Hardcastle

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Hardcastle Counter Display Ad
1944 6 day set, courtesy of FinePipes.com
1944 6 day set, courtesy of FinePipes.com

Harcastle was started in 1908 by Edmund Hardcastle and was run independently until Dunhill built a factory next door to Hardcastle in 1935. They bought 49% of the company in 1936, and in 1946 Dunhill bought the remianing shares. In 1967, after merging with Parker, they became Parker-Hardcastle Ltd.

Today, Hardcastle is a Parker and Dunhill second in that it is suspected that much of the briar and many of the turned bowls that are not deemed suitable to bare either the Dunhill or Parker names are funneled down and made into Hardcastles, yet Harcastle also obtains briar from other sources.

John Loring states in "The Dunhill Briar Pipe - 'the patent years and after'" that in the absence of sales receipts, or other items of provenance, Hardcastles cannot be accurately dated. Loring further states that he knows of no way to distinguish the briar source when looking at Hardcastle, Parker, or Parker-Hardcastle pipes. We should not expect to find any actual Dunhill production in these lines, and while one might be there, it is doubtful we will ever be able to determine it [1].

The pipes pictured are from a 1944 6-day set: These pipes were made during the war, when Dunhill owned 49% of the company, and two years before they bought the remaining shares. German vulcanite was unavailable during the war, so these pipes are fitted with horn stems. The quality of workmanship is beyond reproach, the smooth pipes being free of obvious pits or fills, and with rich, deep color; and the sandblasts crisp and deep. Drillings are spot-on. This set originally appeared on an old FinePipes.com Website located here.