Peterson: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search

Peterson (view source)

Revision as of 18:04, 26 July 2012

9,210 bytes added ,  11 years ago
→‎The Peterson Pipe Chronicles
No edit summary
Line 5: Line 5:


=The Peterson Pipe Chronicles=  
=The Peterson Pipe Chronicles=  
[[File:The-Piper's-Favourite-Pipe.gif|thumb|left|150px|An old Peterson advertisement, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[Image:NewXL23Spigot.jpg|thumb|200px|Sherlock Holmes XL23 Silver Spigot, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[File:AThinker-M.jpg|thumb|left|150px|An old Peterson advertisement, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[Image:NewXL90RoyalIrish.jpg|thumb|200px|Royal Irish XL90, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[File:SilverXL23Lestrade.jpg‎|thumb|200px|Silver XL23 Lestrade, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[Image:Pipedia2.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Charles Peterson's personal pipe, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[Image:Charles-Peterson-2-big.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Charles Peterson, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[File:1911 Charles Peterson's house, at 144 Leinster Road, Dublin.jpg|thumb|200px|Recent photo of the Charles Peterson residence, 144 Leinster Road,Dublin around 1911(yellow door)]][[File:Irishman.jpg|thumb|left|150px|An Irish Farmer smoking a clay pipe circa 1890]][[Image:Petersonsinterior.jpg|thumb|200px|Inside of the Peterson shop on Grafton St Dublin, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[Image:Peterson 20Museum 20Wall.jpg|thumb|200px|A view of the Peterson Museum pipe collection, Courtesy Jim Lilley]][[File:1901GoldCased-L.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Cased 1901 Gold Patent]]'''''By Jim Lilley''''' see [[A very brief Bio of Jim Lilley – Peterson Pipe Collector]]
[[File:JamesLilley.jpg|thumb|left|Jim Lilley as The Thinking Man]][[File:TPalmer.jpg|thumb|Tom Palmer]]'''''By Jim Lilley''''' see [[A very brief Bio of Jim Lilley – Peterson Pipe Collector]]


See Also: [[A closer look at the famous Peterson Standard System Pipe]], [[A Closer Look at The Peterson Deluxe System Pipe]], [[A Closer Look at the new Darwin Series]], [[A Closer look at the Peterson House Pipes]], [[A Closer Look at the Mark Twain Original and New Pipes]], [[A closer look at the Peterson Sherlock Holmes series of pipes]], [[Peterson Today (March 2011) – An Interview with Tom Palmer, Managing Director of Peterson of Dublin]], and [[Churchwarden Pipes]].
See Also: [[A closer look at the famous Peterson Standard System Pipe]], [[A Closer Look at The Peterson Deluxe System Pipe]], [[A Closer Look at the new Darwin Series]], [[A Closer look at the Peterson House Pipes]], [[A Closer Look at the Mark Twain Original and New Pipes]], [[A closer look at the Peterson Sherlock Holmes series of pipes]], [[Peterson Today (March 2011) – An Interview with Tom Palmer, Managing Director of Peterson of Dublin]], and [[Churchwarden Pipes]].


''Thank you, Jim, for developing these wonderful articles on Peterson pipes for Pipedia. --[[User:Sethile|sethile]] 19:31, 18 October 2010 (UTC) -- Pipedia SYSOP''
''Thank you, Jim, for developing these wonderful articles on Peterson pipes for Pipedia, and for keeping them current.--[[User:Sethile|sethile]] 13:04, 26 July 2012 (CDT) -- Pipedia SYSOP''
===A revised history of the Kapp & Peterson brand of pipe makers===
===The Peterson Pipe===
Until recently very little was known about the early history and the emergence of the Kapp and Peterson pipes as a brand. The following information was previously quoted widely in many publications as being the factual version of the firm's early beginnings.
[[File:PetersonFactory.jpg|thumb|Peterson Factory]]The Peterson brand of pipes are one of the most recognised in the world.
They have been manufacturing pipes as a business in Ireland since the 19th century.  
Today the business is owned and managed by Tom Palmer from their head office at the  
Sallynoggin factory in Dublin, Ireland.  


''“The Nurnberg brothers Friedrich and Heinrich Kapp, whose elegant Dublin tobacconist first opened for business in 1865 on Grafton Street, Dublin could scarcely have dreamt that they would participate in the birth of a legend.''
The commencement of the year 2015 will see the Peterson brand celebrating it's 150th
anniversary. This event will coincide with the publication and launch of a new detailed
Peterson reference book , in tandem with a new commemorative pipe issue. It is hoped that  
the launch will take place in May of 2015 at the Chicagoland Pipe Show, held every year at
the Pheasant Run Resort in St Charles, Illinois. USA.


''Friedrich & Heinrich, who christened their shop simply 'Kapp Brothers', soon made a name for themselves making and selling quality Meerschaum and Briar Root pipes.''
===A Brief History of the Development of The Peterson Pipe===
[[File:CharlesPeterson.jpg|thumb|left|Charles Peterson]]
====1865 - 1889 The  Pre Patent Period====
The Kapp brothers, George and Frederick originally
emigrated to Great Britain from Nuremburg in Bavaria .They first appear in the London trade
directories in 1866,when they are listed as Meerschaum pipe makers of 98 Dean
Street,Soho ,London. They then parted company in 1869 and established their own pipe shops
independently of each other.<br>
At some time around 1874 Fredrick moved to Dublin.while brother George remained in
London until his death 5 years later. Fredrick and his young family settled in the Rathmines
district of Dublin. In July of the same year he opened a new shop in 53 Grafton Street selling
Briar and Meerschaum pipes.<br>
Around 1875 Charles Peterson, a young, newly arrived, Latvian immigrant was hired by
Fredrick as a pipe craftsman,primarily to make custom ordered briar pipes. However Fredrick
had not long to live and died in 1881. Exactly one year later Fredrick's widow also died.The
business was then inherited by their 10 and 12 year old sons and was renamed Kapp Brothers  
after executors were appointed.Charles Peterson by then was the lead craftsman and managed
the business on behalf of Fredrick and his wife's executors until the boys came of age.
When the Kapp brothers did eventually come of age, Alfred and Charles Peterson bought
out Christian's shareholding and renamed the business Kapp & Peterson.<br>
Christian chose to become a Doctor and moved to England .


''It was not long before Charles Peterson, a large young Latvian immigrant from Riga, walked into Kapp Brothers Grafton Street premises armed with a revolutionary pipe and ambitious plans for the future, declaring that he could make better pipes than they could. Armed with an imaginative flair for pipes and a craftsman's background. There and then, Peterson suggested that the brothers go into partnership with him to turn his pipe dream into the world's dream pipe. They agreed and Peterson not only proved himself correct, but became the third partner in the fledgling firm. The company was renamed Kapp & Peterson.”''
====1890 - 1914  The Patent Period====
<gallery widths=150px heights=200px>
[[File:BEEpATENT.jpg|thumb|left|1900 Bee Patent Advertisement]][[File:A Kapp.jpg|thumb|Alfred & Charles at shop frontage]]Charles Peterson applied for a patent for an improved tobacco pipe on the 8th of August 1890.<br>
File:Old Pete Smoker.JPG|An old sailor smoking a Peterson
He was awarded patent number 12393 on the 16th of June 1891 for Great Britain and
File:GlasgowMan.jpg‎|A Glasgow Gentleman smoking a Peterson Pipe, dated 1910
Ireland.This came to be known as the famous 'System Pipe' patent.<br>
</gallery>
The French patent,No. 210944 was issued to them on January 1891.<br>
Not much more factual background information was known about the Kapps or of Charles Peterson. How the business evolved and progressed,their family lives,when did they retire,where and when did they die. Why was there few, if any accurate factory records for this period?
The USA issued patent No. 519,135 on May 1st 1894.<br>
*The difficulty has been separating the myth and legend from the true historical facts.
In later years they went on to be successful in being awarded additional patents associated
*There are few, if any verified accurate historical references, that is until now!!
with their innovative pipes and pipe stems,including the famous P-lip patent in 1898.
*The research work currently being undertaken for the new book, has brought forward many new exciting historical surprises, in regard to this early period of the Kapp and Peterson story.
 
*I can assure all Peterson enthusiasts that the much more thorough detail which we now have for this period,to be published in the forthcoming new book ('The Peterson Pipe Chronicles'), will rewrite the previous historical information and help clarify the true K&P Time-line.
1895 Kapp and Peterson moved to bigger premises at 111 Grafton Street Dublin and also
<gallery widths=110px heights=110px>
opened a new depot in Broad Street London.<br>
File:Img007.jpg|Old Patent Catalog, Courtesy Jim Lilley
1900 K & P exhibited with great success at the Paris International exhibition winning several
File:AmberPatent1901.jpg|1901 Amber Stem Patent, Jim Lilley Collection
gold medals and accolades for the quality of their pipes.<br>
File:Patent.jpg|Patent, Jim Lilley collection
Fredrick Henry Kapp, son of Alfred and known as Harry, joined his father's business in 1914
File:PetersonPatent Meer.jpg|Patent Meerschaum, Jim Lilley Collection
at the outbreak of the first World War.
</gallery>
 
====1915 - 1949  The Pre Republic Period====
[[File:1916-Kapp-Peterson's-tobacc.jpg|thumb|left|"Kelly's Fort" incident newspaper article]]This was a turbulent period for the company with
the outbreak of World war 1 and the start of the Easter uprising in 1916.
The K&P shop was extensively damaged during the military action at this time ( see attached
newspaper report). Following quote by Kapp & Peterson.-<br>
''"Kelly's, the well known Dublin landmark at the corner of Sackville Street and Bachelor's  
Walk, one of the most shot at and fully punctured premises in Dublin, was in our possession
practically before the smoke ceased over the ashes of our fine shop under the Metropole
Hotel. This was one of the most sensational business captures arising out of the Rebellion."''
 
Around 1916, Peterson began stamping their pipes "Made in Ireland" in what is referred to as
a block format.
 
Charles Peterson died shortly after retiring and moving to Hamburg in Germany in 1919
where he is buried.
 
The original 1890 'system' pipe patent expired at around this time.
The Irish free state came into being in December 1922. The Free State Era was from 1922
through to 1937.
 
Peterson followed with a stamp of "Irish Free State" in either one or two lines, either parallel
or perpendicular to the shanks axis and extremely close to the stem.<br>
Ireland was a republic in all but name. Eventually the Irish people voted for a new constitution
in 1937 and Ireland then formally became Eire (Ireland in Irish).<br>
The Made in Eire era stamps were from 1938 through till 1941. Peterson now stamped their
pipes with "Made in Eire" in a circle format with "Made" and "Eire" in a circle with the "in"
located in the centre of the circle. This was used during the years of 1938 - 41. Later they
stamped their pipes with "Made in Ireland" in a circle format 1945-1947 and still later with
"Made in Ireland" in a block format 1947-1949. The "Made in Ireland" block format came in
either one line or two lines.<br>
The Republic of Ireland was formed on 17 April 1949.  
 
====1950 - 1989  The Republic Era====
[[File:1950's KappandPeterson2-M.jpg|thumb|left|1950's street scene outside the Kapp & Peterson shop]][[File:1966-Sword of light HallmarkLarge.jpg|thumb|The sword of light hallmarks]]From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is
"Made in the Republic of Ireland" in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have
been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.
 
During the 1950's and 60's the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the
Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick
Henry(Harry) Kapp.
 
In the 1960's Peterson hallmarked all gold mounted pipes but apparently they used their own
marks on silver. This practice stopped at the end of that decade when they started to have all
silver bands hallmarked.<br>
In 1966 a "Jubilee " fourth hallmark was introduced, only for that year, to commemorate the
fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916. Designed as a hand holding a flaming sword 
in Irish "an cláiomh solais" or "sword of light"  the mark bears the date 1916 to the right
above and 1966 to the left below. An Claidheamh Soluis (Old Irish spelling), this was
hallmarked with the letter Y. This very unusual and special date mark has in recent years become very scarce, mainly because it was only used for that year. Pipes that were marked
thus, are much sought after by Peterson pipe collectors.
 
1969/70 – The 'Made in England' stamp was discontinued with the closing down of the
London based factory. Although Peterson has always prided itself in being an Irish made pipe,  
Peterson had also maintained a pipe factory in London since 1899.
 
English made Peterson pipes actually spanned the period between the pre Republic and
Republic eras.<br>
In 1899, Peterson opened the first in a series of several successive shops in London, England,
that lasted until the late 1960's/70s.
 
1899 – 53, New Broad St. E.C.<br>
1910 – 7, Hills Pl., Oxford St. W.<br>
1915 – 21, Mortimer St. W.<br>
Finally moving to 74/77 White Lion Street until 1970.<br>
So the English Era, for a simplified date, will be from 1899 through to around 1970. The
stamps Peterson used in London are:
*Made in England  block format
*Made in England  circle format
*Made in London
*Made in London England
*Simply, London England
*London Made over England  block format
*Great Britain
 
 
[[File:Peterson Kapp.png|thumb|left|Harry Kapp]][[File:Shannon1.jpg|thumb|Shannon Airport Duty Free shop]]Harry Kapp died on 20th February 1972. Shortly after, 1973/4 Kapp & Peterson merged with Tennant and Ruttle and the name of the company changed to Peterson Tennant. It was subsequently taken over by James Crean Ltd,but later the manufacturing concern was
separated from the rest of the company and began trading once more under it's historical name
of Kapp and Peterson.
 
During the 1970’s Peterson had a large display of pipes in the Shannon Airport Duty Free
Shop for passengers. These were on display in a floor cabinet measuring approximately 6 ‘x 3’. Shannon airport outlet sold a considerable amount of pipes during its period of existence, covering all qualities, from the basic entry level Aran series up to the De Luxe Systems. They
also stamped some mid range pipes with the mark 'SHANNON'. This was only for pipes
issued and sold from Shannon airport and was not the same as the present day Shannon series.
 
With Ireland's joining of the European Community in 1973, a fourth miniature hallmark
representation of the Celtic Glenisheen collar was added to the right of the date stamp for that
year, hallmark letter F.
 
 
[[File:1985Mark Twain Gold Limited Edition.jpg|thumb|left|1985 Mark Twain Gold 150 anniversary]][[File:Sherlock.jpeg|thumb|Sherlock Holmes]]In 1975 Peterson issued the Centennial Limited Edition 1875 - 1975. The Peterson Centennial
pipes, were released in celebration of 100 years of the company's pipe making. Two pipes
were issued, 100 of each shape,a sterling silver banded straight and a bent shape 69, both were
offered for sale individually.
 
In 1979 and 1980 Peterson commenced production of the Mark Twain gold banded numbered limited edition, numbered 1 through to 400. The pipe proved to be so popular that the number
was quietly increased to 1000. They sold originally for around $350. The issue was such a
great success and prompted further production of more pipes in 1981 to satisfy demand, with
the Mark Twain second numbered silver banded edition, numbered 1 through to 1000, each in
special presentation boxes. Some were also issued with limited edition pewter statues of the
famous author.<br>
Peterson then went on to produce more non limited versions of the Mark Twain pipes, this  
time without numbers, from 1983 through to 1989.
 
In 1985 there was a 3rd numbered limited edition of 1000 pipes issued to commemorate the
writer's 150th birthday anniversary.1835 – 1985. These were all gold banded and in a special
presentation box in the shape of a Twain book. There must have been a fourth production of
Mark Twain pipes, for there is evidence of Mark Twain pipes with silver dates for the 1990's.
 
In 1988 Peterson decided to issue a special Millennium Edition set of two pipes
commemorating the City of Dublin's 1000 year founding (9881988). Hallmark letter C.
 
The Peterson  Manx (Laxey) Isle of Man factory partnership ceased operation about 1981 and
the production of all African Meerschaum pipes was moved to Dublin and continued there
until 1986.
 
1987 The Issue of the first Sherlock Holmes Series. Probably the most famous Peterson issue/
series of pipes.
 
The 'Original' series was introduced piece meal, every 6 months a new shape until the 7 day set was complete.
The same procedure was later adopted for the next series, Return of Sherlock Holmes.
 
The second issue was called 'The Return of'  and was based on the success of 'the
Original',with seven additional new shapes and dedicated wooden rack being created. All
similar to the first issue,with XL bowl sizes and similar sterling silver bands with the SH
stamp.
 
There was also a miniature version of Sherlock Holmes pipes issued around the same time. It
was named the 'Junior' Sherlock series. These were smaller bowled pipes at around two thirds
the size of the originals and replicated those shapes.
 
====1990 - Present, The Palmer Era====
Tom Palmer, a charted accountant by profession, bought
the Peterson business in the early1990's in partnership with some other investors,  he
eventually bought them all out in 1995.
 
On looking back over the previous Peterson history,Tom considers that most of the changes
which he has initiated between 1995 and the present, came in the very large extension to the
modern pipe range and the constant issuing of new shapes and series. He considers that at the
end of the day, a pipe is a consumer product,loosely defined and the consumer wants
something new every so often.
 
Tom also believes that,”the major changes have been refocussing our outlook on the smoker
and given him variety and something to look forward to every year."
 
"We have always stayed close to our roots –our pipes are still seen as 'traditional' and I think
that this is very important”. This philosophy is seen in evidence each year now with enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the annual issue of new pipes,tobacco and accessories.


==Peterson Time Line==
==Peterson Time Line==
Retrieved from "https://pipedia.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/14782"

Navigation menu