1954 Dunhill Shell ODA 839 Patent Era Bulldog Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

To veteran pipe smokers, Dunhill needs no introduction. Beginning in 1907, Alfred Dunhill began selling Dunhill pipes at the tobacconist shop he owned on London’s Duke Street. Very quickly, these pipes gained the reputation of being the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of pipes due to how expertly crafted they were. Today, Dunhill is likely Britain’s most famous pipe manufacturer, and continues to produce some of the most treasured pipes a smoker can buy.

This particular Dunhill belongs to the rare and coveted “OD” series. As historian John Loring recounts, post-war OD designs were distinct in either shape or in size from Dunhill’s typical offerings. The ODA 83_, shapes for example, were what Dunhill referred to as a “semi-giant”—not quite a magnum, but certainly larger than pipes in the make’s standard production. This “839” is certainly uncommonly large compared to other shapes of its kind in Dunill’s historic catalog. Even among the OD shapes—again per Loring— it is a rare one, which would in part explain why, in my experience, it is highly coveted. As for its other aspects, it is a distinctly squat and wide, low-slung bent bulldog, a design that would later come to be emulated by many an artisan admirer of the English classics. This one is dressed in Dunhill’s Shell (later Shell Briar) sandblasted finish which, in this instance, has masterfully unearthed the briar’s natural ring grain. It’s not without good reasons that people speak so highly of Dunhill’s patent era blasts.

-J.M. 

 

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening at the back rim, with a spot of char at the top, back lip of the chamber and some minor finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 1.12″ / 28.44mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g