Ashton 1987 Pebble Grain LX Gold Band Sandblasted Poker Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Ashton is an English pipe brand created by William Ashton Taylor, a former Dunhill pipe-maker who left Dunhill in the 1980s to make pipes under his own name. Along with other pipe-makers such as Ken Barnes and Barry Jones of James Upshall and Les Wood of Ferndown, Ashton emerged as part of a new wave of high end, hand made British pipes in the late 20th century.

The “Pebble Grain” was Bill Taylor’s answer to Dunhill’s Shell Briar. This would already be easily deduced from its craggy, dark burgundy sandblast, but there’s another connection that brought the two finishes together. Like the early Dunhill Shell Briar, Ashton pipes were, before being finished, oil cured using a patented method of Taylor’s own invention. This particular Pebble Grain has a few extra distinctions, even compared to other Ashton pipes. For one, it’s an early piece, made under Bill Taylor’s tenure in 1987, just a few years after he left Dunhill. As an LX size, it’s also one of Ashton’s larger pipes, making for a particularly sturdy poker sitter. Being a Taylor piece, it has exquisite, ring grain sandblasting all around its extra broad bowl, and, finally, it also has a solid gold collar, which will have been fitted by Les Wood for Ashton.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening and minor finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 1.00 / 25.40mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g