Ferndown Antique Bark 3 Star Lumberman Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

Ferndown pipes were made by the legendary British pipe-maker Leslie ‘Les’ John Wood, along with his wife Dolly. Both Les and Dolly previously worked for Dunhill, where Les developed his skills and reputation as Britain’s premier pipe silversmith, as well as one of its premier pipe carvers. Ferndown pipes are highly coveted by pipe-smokers due to their superlative craftsman(and woman!)ship, whose bowls are oil-cured and which typically feature beautiful silverwork. Sadly, Les and Dolly retired from pipe-making in 2016, making Ferndown pipes rather scarce – especially given how difficult it is to get their owners to part with them.

Les and Dolly had a number of beautiful finishes for their Ferndowns, but the Bark was, to my mind, their signature. Part of this is that there really aren’t any other rustication styles from other makers that match it. Part of this has to do with how Les and Dolly went about with their “barking,” as they called it. As MBSD readers will discover once our interview with Les is published, the two of them didn’t rusticate using, for example, the hand tools used by Italian makers. Instead, they used a unique – not to mention dangerous! – set up involving a drill sharpener, which they would use to “rip” the briar until the Bark effect was achieved. This particular Bark is a little rarer than most, as it is an example of Ferndown’s Antique Bark series. This was a light, tan-stained Bark, rather than the black and red stain used on standard Barks. It’s also a three-star Ferndown, making it one of Les and Dolly’s larger pieces.

The condition is excellent. This pipe came to us via our trade-in program, having a single owner in its past life that took good care of it.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 2.03″ / 51.56mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g