Stanwell 20M Reg Era Smooth Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Stanwell is one of Denmark’s most celebrated and enduring pipe companies, having been founded by Poul Nielsen shortly after the second world war. Over the last six decades, Stanwell has established itself as both a leader in innovative Danish design and for producing well-priced pipes with precision construction and engineering. Many of its designs were created for the company by iconic pipe-makers in the Scandinavian scene, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Anne Julie, Jess Chonowitsch, and Tom Eltang.

The 1970s brought with it a great number of changes to the Stanwell catalog, one of which was a new designation for army mount designs, especially when these were new renditions of existing shapes. This included the shape 20M, a rendition of Sixten Ivarsson’s shape 20 bent Dublin design, which will likely have debuted around the late-60s to mid-1970s. The shape is very much in keeping with Ivarsson’s style from this period, having much in common with the 62, 63, and 64 shapes, but with a smooth, beveled rim rather than bare plateau. If you’ve read our guide to dating Stanwell pipes on the main MBSD hub, you’ll know that the exact cut-off date for the use of the registration number stamp—which this one has—is a topic of contention among Stanwell collectors. My own view is that, contrary to popular opinion, the late-70s is most likely when this stamp was discontinued, and I would estimate that this particular pipe was made around the mid-1970s. On a last note, the shape 20, and the shape 20M with it, was itself discontinued long ago, which makes it particularly nice to catch rare glimpses of pipes like this one in the wild.

J.M.

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening and slight fading to the stamping.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.2″ / 30.48mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g