Stanwell for PCI 1985 Smooth Saddle Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

This pipe has a real backstory to it, which I’ll try to summarize as briefly as possible. In 1983, an American pipe collector named Bruce Spencer created a magazine for fellow pipe collectors, called Pipe Smoker. In tandem with Pipe Smoker, he founded Pipe Collectors International, a kind of pipe club that the magazine would be the publishing arm of. In 1984, PCI started releasing a yearly, limited edition pipe for its members, with the first being made by Preben Holm. And PCI took these pipes very seriously. Because they were meant to be collectors’ items, PCI kept a registry of all of the pipes that had been purchased, along with the member that had purchased them. If the pipe was sold on, PCI even asked that the previous owner contact them, so that their records of ownership could be updated, presumably so that a paper trail documenting the pipe’s provenance could be maintained. Ultimately, in 1989, PCI and Pipe Smoker were dissolved.

If you’ve followed our recent listings, you might have seen the other PCI pipes – made by Tinsk & Rollar’s American Smoking Pipes Company – that came through MBSD. This is another of the annual PCI pipes from that same consignor, a Stanwell Golden Contrast, made for the club in 1985. I figured I’d ask by Stanwell collector buddy for a little more on the design. This is what he had to say:

“Looks like a shape 13, or one of the slight variants. They’ve been making that shape for a long time. It’s consistently been one of their best sellers, even if it is more conservative than Stanwell is famous for. Golden Contrast was developed for Stanwell by Tom Eltang. When I asked him, he said he first created the stain in 1982.”

This Stanwell-for-PCI pipe is completely unsmoked. It also comes with its original box sleeve and letter PCI president Bruce Spencer’s letter to its original recipient.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.65″ / 41.91mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g