Stanwell Sterling Sandblasted Saddle Billiard 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.

This particular Stanwell comes from their Sterling series. As the pipe does not feature much by way of stamping, I asked a friend of mine, who is particularly good with Stanwell pipes (and wrote the Stanwell Dating Guide on the main MBSD hub), what he thought of it. This is what he had to say:

“Stanwell’s Sterling series was, as far as I’m aware, introduced in the 1970s. These pipes often lack much of the stamping on other series pipes. This one looks to be late-1970s to early-1980s, as it still has the older, white crowned S logo that was switched for a thicker brass one later on. The shape is probably the “14” from that era which is basically a slightly smaller “13,” Stanwell’s flagship saddle billiard.”

It’s a great looking pipe in any case. It has a good, crisp sandblast and a very elegant “black and silver” dress pipe aesthetic.

The condition is great too. There’s a spot of very minor finish fading on the right side of the bowl, but I don’t note anything else that deserves highlighting in that regard.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.69″ / 42.92mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g