steverino
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A couple of acquisitionsI was fortunate to be able to snag a couple of pipes recently, one a Starfire shape 25 and the other an Eldorado 61. Those at our Sparta get-together may remember that I had a 25 (non-stamped) there in one of the boxes and I can't find that darn thing anywhere now. Some comments on each:
I'm wondering if the stem on the 25 is original. The picture on the shape chart shows a more curved stem, whereas this one is curved just slightly. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the spade on this one is either gray or silver. I'm not sure what this means - I looked at some other Continentals I have and they all have white spades. In addition, the stem doesn't really flush up to the shank around the outside as well as I'd like it to, so that also makes me think it might not be the original.
As for the Eldorado, I noticed that the stem to shank joint shows more light through it (looking at it from either side) than I would think you would normally see (none, hopefully). The stem is flush with the shank around the outside, so seems like it would be the original, but I'm still suprised I can see light through it.
Here's the pix:
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ozark southpaw
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Nice Steve! Maybe someone straightened the Starfire stem a little? Have you tried buffing the stem yet, the spade may be just a little bit discolored.
That is one bright RED Eldorado!! The gap could be from the face of the shank or stem not being quite square. Is it a push stem?
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steverino
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OS, I thought about the spade on the 25 just being faded or stained, but it really does look like it is gray. Maybe ted will know if any of these had problems with fading or other discoloration.
The Eldorado is a regular screw-in stem and the Ajusto feature works fine, as does the one on the 25. It is good to get good ones since I've had a few aggravating ones lately.
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LokoMac8
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Re: A couple of acquisitions | steverino wrote: | | Those at our Sparta get-together may remember that I had a 25 (non-stamped) there in one of the boxes and I can't find that darn thing anywhere now. |
I know I envied many of your pipes and wrote a humorous little ditty about trying to control my urges in the photo captions for the factory tour photos, BUT I SWEAR I DIDN'T MAKE OFF WITH IT! I already had one.
| steverino wrote: | | I'm wondering if the stem on the 25 is original. The picture on the shape chart shows a more curved stem, whereas this one is curved just slightly. |
Looks like a stem swap to me based on all the info.
| steverino wrote: | | I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the spade on this one is either gray or silver. I'm not sure what this means - I looked at some other Continentals I have and they all have white spades. |
This points up something very curious to me. I have never seen a "silver" or "aluminum" (does it look like metal?) SPADE, but supposedly they could exist. AS FAR AS I KNOW, IF THEY DO, IN FACT, EXIST, THEY ONLY SHOULD BE FOUND ON THE BERWYCK, and maybe just on a very early production one.
From the very early RJR pamphlets with the Master Pipe Charts, it says this about the several features of the BERWYCK line:
"5. Inlaid aluminum trade mark."
The later pamphlets/charts only state:
"5. Inlaid trade mark."
That being said, I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE, NOR HAVE I SEEN ONE LISTED ON EBAY, ETC., THAT COULD BE IDENTIFIED AS SUCH IN THE AUCTION PHOTOS. I thought I saw one once, but it was just the way the light was reflecting off of the spade and stem that made it look silver.
I only have ONE Berwyck and it has a WHITE spade. --RJ--
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steverino
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Oh no, RJ, I didn't think anyone absconded with it. I am bad to misplace things in general and especially pipes. It's around here somewhere, probably right beside the Kaywoodie large bent billiard I'm missing.
I would say this emblem looks more gray than silver and it definitely appears to be plastic. I'm definitely willing to go along with the discoloration theory unless ted knows of any gray emblems that were actually made.
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ted
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Re: A couple of acquisitions | steverino wrote: | I was fortunate to be able to snag a couple of pipes recently, one a Starfire shape 25 and the other an Eldorado 61. Those at our Sparta get-together may remember that I had a 25 (non-stamped) there in one of the boxes and I can't find that darn thing anywhere now. Some comments on each:
I'm wondering if the stem on the 25 is original. The picture on the shape chart shows a more curved stem, whereas this one is curved just slightly. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the spade on this one is either gray or silver. I'm not sure what this means - I looked at some other Continentals I have and they all have white spades. In addition, the stem doesn't really flush up to the shank around the outside as well as I'd like it to, so that also makes me think it might not be the original.
As for the Eldorado, I noticed that the stem to shank joint shows more light through it (looking at it from either side) than I would think you would normally see (none, hopefully). |
Steve, How was the beach? Wonderful I hope.
The #25 had a 1369s bit when it left the factory. The one in the picture is correct....but.....the bend is not correct. Two possible solutions.
OS got one of them about the owner straightening the stem. I actually bent the stem on my 25 a little more.
Many of the Continental shapes used the same 1369s bit. What I think has happened is that the smoker replaced the original 25 stem with a stem from another shape of Continental.
The trademark surely looks silver. I never remember Grabow having any silver or gray t/m material, and even if we did the Starfire with a trademark other than white would have been rejected. This 25 was probably made before 1975 and we were "quare" about the t/m colors.
We had very little problem with the t/m changing color other than the orange on the Westbrook....it would look red or brown.....
I can only speculate on the silver color. Perhaps there is a crack in the stem, behind the spade, that allowed the aluminum color to "bleed" into/onto the white material.
Perhaps Grabow at some point ran out of white material and were forced to use another color for a while. I have seen some sheets of t/m material that were not really white. These were rejected before they were cut into the strips, but not thrown away.
The Eldorado might have some "trash" at the stem joint that could be scraped off. Wouldn't think an Eldorado would have passed inspection with "daylight". Extreme heat will sometimes cause the adjusto' to get mis-aligned.
Anyway, wonderful pipes. Glad to know another #25 has been saved...ted
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Terry292
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Congratulations, Steve. Looks like a couple of good ones. Welcome back.
Terry
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steverino
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Thanks guys, yes, the week at the beach was nice. Just too short! I guess I was glad to get home, but when I'm at the beach, I sure find myself trying to think of a way to stay there longer. Got to do a good bit of tobacco sampling out on the back deck, having bought a few blends down at Low Country Pipes.
And ted, thanks for the possibilities on the pipes. I may try to bend the stem a bit to get it to look more like the "original". I haven't cleaned either of these up yet so I'll look for anything around the Eldorado's tenon area that might be causing a problem.
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LokoMac8
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| steverino wrote: | | And ted, thanks for the possibilities on the pipes. I may try to bend the stem a bit to get it to look more like the "original". I haven't cleaned either of these up yet so I'll look for anything around the Eldorado's tenon area that might be causing a problem. |
I have a couple like this and the impression I got was that the whole Ajustomatic fixture had moved out of the stem a tiny bit, by some means or another. This especially might happen if the Ajusto is "stuck" and/or hard to operate and the forces used exceed normal levels. Perhaps that, combined with aging/drying of the briar and the effects of repeated heating and cooling all work together to cause this on occasion. Maybe it could be carefully "reseated"? Regardless, no matter the apparent age, use or abuse of the pipes I have, it doesn't seem to happen often. If anything, it could just be one more hint that the stem isn't original to that particular pipe, but may have come from a "sister" to it. --RJ--
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LokoMac8
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Re: A couple of acquisitions | ted wrote: | | [ . . . and we were "quare" about . . . |
Glad to see you spell it like it sounds -- at least when you say it! Yes, I chuckled when I read that. --RJ--
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