The Stamps on an ODB 831

The ODB 831 stamps are a set of marks gathered on the shank of a small, unassuming pipe from the 800-series OD line Dunhill introduced in 1950 — marks that, read together, do not agree with one another. Three separate year codes, two grade-4 marks, two "A" letters, and an "H" of unknown meaning sit side by side on the shank. John C. Loring, who compiled and interpreted the sequence, concludes that this writing records not a single moment of production but several separate operations spread across roughly six years. This pipe is cited as an example of why Dunhill stamps need to be read layer by layer rather than all at once.

A Price Cut Twice Over

The key to the sequence is a factory note from December 1952 that Loring cites. According to the note, a batch of Italian briar obtainable in 1948 was used in shapes between 806 and 832, these pipes were priced as ODB, and after 1953 the same shapes would be counted as ODA. With this information, the "(4) A" cluster on the shank face stops being a single grade or finish stamp. Loring's inference is that the "A" marks the unsold pipe's downgrade from ODB to ODA in 1953, and that the "(4)" marks the same pipe being pulled down once more, this time to grade-4 pricing, in 1956. The reading rests on three observations: the letter is too large for a Bruyere finish stamp but exactly the right size for an OD grade stamp; the "6" and the "(4)" on the other face of the shank appear struck tightly together, as if at the same time; and later-dated 831s came out from the start already carrying a grade-4 stamp. This reading has no documentary confirmation; it is presented as the only consistent explanation put forward for the stamp sequence. For the series' price tiers, see the Early Dunhill OD Pipes article.

1950 or 1953

The most disputed element in the sequence is the earliest year code; the mark read on the shank was at first taken for a "3," which would place the pipe in 1953. That the 800 series began in 1950 does not by itself rule out such a date, but three other marks argue against it. It is accepted that the brand stamped a patent number on the shank up until 1954, dropping the practice from 1955 onward; on this pipe, however, no patent number appears at all. The LONDON line under the DUNHILL wording fell out of use around 1951-1952, yet here it sits right where expected. Moreover the shape number, which under the 1953 arrangement should sit directly beneath the OD stamp, is here not on the face bearing the brand wording but on the shank's other side. Reading the code as "50" rather than "3" removes all three inconsistencies at once and places the pipe in the series' first year. The possibility of forgery, meanwhile, was ruled out on physical examination of the pipe: its workmanship, including the mouthpiece, matches the brand, the stamps are correctly struck one by one, and the writing is noticeably worn, unlike the crisp stamps typical of forged examples.

What Remains Unanswered

Why the patent number is missing still cannot be explained. It is accepted that the brand did not stamp a patent mark on pipes without an inner tube during the 1910s and 1920s, and stamped it independently of the inner tube from the late 1920s onward. No sign of an inner tube is visible on the pipe in question, yet its date does not fit this exception. In a note he later added to his article, Loring notes that a 1949-dated LC of his also lacks a patent number, and that LCs were not fitted with inner tubes. What the "H" stamp stands for remains unknown. For the general method of reading years from stamps, see the Dunhill Patent Stamps and Dating article.