Comoy's Shape Numbers

Comoy's shape numbers are the numbers stamped on the shank of pipes made by the London firm Comoy's, indicating which mold the bowl was turned from. The shape lists held by the collecting community match each number to a bowl family, the bend of the stem, and the body size; the number alone, however, indicates neither the year of production nor the quality grade. The firm's general history is covered in the Comoy's of London article.

From Catalogue to Stamp

The firm's numbering of its molds goes back to the 1909 catalogue, in which each shape carried a name alongside its number. Stamping the number onto the pipe itself came later: compilations record the practice as settling in during the 1920s, with the earliest known stamped example dated 1925. An old Comoy's without a number therefore usually points to an early period rather than a mold absent from the list.

Numbers stayed limited to three digits for a long time; four-digit numbers only entered the list after the firm came under the Cadogan umbrella. Records place this transition in 1979, adding that four-digit numbers may have begun slightly earlier, around 1976-1978. The line collectors draw between "pre-Cadogan" and "post-Cadogan" is generally 1981, when Comoy's and GBD production merged into a single company. Cadogan Investments Limited, which lends the group its name, is a company registered in the UK trade register in 1928 and struck off in 2012. Numbering for the other arm under the same umbrella is covered in the GBD Shape Numbers article.

The Letters Behind the Number

On pre-Cadogan pipes, a small letter may be added after the three digits. This letter does not indicate a new mold; it marks a particular variant of the same mold, with some referring to the bowl and some to the mouthpiece.

There are two markers on the bowl side. M indicates bodies with a bowl lined in meerschaum; P indicates bowls that have been surface-flattened into paneled form. The rule for P is not absolute — examples bearing the letter despite lacking panels have been recorded.

Among the letters relating to the mouthpiece, C denotes bodies fitted with a curved mouthpiece; it does not appear on all bent stems, showing up mostly on prince and bulldog molds. A London Pride prince numbered 337C, dated to the early 1950s in repair records, is cited as an example. F is taken to denote a straight "fishtail" mouthpiece with a flattened tip, confirmed on a 206F-stamped Virgin Briar from the early 1930s.

Body size is given by a separate set of letters: S is small, M is medium, L is large; XL corresponds to the oversized mold the brand calls "Extraordinaire," LW to a lightened body, and XXL is used for the largest few molds. That M means "medium" here should not be confused with its use for the meerschaum lining; which meaning applies is determined by the letter's position in the line. Abbreviations placed at the end of the line fill in further detail: (S) indicates a saddle mouthpiece, A/M the army-mount joint in which the mouthpiece seats on the shank via a tapered fit rather than a screw, "sq." a flattened body, and "sq. shank" a square shank.

Reading the List

There is no formula running from number to shape; consecutive numbers often fall into entirely different families. There are even cases where the same number was recorded twice, under two different shapes: 298 is listed both as a canadian and as a prince, and 601 appears twice. 211 and 256 are noted as being almost identical author bodies. 388 was long recorded as a cutty until, compared side by side with a liverpool of the same measurements, it was corrected to liverpool. The lists should therefore not be considered complete; the numbers on record represent only a portion of the molds actually produced.

The number also does not indicate which series is being discussed. The same figure appears both on top-of-the-line pipes and on bodies issued under shop-branded names. Repair records document number 126 as a large pot in the Tradition series, 184 as a bent globe in the Classic line, 188 as a stack, 284 as a rhodesian, and 804 as a large bent billiard issued under the Extraordinaire name. A Comoy's only falls fully into place when the number, series name, country-of-origin stamp, and the "C" on the mouthpiece are read together; how stamps changed across periods is covered in the Comoy's dating guide.