Dunhill's Additional Stamps

Dunhill's additional stamps is the common name for the secondary marks seen on the shank of a Dunhill pipe beyond the shape code and year code. The primary stamps that give a pipe's year of manufacture are the subject of Dunhill patent stamps and dating; what is covered here are the strikes sitting at the edge of that system, which often look meaningless read on their own. The most practical way to decode these marks is to ask who struck them: some belong to the factory's own recording conventions, while others were added after the pipe left the factory. Most of what is known rests on examples accumulated over the years by researchers such as John C. Loring; the brand's own stamp ledger is incomplete for the early period.

Marks Coming from the Factory's Own Conventions

Pipes carrying the abbreviation H.W or H.Wo on the shank are bodies shaped without machine assistance, from the early 1920s to the late 1930s; the abbreviation stands for "hand worked." It is accepted that being hand-worked does not by itself imply a higher class. The same concept continues in today's production with the abbreviation HT (Hand Turned).

The letter "C" cannot be tied to a single meaning. From the 1920s to the 1960s, when placed before the shape code it indicated the pipe was made as a long-shanked churchwarden; on churchwarden-bitted examples from this period that lack a "C" in the shape code, it is thought the bit may have been fitted later. The same letter was also struck as "complimentary" on pipes gifted to business partners and not offered for sale. These examples carry the wording NOT FOR SALE on the shank, and since no warranty period applies, the year code is often omitted.

The digit 6 at the start of the shape code, according to compilations, indicated a saddle-shaped bit: the same pot body was stamped "R" with a straight bit and "6R" with a saddle bit. It is reported that this convention was dropped in the early 1970s, and that in the four- and five-digit shape-number system settled on after 1976, the second digit from the left indicates the bit form.

Culled Bodies: "X" and DAMAGED PRICE

Before 1922 the brand put bodies that failed quality culling on the market under its own name regardless. Since final inspection came after stamping and touch-up, culled pipes are seen with a large "X" struck over the DUNHILL lettering. On examples set aside for a scratch or other flaw at the Duke Street shop, the wording DAMAGED PRICE along with a reduced amount was worked into a blank surface such as the underside of the shank.

The end of this practice is directly linked to where the bowls were turned. Until 1920 bowls were machined in Saint-Claude, so flawed pieces were culled in France, and mostly sound bodies reached London. When the brand moved to its own turning in 1920, the number of flawed bodies left on hand increased. Records indicate that the Parker Pipe Company, founded in 1922 and delivering its first pipes in 1923, was set up to work these bodies and put them on the market under a separate name; after this date there were no more second-quality pipes bearing the Dunhill name.

Marks Added Outside the Factory

Pipes carrying more than one year code on the same shank are not unusual. This is due to the one-year warranty granted to a new pipe: when a pipe already stamped was not sold in the same year, a current code would be added to mark the start of the warranty. The brand's current production managers state that these added codes were most likely struck at the point of sale and that there is no separate record of them in the factory ledger. On pipes that returned to the factory for a request such as changing the bit, however, the second code is neat and uniform.

The meaning of the small square-shaped mark has not been resolved. It has no record in the factory's stamp ledger; it is encountered on DR stamps from the 1910s through 1922, and also on Shell and DR examples from the 1930s. Both collector compilations and stamp research assume this square points to a price or quality tier, but there is no document to support it.

On pipes from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, short number-and-letter groups lightly struck in random spots on the shank are seen. Since they have no counterpart in the ledger, these are thought to have been added later for distribution, sales, or collection-recording purposes. The factory states that it does not add stamps during repair; when a broken shank or bit is replaced, it renews the original lettering as closely as possible. Restriking faded lettering is also a common practice, given away by a stamp set that does not match the original letters or by double-strike marks. That the same marks can also arise from a weak first strike during production makes it harder to distinguish these from 1980s counterfeit Dunhills.