Parker

Parker is the pipe brand of Parker Pipe Co Limited, which Alfred Dunhill had set up in London in 1922. Its origin was not a craft decision but an accounting one: bowls that failed to meet Dunhill's own standards in the workshop would from then on be finished and marketed under a separate name. Before this arrangement, rejected pipes were sold off at a discount, marked either with a large "X" stamped over the Dunhill mark or with "Damaged Price" printed directly on the wood.

The Limits of the Dunhill Connection

Treating Parker as a "flawed Dunhill" understates the distance between the two brands. The rejection decision was usually made right after the bowl was turned; that is, the block parted ways before it ever entered the long sequence of firing, curing, carving, stem work, and final finishing reserved for pipes destined to become Dunhills. The practical result is this: the overwhelming majority of pipes issued under the Parker name never went through the lengthy process that makes a Dunhill a Dunhill. Although the factory's stamp ledgers document that the two names ran under the same roof throughout the 1950s, this does not amount to product identity. John C. Loring writes that some prewar and 1950s examples give the impression of having been rejected at the finishing stage; he adds, however, that the briar used did not come solely from Dunhill stocks, and that there is no way to trace a block's source by looking at the pipe. There is also no trace of Parker ever appearing in Dunhill catalogs or on Dunhill store shelves.

The War Years and Hardcastle

In 1935 Dunhill opened a new factory next to Hardcastle Pipes, which records say had been founded in 1908; the following year it bought 49 percent of that company's shares, and the remainder in 1946. On the government-approved list of pipe makers during the war years, Dunhill and Hardcastle appeared, but not Parker. During this period of ongoing briar shortage, the company shifted production to bakelite and turned out smoking accessories under the name Wunup; the same name also appears on items such as tobacco tins. That Wunup had been in use since 1934 is evident from a trademark application filed in the United States in 1946. The two names were not brought under a single corporate roof until 1967: that year Parker-Hardcastle Limited was founded, and Hardcastle production moved to Parker's factory. From this date on, Parker is considered not a Dunhill sideline but a brand standing on its own.

Stamps and Dating

Prewar pipes carry the possessive PARKER'S stamp; records also show examples that had switched to the possessive-free PARKER form by at least 1936. Parker pipes also use a date code, but the system is independent of Dunhill's: the code is stamped after the MADE IN LONDON mark, beneath the ENGLAND stamp below it. Sources disagree on which year the numbering starts from; it is accepted as running sequentially from the mid-1920s through the war years. Between 1945 and 1949 the code runs from 20 to 24; between 1950 and 1957 it runs from 0 to 7, underlined and raised above the line. Since neither a patent number nor a date code was stamped after 1957, dating pipes made after this point becomes difficult.

Market and Status Today

The brand secured a firm place in the American market from the 1930s through the 1950s, then vanished from it, while retaining its presence in the United Kingdom. It returned to the United States in 1991 and also entered distribution in Europe. The Parker name still stands today; however, because sources do not agree on where, or in whose workshop, the pipes are currently made, nothing definitive can be said about the current production arrangement.