GBD Unique XXL Smooth Freehand Sitter Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

GBD was one of several prominent examples of a French pipe brand that, due to certain circumstances, became a maker most associated with classic ‘British’ pipes. Founded in 1850 by the French trio Ganneval, Bondier & Donninger, the brand was bought by English company Oppenheimer at the beginning of the 20th century, who opened factories in London and Paris to meet an increasing demand for the make’s high-quality and highly desirable pipes. Partly owing to the make’s inventive, yet traditional shapes, and partly due to the high standards of their production, GBD pipes are particularly coveted by collectors, as well as those who simply appreciate classic, well-made smoking instruments.

While GBD is known as one of the great pipes makes in the Anglo-French tradition, there is one GBD series that has become particularly coveted by smokers and collectors, despite breaking with that tradition almost entirely. That series is, of course, the GBD Unique, each of which was—as the name suggests—wholly distinct in design and often unlike anything on a classical shape chart. These pipes were carved freehand, allowing for more modern compositions, but they were also predominantly carved by Horry Jamieson, a veteran English pipe-maker who had spent years working for GBD, and for Barling before that. This Unique is quite a rare example of a GBD that leans into its contemporaneous Danish freehand counterparts, taking the form of a very large, plateaux-topped Dublin sitter with an ornate, beaded stem. As with those pipes, it shows a masterful precision in “chasing the grain,” though this was hardly uncommon for GBD’s Uniques, which is part of why they’ve remained so popular.
As for dating, the nomenclature and brass “GBD” stem inlay indicates this as a pre-1980s, pre-Cadogan Investments merger piece.

The condition is great. Minor inner rim darkening and a few very small scratches on the bowl.

 

Details:

Length: 8.4″ / 213.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″ / 44.45mm

Weight: 3.3oz / 96g