Preben Holm Private Collection (C) Smooth XL Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, Preben Holm was one of the pioneering figures in the ‘Danish design’ movement in 20th century pipe-making – a movement that still dominates the high-grade pipe scene. By hand-shaping his pipes on a belt sander, Holm was able to make the most of the patterns of grain hidden within briar, creating spectacular works of pipe art that looked just as good as they smoked. Owing to Holm’s untimely passing, his pipes are even more highly sought after than they were during his lifetime.

As mentioned in our recent newsletters, this is one of a significant number of unsmoked Preben Holm pipes that came through our trade-in program recently. A few of those have already been snapped up by our most devoted newsletter readers (don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t already), though there are more to come.

Preben Holm’s workshop made many different series and ranges of pipes, with these pipes being in various styles and finishes. Some of these pipes were made by Holm himself, but many were also made by his highly skilled apprentices, such as Poul Winslow. Identifying pipes made by Holm himself is not an easy task, but there are pipes that can be identified with absolute certainly as being Holm’s own work. For his mature period (1970s-1980s), we know that only Holm made his highest-grade pipes, and we know that the 2% of these pipes qualified to be part of Holm’s special “Private Collection” series
Within the Private Collection series there were, furthermore, either of four possible grades that a pipe could attain,* depending on the time the pipe was constructed. A Private Collection could be, in ascending order, an A grade, a B, a C, or a D. Or it could be a 101 grade, a 202, a 404, or an 808. These grades were equivalent, per Holm’s own advertising brochures, making a an A the same as a 101, or a D the same as an 808. This pipe, for example, is just shy of Holm’s highest grade in the Private Collection, being a C grade. It is an exemplary piece, both in relation to Preben Holm’s style and his technique. Bold and brimming with a refusal to be pigeonholed as regards its form, it is nonetheless covered in straight grain and moves in furls and folds that evoke fabric lapping in a breeze rather than the briar wood it’s made from.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original (slightly over-applied at the rim) bowl coating. There are a couple of small nicks on the underside of the shank, though nothing at all amjor. It comes with its original sleeve.

*At least one example exists of a Private Collection 606, though as this grade is absent from any of Holm’s own marketing materials I’ve encountered, I’m inclined to think that this was not standard practice, at least not for most of Holm’s mature career.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 1.02 / 25.90mm

Bowl Depth: 1.63″ / 41.40mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 68g