GBD Prestige 9436 Smooth Billiard 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.

The Prestige was, as one might expect from such a lofty title, one of GBD’s high grade lines. Available with either Perspex or vulcanite stems (this one has the latter), GBD described the Prestige as being made from “[o]nly the finest of the fine-grained bowls” turned in its factory, which were then finished with a matte virgin finish. This classic saddle billiard certainly shows off the grain promised by GBD, with its bowl being covered in tight-knit bird’s-eye. Based on the nomenclature and brass “GBD” rondelle inlaid in the stem, this should be a pre-1980s make, or “pre-Cadogan,” as they say, in reference to Cadogan Investments and their merger of many English and French brands during that decade.

The condition is fair. Some rim charring and slight handling marks.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.55″ / 39.37mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 43g