James Upshall 1980s E Grade Smooth Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

James Upshall was, along with Ferndown and Ashton, part of a new wave of British hand-made, high-grade pipes in the late 20th century, with their founders largely coming from previous positions in the factories of companies such as Dunhill and Charatan. James Upshall was founded in 1978 by Barry Jones and Ken Barnes, both of whom had previously worked for Charatan and who had worked their way up to being carvers Charatan’s higher-end, non-standard shapes. Jones and Barnes’ pipes quickly grew to being something of a status symbol, and were enjoyed by King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat, Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Robert Wagner and Tom Selleck. The company also made house-brand pipes for Astleys in London. Sadly, James Upshall pipes are no longer made, but their reputation as some of the finest hand-turned British pipes lives on.

The late Kennedy Barnes once conceded that, in retrospect, James Upshall’s grading system was rather hastily cobbled together. In the very beginning, the pipes were simply not graded. When grades were devised, letters were used to designate them, but these grades did not correspond to the place held by their letter designator within the Latin alphabet. In other words, it wasn’t a case of grade “A” at the top, then grade “B,” below that, then “C,” and so on, or indeed the inverse. Some grades were named in reference to the finish used, such as the “P,” which emulated the old Charatan Perfection. Others, like the “B,” were more arbitrary. As a result, throughout the 1980s, the workshop’s grades for smooth James Upshall pipes were, in ascending order, “S,” “P,” “B,” “G,” “E,” “X,” and “XX.” It must be said, however, that the workshop predominantly produced Tilshead, “S,” and “P” grades, which were its “standards,” whereas “B” and up were its “high-grades.” A few other grades were added later, but as this is a 1980s pipe, that’s all we’ll concern ourselves with here.
How should we understand this very large James Upshall 1/4 bent billiard, then? The late Barnes did give some pointers, by way of a comparison with Charatan. According to Barnes, for example, the “P” grade was roughly equivalent to the Charatan Executive grades he’d helped make during the Herman Lane era, but with a more Perfection-like contrast finish. A “G” grade could, similarly, be compared to a Supreme. An “E,” on the other hand, was the James Upshall equivalent to a Charatan Coronation, which is certainly saying something. I’d say the straight grain on this James Upshall makes it a reasonable counterpart to Charatan’s exalted grade, and indeed so would have Barnes, who took part in making it. As the pipe lacks any size designation or an “FH” stamp, two things that were only added after Barnes departed from the workshop at the end of the 1980s, he will have been the one responsible for cutting the briar for this James Upshall and assenting to its grading.

The condition is very good. Very minor inner rim darkening, a couple of light, superficial scratches on the rim and one very small nick on the outer rim.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.96 / 24.38mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g