James Upshall G Grade ExL Smooth Cup and Saucer w/Plateaux 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 “Cup and Saucer” is an old genre of Charatan freehands, though the first one ever carved there was by a young Barry Jones, back when he was still an apprentice under Reuben Charatan. The story goes that, during a lunch break, and purely on a whim, Jones took an unfinished Charatan shape 44 “Giant Bent” that had ended up in the “rejects” bin upon the discovery of its many sandpits. Jones had the idea to simply sand off as much of the pitted briar as possible and see what kind of pipe could be salvaged from it. The result was something that looked like a “cup” resting on a “saucer.” Jones’s colleagues ere impressed, as were Reuben Charatan and his store manager, who requested a dozen for him to sell.

Barry Jones and the rest of the Charatan freehand workshop team made a fair few cup and saucer variants during their time under Reuben Charatan and his successor Herman Lane. At the end of the Lane era, Jones went off to start James Upshall with Kennedy and Kenneth Barnes, taking plenty of what he’d learned at Charatan with him. This included a few cup and saucer renditions, such as seen here. In this instance, Jones took the cup and saucer motif in a wonderfully novel direction, incorporating an eruption of plateaux burl into the bowl’s base. It’s little wonder why this pipe attained one of the workshop’s highest grades, the G, which Kennedy once compared to the various Charatan Supreme grades; nor is it a surprise that this pipe was put in the Ex.L, or Extra Large size group (though I do wonder whether the Ambassador grade from the magnum Empire Series would have been an even better fit).

The condition is very good. A couple of very small, superficial nicks at the top of the chamber, likely from reaming. Nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 7.2″ / 182.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.80″ / 45.72mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g