Preben Holm Fancy Chestnut Magnum Smooth Freehand (Estate)

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 also happened to be exceptional smokers. Holm’s work was so popular, in fact, that he not only put out pipes under numerous makes (such as Wengholt, Monte Verdi, Rungsted), but was also contracted by pipe shops and companies around the world to make pipes for them. Dunhill had Holm produce pipes for the Harcourt make, and Lane Ltd.’s Charatan had him make Ben Wade pipes, at a time when Charatan itself was already at the pinnacle of its freehand output. All of this was achieved in the span of around 25 years, before Holm’s untimely passing, and his pipes remain firm favorites among casual pipe smokers and die-hard collectors to this day.

One of the names originally associated with the Scandinavian freehand movement was the “fancy,” or the “Danish fancy.” This term was largely used to denote pipes that we today would simply call “freehands,” not unlike the Nording Freehand lines that dominate the genre today, though not exclusively. Additionally, the word “fancy” did not first arise from the Danish language but was a borrowing from English, particularly as a descriptor of something “modern.” Early catalogs from workshops like WO Larsen, for example, separated their most unconventional shapes from their regular (though still very “Danish”) shapes by referring to the former as “Fancy.” The notion of the Danish Fancy evolved over time, becoming more synonymous with the contemporary “freehand,” likely in part to the sheer force Preben Holm’s name carried in Danish pipe making.

Holm himself had a quite extensive series of pipes bearing the Fancy name, with discrete subseries and grades based on the finish and the grain of a given pipe (grouped together under the rubric of “Quality”). There was the Fancy Sandblast for blasted pipes, for example, the Fancy Matt for matte-finished smooths, and the ascending 100, 200, and 300 grades for light polished smooths.

The Chestnut was a little darker than its numerically-graded siblings, instead wearing a warm, brown finish over its naturally beautiful grain patterns, as in the case of this rather large example.

The condition is fair. Some inner rim charring, rim darkening, finish fading, and handling marks.

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.89″ / 48.00mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 74g