English Estates: Charatan's Make Executive Billiard with 14k Gold Band (1965) Tobacco Pipe

This Billiard from Charatan is a unique piece, not just because of its stout, handsome looks or striking junction band of 14-karat gold, but because we can pinpoint the date that this pipe was produced to a specific year: 1965. This is thanks to a unique combination of stamping that sees the phrase "MADE BY HAND" in all caps over the marque's "City of London" stamp on the right flank of the shank. Pipes with this stamping were only produced for six months in 1965, making this piece an extremely rare offering from the brand. The transition is wide, and it gives way to a low-set shank that extends out to meet one of Charatan's iconic Double Comfort saddle stems at the aforementioned golden junction band. Up front, the bowl stands atop a rounded heel and grows thick, cylindrical walls possessed of a bare hint of taper to the rim near the midsection. Dressed in a warm, rich stain, the stummel showcases handsome grain throughout, the bowl itself surrounded by dense streaks of flame.

Charatan boasts a long, well-respected history of pipe making, with Frederick Charatan founding the business in 1863. One of the first pipe makers in England, Charatan began by producing meerschaum pipes, finding great success and quickly needing to relocate to a larger workshop, and it was here that Charatan began to carve briar pipes. Charatan has the rare distinction of being the first marque in England to hand-make their briar pipes from start to finish, starting with a raw block of burl and a vulcanite blank, coining the process with the now-iconic stamping of "Charatan's Make." Charatan was so successful that, before Dunhill began to make their own briars, Charatan actually supplied the legendary marque with pipes from 1908 to 1910. In 1962, then-leader Reuben Charatan passed away, and the rights to the Charatan brand were sold in the next few years to Lane, who was the primary distributor for their pipes. Charatan then changed hands several more times in the following years, before being bought by Dunhill in 2002.