Daily Archives: October 3, 2016

While serious Pete fans almost always have a working knowledge of the Classic Range shapes from first-hand experience and a few more-or-less available catalogs, the B shapes are something else, even for the knowledgeable. These began appearing not long into what we call “the Dublin Era” in The Peterson Pipe, which began in the early 1990s after Tom Palmer assumed direction of the company.  Many of the Bs have never been documented in the Peterson ephemera, silently surfacing in the market for a while, then submerging. The series seems to have began around 1998—the first year of the Limited Edition—with seven shapes: B1, B2, B5, B7, B8, B10 and B11. It would be convenient if all new shapes after 1998 had been given the B designation, but that is not actually the case. Some of the Bs were launched as original shapes, but many began as Limited Edition or special collection named issues, then trickled down into less expensive lines after the high-grade had run its course. The Derry Rustic line is the company’s most recent and complete realization of this idea, being specifically created to utilize the Bs even as they disappear from production. While we’ll say more in the book about this shape group, I thought now might be a good time to create an on-line reference guide, as this lies outside the scope of the book. In what follows I’ve given the original release (if known) of every B shape from 1 to 65, a few illustrations of the shape in various production lines, and average measurements (if known). This is, however, a work-in-progress, so if you have additional information on shapes and lines or helpful photographs, don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll incorporate these in a revision. B1 This chunky brandy shape (which may be a “setter”) is a mystery to me. The two photographs I’ve been able to source show it as a higher-grade Kildare (pictured above) with sterling band and a mid-grade Killarney (seen below) with nickel and acrylic sandwich band. To add insult to injury, I don’t have any documentation of the Kildare with a sterling band, but here it is! It seems reasonable to date it to 1998 by the photograph of the 1998 B7 Kildare pictured later in this blog. The Kildare’s box is a bit of a problem, as the “Younger Thinking Man” was used by Peterson from c. 1989 to 1992, and why would a 1998 pipe be in a 1992 box? Mismatched boxes are probably the rule rather than the exception in the world of brick & mortar-era pipe-collecting. It makes me wonder if the B1 might be dated earlier than ’98. Oh well, at some point in the future, it would be fun to see if it is possible to put together some dates for Peterson pipe boxes.   B2 A straight Rhodesian “setter,” the B2 seems to have its origin in the 2002 Limited Edition bowl, albeit without the fancy double-beading. It is, however, slightly…