Daily Archives: May 5, 2020

With the Peterson book now sold out at the publisher (although Smokingpipes.com still has copies), I feel I can finally offer a guide on dating Peterson pipes by their metal-mount markings to those don't have the book and perhaps make it a little easier even for those who do. Peterson ranks only very slightly behind Dunhill as the world’s most dateable production pipe, which is one of the many joys of owning and smoking one. Even when the mount is nickel, with a bit of knowing, the collector can usually date his or her pipe to within a five year period. Usually Peterson metal stampings and bowl stampings aren't too difficult to decipher, but I'd recommend at the outset, if you don't already have one, some kind of strong magnification loupe. Jeweler's hand held loupes are usually not quite strong enough to do the job. Headset loupes with multiple lenses can usually be had at quite reasonable prices which, with a good light source, are usually all you need. If you dabble in photography and have a lens with macro capability, it's often the case that a digital photograph of the stamps offers clues that even a headset loupe can't, since you can then magnify the photo on your computer. There are five types of metal stampings: the “K&P” maker’s mark; nickel-mount marks (which are often confused for hallmarks on the estate market and by those new to the brand); Irish sterling hallmarks; Irish gold hallmarks and British sterling hallmarks. The K&P Stamp Pipe smokers new to Peterson sometimes wonder what the “K&P” stamp is all about, not realizing the company was known as “Kapp & Peterson” until the 1970s and is still referred to as “Kapps” by the old hands who work in the shop. Most Peterson pipes with metal mounts (and all nickel-mount Systems) have a “K & P” Maker’s Mark, also called a Sponsor’s Hallmark, which is used by The Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin (est. 1637) to identify the silversmith or goldsmith responsible for making the article. The "K & P" maker's mark was registered at the assay office shortly after Kapp & Peterson's incorporation and appears either in capital letters (on early sterling and later nickel mounts) or capital letters in shields (on sterling). This detail of a sterling band on a 1908 meerschaum shows the original K & P maker’s mark: The maker’s mark was later placed in shields, which may be flat or pointed at the top. Here’s an example: After 1938, the K&P maker’s mark became a stand-in for the Company of Goldsmiths (aka Dublin Assay Office) date letter and was usually accompanied nearby by the STERLING over SILVER stamp, as seen above. The practice of stamping sterling with the date letter wasn’t resumed at Peterson until 1969, for rather humorous reasons explained in the Peterson book.   Nickel Mount Marks Dealers and pipe smokers unfamiliar with Peterson often confuse the three nickel-mount markings of Shamrock, Wolf Hound and Round Tower with…