467. Liminal Patent Systems from Ken Sigel and Fletch Heiner
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about with boats." --Ratty to Mole, The Wind in the Willows I have taken liberties in the banner with Kenneth Grahame's immortal words from one of the greatest books of all time, The Wind in the Willows (1908) to introduce two Thinking Men who agree wholeheartedly with Ratty's words. Ken has messed about with boats since he was big enough to get into one and his boat is within a stone's throw from his house. Fletch is 100% US Navy with an accent on naval archaeology and history. While he was borned and raised in the Missouri-Kansas river valley, he needed to escape and ventured out to join the Navy, although rumor has it he is again in the river valley of his birth--probably messing about with boats. This morning we have two threshold, nearly-Patent era pipes, one from Ken and one from Fletch, each pipe so extraordinary that it seemed appropriate for us to stop, drop, & drool over them. A Liminal 1890 Patent System. This is a brilliant medium-sized System in Charles Peterson's "Round or Ball-Shaped Bowls" chart. Notice first that this Shape 15 is in a KAPP BROS. case. That era of the company ran from 1881-1893, when Charles Peterson was more or less CEO - General Manager - Shop Manager, and Alfred and Christian Kapp were still in their teens. It reminds me a lot of Shape 18 on p. 34 of the 1896 catalog, but there's a problem: Ken's pipe measure 7 inches in length, while the 18 is only 5 1/2. I couldn't find anything else that resembles it so nearly, but remember this is an 1890 pipe. So who knows? The next remarkable thing is this shank stamp--one I've never seen: "REGTd [registered] 12393 90." And take a look at the other side's shank stamp: I have no idea what kind of "protection" was legally available, but it's so amazing to see a "PROTECTED over KAPP BROs in an ellipse. How many of such Petes can have survived? A dozen? Six? Just this one? And one reason it survived, I'm sure, is its case. Think back on pipes in antique mall, junk stores, even tobacco shops that you've seen. Every single one in a case, I'm thinking, was set in a special place and had a higher price. The case meant prestige. The case meant "this is a special pipe." So when those pipes in the old codger's smoking drawer get pulled out, his great-granddaughter, given the odious job of cleaning out his rooms at the retirement village, is going to toss all the cruddy, lava-encrusted, green-buttoned pipes straight into the lawn bag. Trying not to touch them ("Eww," she thinks). Then she feels back to the back of the drawer and comes up with this pipe. In a case. She opens it and reads: MADE IN IRELAND. She sees the plush. Takes the pipe out…