History of Kapp & Peterson

If you’ve been reading Peterson Pipe Notes for a while then you’ve come across the word provenance, which “The Google” defines as “a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality.” The word is useful to Peterson aficionados because much of what we enjoy about the marque is the long history of its pipes, and whatever we can recover of a particular pipe’s provenance is always a joy. Every pipe has a story I like to say, and I’m quite pleased, through the agency of Sandra Bondarevka and Ambassador Jānis Sīlis, to be able to tell a little of the journey of an 1896 cased Patent meerschaum made by Charles Peterson’s brother John. On May 25th at the Latvian Embassy in Dublin, John Peterson’s pipe was brought from Cesis, Latvia to celebrate the publication of Sandra Bondarevska’s new Latvian-language biography Petersoni Īrijā (Peterson in Ireland). According to my co-author Gary Malmberg’s research for The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson, John was fifteen years younger than Charles. As you can see in the detail from the cabinet photo below, however, he bears a striking resemblance to his older brother. Charles is seated on the left, John in the middle, and Annie (Charle's wife) is lighting the "horse pipe." In the 1911 Census Report, John is listed as living with Charles and Annie Peterson as part of their extended family. Like his brother, he is registered as a “Free Thinker.” John had been working for K&P for some little while by then, the records indicate, and was greatly loved by all at Kapps. On his premature death the following year at the age of 46, the company’s Employees Club described him in The Irish Times as “one of its oldest and most valued members—one who never spared himself to further its interests, and whose regretted demise brings a sense of personal loss to each one of us” (qtd. in Peterson Pipe 78-79). John carved this pipe himself, according to his biographer Sandra Bondarevska (seen above). The rose gold ferrule is hallmarked for 1896, which seems to be borne out by the button on the house-pipe length amber stem seen in the top photo. The vulcanite stem, interestingly enough, bears the distinct button of the 3rd and final Patent. The shape was apparently a favorite of both Charles and John—the O1 (“O” for Oversized)—and is found on the first first page of Patent shapes in the 1906 catalog. Charles had a briar version engraved with the legend “When stolen, please return to 55, Grafton Street. C. Peterson” (see The Peterson Pipe p. 189), which was kept by his daughter Soldie and her heirs the Brady family until 2001 or so, when it was given to Peterson. Pete Freeks will remember the limited edition 140th Anniversary replica made of it in 2005. A comparison of the 140th anniversary stummel with that of John’s pipe seen at the top of the…