410. Back to Bulldogs: The Early Republic Era (1948-1968)
After a hiatus of some fourth months—back to bulldogs! You may recall in Post #388 the auspicious beginnings of this so-very-English shape in the K&P catalog, of Tom Crean’s very own Peterson Coronation CAD bulldog and of King Edward VII’s note to Alfred Kapp after the royal visit to the Irish International Exhibition of 1907. In Post #390 we went on to explore the Peterson bulldogs of the final years of the Patent era and those of the Irish Free State and Éire eras as well. All of which brings us to that great stretch of Peterson history known as the Republic Era, which stretches from 1948 through 1990 and has been is subdivided for us as Pete Geeks into Early (1948-1968) and Late (1969-1990). We did this for two reasons, neither of which has to do with a decline in the quality of K&P pipes—an assertion still maintained by the uninformed on the internet, blogs and eBay. No, the dating by eras which my co-author Gary Malmberg and I decided on for the big Peterson book, is primarily a convenience to help in dating individual pipes by their stamps. It’s also to make a forty year era in K&P’s history more manageable for collectors, as shapes came and went. Finally, it’s a great division since hallmarking was resumed by the company in 1969. Looking at the existing catalog ephemera reveals a distinct sea change from the Early Republic to The Late Republic, with much less change afterwards in the Dublin and Laudisi eras, which will be dealt with together next time. From the London Times, 2 December 1949: the “Peterson Pipe is A Good Pipe” ad campaign actually started in 1945, but was still being used in 1950 at the beginning of the Early Republic era. With the cessation of hostilities in Europe on VE Day (May 25, 1945), I’m sure every pipe maker got busy sourcing briar to supply the world’s long-felt need for pipes, Kapp & Peterson being no exception. In late 1945, K&P issued the the “Red” catalog brochure, their first since 1940, and would follow it with the Distributor’s Catalog of 1947 and the “White” catalog brochure in1950, a reprint of the 1945. In between, they launched their first ad campaign in a very long time: ""Give Him A Good Pipe," with its tagline "a Peterson pipe is a good pipe," which appeared in newspapers and even in women's magazines. What's fascinating is to see that the strutcard chosen for tobacconist's counters featured a DeLuxe bulldog. The Early Republic, as we're about to see, was the bulldog's age nonpareil. The beautiful 1953 pipe box brochure 1953 Rogers Brochure WEB The first thing the catalogs reveal is that the Early Republic era was the time of the greatest popularity of this shape. If you glance at the banner image and the beautiful 1953 Rogers Imports pipe box brochure (which you can download below) you’ll see why: here is the quintessential Peterson bulldog, with its sweeping tapered…