shape 744

Revised April 20, 2022 (see new 700s at end of post). There are a number of unsolved mysteries in the Kapp & Peterson universe, ranging from the politically profound (“to what extent did Charles Peterson collaborate with the Irish Republicans?”) to the more quotidian but still puzzling (“why was there an A and a B and a D shape group, but not a C?”). Today’s topic is slightly closer to the latter than the former, but baffling nonetheless, and it concerns the enigma of the 700 shape group. The only 700 I’ve ever seen is the 777 dublin bulldog found in the George Yale annual catalog for 1942, a shape which has only surfaced on eBay once over the past fifteen or so years I've been watching. Not long ago Brian 500s told me there were more. What? Really? Not only that, but he has three of them in his collection. The 700s, according to one conspiracy theory you won't find on the internet, were made for members of the Irish Illuminati. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it, for a shape group that has never appeared in the K&P catalog and been doing so regularly for the past 80 years? If it weren’t for the fact that one is sitting on my desk right now and three others on the bench, I wouldn’t believe it myself. I long thought the Yale catalog page was a ruse perpetrated by Harry Rogers and Harry Kapps after they'd spent too many hours in the sun on Coney Island.* It now appears that it was some sort of coded message to US members of this secret society. The fact that the 700 shapes time travel and shape-shift like an Irish Marvel Comics alt-universe, skipping lines and eras with no regard for logic or continuity only further supports my theory. I’ll begin at the end, therefore, and go backwards.   701 Tankard / Deluxe Classics Terracotta I begin with a very strange, very recent addition: the 701 Tankard. You've seen the shape, of course. It's been known since c. 1945 as simply the "Specialty Tankard," then out of the blue (seemingly) it was assigned a 700 shape group number just a month or two ago. There are four shapes in the original Specialty group, as you'll doubtless recall (Calabash, Belgique, Barrel and Tankard). But for some reason only this shape received a new number. Very suspicious, right? I asked K&P personnel directly about the switch and received a very convoluted reply about data and inventory, but in the background swear I could hear an lepracaun voice saying "it's all grand, y'know, but we can neither confirm nor deny any connection with the Irish Illuminati..." Length: 5.85 in./148.59 mm. Weight: 1.00 oz./28.35 g. Bowl Height: 1.79 in./45.47 mm. Chamber Depth: 1.37 in./34.80 mm. Chamber Diameter: 0.71 in./18.03 mm. Outside Diameter: 1.13 in./28.70 mm.   744 Volcano / De Luxe SPECIAL The most recent of Brian’s three 700 shapes is a small volcano setter from the De Luxe…