History and Culture
Duke Street–Stamped DRs: Grading in Dunhill's First Decade
How straight-grain DR pipes were stamped, how grades were marked, and what became of flawed bodies during Dunhill's 1910–1918 Duke Street stamp era.
Duke Street–stamped DRs make up the earliest generation of Dunhill pipes. In this period, before year codes came into use, the main way to date a body was the address struck on the shank; and the DR stamp, the top-grade marker, is first seen in these same years.
The Dating Value of the Address Stamp
Alfred Dunhill's tobacco shop opened in 1907 in London's St James's district, on Duke Street. The brand is generally held to have begun making its own pipes in 1910. Products from these early years carry, alongside the word DUNHILL on the shank, the wording DUKE ST. S.W. According to the records, this wording was dropped in October 1918 and replaced with LONDON. A Duke Street stamp therefore places a pipe on its own between 1910 and late 1918, and is considered the era's most reliable dating clue. Since the brand's only smooth finish in these same years was Bruyere, every straight-grained pipe from this window also came out in that finish.
DR and Dot Marks
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Source: Pipedia, adapted under the CC BY-SA licence.