Early Dunhill OD Pipes

Dunhill OD is a stamp family found on Dunhill pipe bodies from the 1920s onward, and one that became fixed in its postwar form as "ODA." By general acceptance, the letters stand for "Own Design," marking pipes that fell outside the brand's numbered standard shape chart.

The stamp is usually followed by a second letter, running from A to J, indicating the pipe's grade. Because pre-1953 ODs left only scattered traces both in catalogs and in surviving examples, the stamp's early period is one of the most debated subjects in Dunhill literature.

The Prewar Period

According to the records, OD first appeared in Dunhill catalogs as a group in 1928, and was withdrawn from catalogs almost entirely in the years that followed. John C. Loring, who has compiled the brand's stamp literature, reports that fewer than two dozen surviving prewar examples are known. The known pieces share a common outline: large-bodied, mostly smooth-finished, and individually made pipes. Loring, citing the economic conditions of the 1930s, holds that OD never became a regularly sold product line before the war. Why the stamp appears so rarely remains unknown.