Can someone shed some light on how to tell a real Dunhill pipe from a fake? I've seen a few pipes stamped "Dunhill" on Ebay that seem to have off-center and sloppy markings, and are generally at a price that would be too good to be true if they were to real deal. I can't substantiate one way or another if they are fake, obviously, but it would be interesting to know a bit more of what to look for.
The whole Dunhill marking thing is a study in itself. They have changed over the years. There is a pipe markings site online [pipelogos]? which has some info. I think there have been books written on the subject.
There are real Dunhills that say "Dunhill's." My favorite site for the markings is here: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/index.html Early "Shell" finishes seem to have commonly had the apostrophe.
These are the markings in question. They just sit weird with me for some reason. The other side of the shank says "MADE IN ENGLAND L7". There appear to be no other markings on the pipe.
There's a marking that says "L7," or are you abbreviating an underline as "L?" Never seen an "L." It would usually go "Made in England7" or the 7 might have an underline.
Looked it up just for fun, and Root Briars started after the apostrophe. My vote is for fake. Does the stem have the drilled-in white dot?
The typeset is wrong, and the datestamp is an unknown format. Yep, fake. Notice how the two "A's" and "D's" are different?
What caught my eye right off is that I've never seen a dunhill marking that looked like a drunk put it on there. All the one's I've seen have seemed relatively straight.
Your good eye just saved you some dollars and some heartburn, though it's a shame that the winner was fooled. Nice catch!
LOL the fit and finish wasn't anything I'd have paid $80 for, even if it turned out to be the real thing. Caveat emptor indeed.
Same site - different page, this helped me with a collection I bought: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html I just came back from a trip to London and searched out Dunhill's "flagship" store. What a dissapointment, still mulling over my feelings and will post a separate thread.
I'm a salt of the earth kind of guy from a rural town in Ohio, but cynical enough that the store itself would have to be something spectacular in order to pique my interest. I'm just as interested in tradition and quality as everyone else, but you won't find me paying just for a name.
Here, take a "virtual visit" and you may understand why Len was disappointed... it's almost as if Dunhill never made any pipes! It's the same story over at the website, http://www.dunhill.com/en-gb/ - no pipes!
