Ashton: Reading the Date Number

Welcome: what this guide can and cannot do

Welcome. This guide helps you place a pipe stamped ASHTON.

Ashton is one of the easier English makers to date.

Many pipes carry a small date number after the words Made in England.

Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.

1959

From Dunhill to his own name

Pipedia says Bill Taylor joined Alfred Dunhill in London in 1959, at the age of 15.

He started on a capstan lathe, a machine that turns the wood.

Harry Saigrott, a Dunhill master, taught him how to make and fit the mouthpiece.

In the early 1980s he left to start his own company.

R. D. Field, an American pipe dealer, was his partner in the United States.

Field writes that the two chose the name Ashton by phone in February 1983.

1983

The first year

Pipedia says the first Ashton pipe was made in 1983.

Pipedia and Field both say only 31 pipes were made that year.

These first-year pipes show simple block letters.

Their origin stamp reads MADE IN LONDON ENGLAND.

Pipedia and Field both say these pipes have no finish name, such as Pebble Grain.

1983–2005

The date number

Look right after the words Made in England. A small number often follows.

To find the year, add 1980 to that number.

Number 3 means 1983. Number 10 means 1990. Number 25 means 2005.

Pipedia says the numbers count from 3 in 1983 up to 25 in 2005.

The same page also says this ran at least up to 2002. The two lines do not fully agree.

Number 25, for 2005, is the last number our sources show.

We hold no source for the years after 2005. A higher number needs a second check.

1984

Finish names and sizes

Pipedia lists the finish names. First-year pipes had none, so a finish name means 1984 or later.

Pebble Grain is a dark sandblast. Old Church is a natural sandblast.

Claret and Gilt Edge are smooth, burgundy to gold burgundy in colour.

Oak is a dark smooth finish. Sovereign is a smooth natural finish.

Sovereign SG means straight grain. Pipedia says it is graded from 1 to 5.

Achievement pipes show unusual work, such as spirals or a bamboo shape.

Sizes run X, XX, XXX, LX, ELX and Magnum.

Field says the ELX size first appeared in 1984, and the Magnum in 1985.

How the pipes were made

Bill held a British patent for his way of curing the wood with oils.

Pipedia says this makes the pipes 12 to 14 percent lighter.

He used Calabrian briar for smooth pipes and Tuscan briar for sandblasts.

Field says the Ashtonite stem material came in the early 1990s.

Ashtonite sits between vulcanite and acrylic. Field says it does not tarnish.

2009

Bill Ashton-Taylor and Jimmy Craig

Field says Bill added Ashton to his own surname in 1984.

From then he was William John Ashton-Taylor.

Pipedia says he died on 16 September 2009.

Pipedia says Jimmy Craig carries on the work. He made pipes for Bill in 2008 and 2009.

Neither Pipedia nor Field names a stamp change between their pipes.

So the stamp alone cannot tell a Bill pipe from a Jimmy Craig pipe.

Traps we see often

The number after Made in England is a date number. It is not a shape number.

We found no Ashton shape numbers on Pipedia or in Field's story.

The word Oak on its own is a finish name, but many sellers also use it for wood.

A missing date number dates nothing. Read the other marks instead.

Silver bands on Ashton pipes are often not hallmarked. That is normal, not a fake.

Windows from the marks

Each row comes from our Ashton cabinet.

Changelog

• 2026-10-24 — First published. Every year comes from our Ashton cabinet and our saved Pipedia pages.