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Brand Dating Guides
A Barling carries no year code. The logo, the model number and the silver marks place it in an era.
Updated 2026-09-30
Welcome. If your pipe says BARLING, this guide helps you place it in its era.
Benjamin Barling founded the firm in London in 1812. His family ran it until 1962.
Pipedia says collectors look hardest for pipes of the family years. Pipedia is an online pipe encyclopedia.
So the first question is: was this pipe made in the family years or later?
Most Barling pipes carry no year. You can place many in an era, but not in one year.
One kind is the exception. A silver band with a London hallmark gives the exact year.
Where sources disagree, we show both. We say when a fact has one source only.
Each rule has a rank: high, medium or low. High means strong, agreed evidence.
Medium means one good source or a general rule. Low means a wide range or a weak hint.
No Barling rule in this guide is ranked high. The note beside each rule says why.
From a family of silversmiths to a revived name
In 1812 Benjamin Barling, a silversmith, opened in London. He fitted silver mounts to meerschaum pipes.
The family's first silver mark was BB. Pipedia shows a pipe with BB and a hallmark of 1850.
In the late 1850s or early 1860s the mark became EB over WB. It stands for Edward and William Barling.
At first Barling bought its briar bowls in France. Later it turned its own bowls in London.
Sources disagree on the year. The researcher Jon Guss gives 1906. The writer Tad Gage gives around 1909.
Before 1906 many Barling briar pipes carried only the name of the shop, says Pipedia.
After the Second World War, grade, size and shape stamps became common, says the Smokingpipes guide.
On 3 October 1960 the family sold the firm to Finlay, its largest customer.
The family still managed the firm until the middle of 1962, says Pipedia. The Smokingpipes guide says late 1962.
In 1963 Imperial Tobacco took full control.
In 1970 Imperial closed the two Barling factories, says Pipedia. Other English makers then made the pipes.
Later the pipes were made in Denmark. Pipedia says from the late 1970s. The Smokingpipes guide says from the 1970s.
In 1980 a new owner moved the firm to the Isle of Man, says Pipedia.
In 2020 the firm Kopp Pipes revived the name. One source only: the Smokingpipes guide.
Why the three old era names do not help
Many sellers use three names: Pre-Transition, Transition and Post-Transition.
The sources do not agree on the years. For the end of the Transition, Pipedia lists 1964, 1968 and 1970.
The pipephil site gives 1961 to 1966 for the Transition.
Pipedia now uses two simpler names. Family era: 1812 to 1962. Corporate era: 1962 to today.
The family sold in 1960, but the stamps did not change for about 20 months.
So a pipe of 1961 looks the same as an earlier one.
The change you can see came in 1962. It is a change of logo and of model numbers.
Read this first. Years with no rank
Our cabinet holds no ranked rule for the logo yet. So these years carry no rank.
Our cabinet is our file of sourced dating facts for one maker.
All logo years here come from Pipedia.
BARLING'S MAKE in block letters, with BARLING'S in an arch over MAKE: this is the family logo.
Pipedia finds it first on pipes hallmarked 1891. The firm used it until the autumn of 1962.
In the 1930s and early 1940s this logo was small. After the war it was larger.
Barling in script, with no apostrophe and no s: this is the corporate logo.
It first shows in the Retailers' Catalogue of November 1962. Under it you often read LONDON ENGLAND.
BARLING'S MAKE on one straight line is a later logo. Pipedia dates it to a series of 1978.
Barling's in script, with apostrophe and s, is on the Guinea Grain pipes of the family era.
The earliest logo Pipedia shows is on a pipe of 1887. It has BARLING'S over MAKE in two straight lines.
A famous rule, and its two limits
Tad Gage gave the best-known rule in 2000. A four-digit number that starts with 1 is family era.
He said any other four-digit number is later.
A Barling brochure of 1957 agrees. Every number in it has four digits and starts with 1.
Pipedia adds two limits. First, the new numbers came in June 1962, while the family still managed the firm.
In the new numbers the first digit is the size. They start with 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.
For a few months of 1962 such numbers stand under the old arched logo.
Second, the catalogue of November 1962 added a size 1.
So corporate pipes can also carry a number that starts with 1. The pipephil site shows one: 1588.
So read the logo first, then the number. The number alone is a weak hint.
Pipes for America carry shorter numbers, of one to three digits.
Nathan Nichols sold Barling pipes in America from 1926 to 1962.
Sources disagree on when numbers began. The Smokingpipes guide says after the Second World War.
Pipedia shows numbered pipes hallmarked 1926, and a pipe of 1925 stamped T1133.
Pipedia's list, with no rank
Some Barling stems carry a stamp on the underside. Pipedia gives years for each stamp.
These years carry no rank. They come from one source only, and they are not rows in our cabinet yet.
REG'd 798769: 1930 to 1944. It is a British number.
REG'D 98 046: 1936 to 1951. It is an American number.
REG'D 42/8968: 1942 to 1950.
Barling Design: 1951 to 1962.
A stem can be replaced. So these stamps date the pipe only if the stem is original.
Years with no rank
Our cabinet gives these names a first year but no rank. So we list them here without a rank.
Every old grade name gives a first year only. Kopp uses the old names again on its new pipes.
Ye Olde Wood: from 1913 onward. Pipedia shows one with a hallmark of 1913.
Straight Grain: from 1930 onward. Pipedia says only the 1930s, so 1930 is our estimate.
Fossil, the sandblast grade: from 1946 onward. Pipedia says the name came after the Second World War.
Guinea Grain: from 1946 onward in our cabinet. Pipedia says 1953, from Barling's own adverts.
Birds Eye: from 1950 onward. This year is an estimate. Tad Gage says only: very late in the family years.
Trafalgar, Admiral, Nelson and Marylebone: from 2020 onward. These are Kopp series.
One source only for the Kopp series: the Smokingpipes guide.
T.V.F. means The Very Finest. The corporate line dropped it in 1962 and had it back by 1965, says Pipedia.
A grade name alone never dates a Barling. Fossil or Ye Olde Wood can be old or new.
A number that starts with 1 does not prove the family era. Check that the logo is the arched BARLING'S MAKE.
BARLING'S MAKE on one straight line is not the family logo.
Guinea Grain with Barling's in script, with apostrophe and s, is family era.
Guinea Grain with Barling in script, with no s, is corporate.
The word ENGLAND alone dates little. English makers still made Barling pipes after 1970.
A pipe of 1961 is often sold as Pre-Transition. The family had sold the firm, but still made the pipe.
Size letters such as EL and EXEL are not from the 1930s. Barling's price lists show them from 1941.
A hallmark dates the silver band. A band can be added later, so check that it fits the pipe.
A stem stamp dates the stem. Many old pipes have a newer stem.
Read the logo first. Then read the number under it.
A four-digit number that starts with 1, such as 1361
Family era only under the arched BARLING'S MAKE logo. After November 1962, corporate pipes can carry such a number too. Our 1925 start is an estimate.
A four-digit number that does not start with 1, such as 3595
The new numbers of June 1962 and all later ones. Under the arched BARLING'S MAKE logo the year is 1962.
A number of one to three digits, such as 86
Often a pipe for America. The earliest dated ones are hallmarked 1926. A weak hint only.
Look at the silver band. Then look at the stem.
EB WB on the silver band
The silver mark of the Barling family. Our 1855 start is an estimate for the late 1850s. The London hallmark beside it gives the exact year.
A small round smoke hole in the end of the stem
A stem from before the Second World War. Later stems have a wide slot. One source only: the Smokingpipes guide.
A silver lion's head set in the stem
The mark of the Kopp pipes. One source only: the Smokingpipes guide.
Only one country stamp helps on a Barling.
MADE IN DENMARK
Corporate pipes made in Denmark. Pipedia says from the late 1970s. The end year is open. 2019 is only the last year before Kopp.
What We Don't Know Yet
Published deliberately. If you hold the catalogue, hallmarked example, or period document that closes one of these gaps, write to us — corrections are credited. Every open question across the encyclopedia is gathered on the Open Questions page.
Changelog
Sources
Holding a Barlingyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Barling in the Shop