Loading
Loading
Brand Dating Guides
Ben Wade pipes were made in Leeds, then London, then Denmark, then London again. The country stamp tells you which life your pipe comes from.
Updated 2026-10-02
Welcome. If your pipe says BEN WADE, this guide helps you place it in time.
The Ben Wade name had four lives, in three places. Each life used a different country stamp.
So the line that names the town or country is your best clue.
Our facts come from Pipedia and pipephil.eu. We read our saved copies of both again today.
Pipedia is an online pipe encyclopedia. Pipephil.eu is a website of pipe stamps and logos.
Where the 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.
1860 to 1965
Pipedia says Benjamin Wade founded the firm in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1860. Pipephil.eu says the 1860s.
He began as a pipe trader. In the 1860s he opened a workshop to make briar pipes.
Pipedia says the pipes were classic English shapes, often small. They had no fills.
Pipedia shows a cased pipe with silver work and an amber stem, likely from the 1890s.
Before the Second World War there were three price levels, says Pipedia.
BEN WADE was the top level. BW was the middle level. BWL was the cheapest.
Pipedia says air raids destroyed the Leeds factory in the war. The family rebuilt it after the war.
Both sources say Lane Ltd. of New York bought Ben Wade in 1962. Lane bought Charatan too.
Both sources say Lane closed the Leeds factory in 1965.
Pipedia says this was the end of pipes stamped Made in Leeds, England.
1965 to 1978
Pipedia says Lane moved the machines to Charatan's Prescott Street factory in London.
There, Ben Wade became a cheaper, machine-made brand. Pipedia says fills were often visible.
The stamp now said Made in London England, or just London.
Some writers say these pipes began only in 1973. Pipedia says old catalogues prove this is wrong.
Pipedia says Lane's heirs sold Ben Wade to Dunhill in 1978. Dunhill did not keep making these pipes.
Pipedia says the Prescott Street factory was closed by March 1982.
1971 to 1989
Both Pipedia pages say the Danish maker Preben Holm met Herman G. Lane in February 1971.
They agreed that Holm would make freehand pipes for Lane under the Ben Wade name.
A freehand is a pipe carved by hand to follow the wood, not a fixed shape.
These pipes say Hand made in Denmark or Made in Denmark. Collectors prize them today.
Pipephil.eu gives this period as about 1972 to 1989.
Pipedia says Holm cut most of his staff in 1986. He made fewer Ben Wades until his death in June 1989.
Pipedia's Preben Holm page differs. It says he closed his factory in early 1986.
So the end of Danish Ben Wades is 1986 or 1989. Our rule keeps the wider range.
1998 onward
Pipedia says there were no new Ben Wade pipes for many years after 1989.
In 1998 Peter Wilson of Duncan Briars bought the Ben Wade name from Dunhill. Both sources agree.
Pipedia says the new pipes are made in Walthamstow, London. Dunhill pipes are made there too.
An advert quoted by Pipedia says every new pipe is stamped Ben Wade, Made in London, England.
That is almost the same words as the 1965 to 1978 stamp. This is the main trap with this brand.
Pipedia says the new pipes were first all sandblasted and deep black.
Their grain looked very straight or ring-like. Pipedia says carving before the blast helped that look.
Pipedia shows a recent pipe with a laser-engraved name. One source only.
Read the build, not only the stamp
The London stamp alone cannot tell 1965 to 1978 from 1998 onward.
Pipedia describes the older London pipes as rough, with visible fills and moulded mouthpieces.
The newer pipes are usually deep black sandblasts with neat drilling.
A name burned in by laser points to the newest pipes. One source only.
If you cannot see these signs, keep the wide range. Do not guess between the two.
Nobel Prize 2000 is the name of a Danish Ben Wade model. It is not a year.
Numbers like 47, 38 or 100 on the shank are shape or grade numbers, not years.
Pipedia shows a London Selected Grain from the Charatan years. So that name did not end with Leeds.
Pipephil.eu shows one stamp with both Leeds - England and London Made. We do not know its year.
Pipephil.eu shows a Ben Wade Sienna stamped Made in France. Our sources give no year for it.
Super Grain was a top Leeds line. Hardcastle also used the name Supergrain. Read the brand first.
Pipephil.eu lists five cheaper Ben Wade brands: Allerton, Bridge, Danish Pride, Dr Mc Quade and Monte Verdi.
Some early Ben Wade pipes have a silver band. A British silver band carries hallmarks.
The hallmarks show the year the silver was marked. This can give an exact year.
Read the marks with our guide to UK silver hallmarks on this website.
Read the line that names a town or country, on the shank.
MADE IN LEEDS, ENGLAND
The family firm in Leeds. Lane closed the Leeds factory in 1965; both sources agree.
HAND MADE IN DENMARK or MADE IN DENMARK
Preben Holm's freehands for Lane. Pipedia's Preben Holm page says his factory closed in early 1986.
MADE IN LONDON ENGLAND, or just LONDON
Two lives use this stamp: 1965 to 1978, and 1998 onward. Read the build to tell them apart.
Read the letters before the line name, and look at how the name was made.
BWL on the shank
The cheapest Leeds price level before the war. Pipedia only, one source only.
Name engraved by laser, not pressed in
Pipedia shows it on the latest production. One source only.
Read the model name on the shank.
Larnix, Statesman, Natural Grain, Hurlingham, Adelphi or Tense Grain
Pipedia lists these as Leeds lines before the war. The end year is the Leeds closing.
Champion
A cheap line of the 1930s, says Pipedia. Lists name it to the early 1960s. Later production is unclear.
Special Collection
A Danish freehand line in the Dennis Dreyer collection, shown by Pipedia.
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 Ben Wadeyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Ben Wade in the Shop