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Brand Dating Guides
Big Ben sounds English, but it is a Dutch brand. Made in Holland on the pipe means 1946 or later.
Updated 2026-10-03
Welcome. If your pipe says BIG-BEN, this guide helps you place it in time.
The name sounds English, like the London clock. But Big Ben pipes were made in the Netherlands.
The maker was Elbert Gubbels and Zonen of Roermond. Zonen means sons.
Our facts come from three Pipedia pages and one pipephil.eu page. We read our saved copies again today.
Pipedia is an online pipe encyclopedia. Pipephil.eu is a website of pipe stamps and logos.
Three of our four sources are pages of the same website, Pipedia. We say so where it matters.
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.
Big Ben is hard to date closely. Our sources give no years for its line names.
1870 to 1946
Pipedia says the Gubbels family opened a shop for pipes and smokers' goods in 1870.
In 1924 Elbert Gubbels Sr. turned it into a wholesale business.
The firm bought its pipes abroad, mainly from France and England.
Pipedia says this was because no factory in the Netherlands made briar pipes.
Pipedia says Germany occupied the Netherlands from May 1940 to 1945. The business almost stopped.
In 1946 Gubbels began to make pipes in Roermond, with a few machines and workers.
So a Dutch-made Gubbels pipe cannot be older than 1946. This comes from Pipedia only.
Gubbels wanted a name that would sell abroad. Pipedia says buyers did not care much for Dutch pipes.
So Gubbels bought a small trade company in Amsterdam. It owned all rights to the Big Ben name.
Pipedia gives no year for this purchase. It only says it came after production grew.
Big Ben then became the firm's main brand. It was sold in Europe, the USA, Canada and further.
1972 to 2012
In December 1972 Gubbels opened a new factory in Roermond.
That year the firm was given the title Royal. It became the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory.
A new brand, Royal Dutch, began in 1972. Two Pipedia pages say so.
Pipedia says Royal Dutch was also made to show that Big Ben was not English.
Pipedia says only two briar factories were left in the Benelux at the end of the 1970s.
The Benelux is Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In 1980 Gubbels bought the other factory, Hillen of Bree in Belgium, with its brand Hilson.
Gubbels later made Porsche Design and Bugatti Design pipes. Pipedia gives no years for these.
Pipephil.eu says the firm made 250,000 pipes a year in 2009.
In March 2012 Elbert Gubbels and Sons went bankrupt. Pipedia and pipephil.eu agree on this.
Pipedia still lists a Big Ben website and an address in Herten. We do not know who made Big Ben after 2012.
On most examples the name is written Big-Ben, with a hyphen. It is often in script, which is joined handwriting.
Under it is a line name, such as Barbados, Jockey, Maestro, Ranger or Viking.
Most pipes also say Made in Holland. On the Barbados it stands in a circle.
The Barbados has a B in a circle on the stem. It is a pipe for a 9 mm filter.
The Ranger says Reg. 34468. Our sources do not say when that number was given.
The Viking has a stem of horn. The Challenger is stamped Callenger, spelled that way.
Our sources show the stamps, but give no years for any Big Ben line.
A pipe stamped Big Ben Reputation, Made in France is probably not a Dutch Big Ben.
Pipephil.eu says the same stamps and logo appear on Silverking and Gold King pipes.
Pipephil.eu also notes the missing hyphen on that pipe. But it shows one Dutch Straight Grain without a hyphen too.
So Made in France is the stronger warning sign. This guide does not date such a pipe.
Numbers like 101, 418, 454, 646 or 10418 are shape or model numbers. They are not years.
Do not date a Big Ben by the Big Ben clock or by London. The pipes are Dutch.
Read every line on both sides of the shank, and under the bowl.
MADE IN HOLLAND, with BIG-BEN
Gubbels began making pipes in 1946. One source only, Pipedia. We set no end year, because the brand's life after 2012 is unclear.
ROYAL DUTCH
The Royal Dutch brand began in 1972. Two Pipedia pages agree. Both are from the same website.
BIG BEN with MADE IN FRANCE
Pipephil.eu says this is probably not the Dutch brand. So the Dutch dates do not apply.
Look at the right side of the shank.
PRIVATE COLLECTION, with 1999 on the right side
Pipephil.eu shows this stamp. It does not say the number is the year. One source only.
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 Big Benyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Big Ben in the Shop