Loading
Loading
Brand Dating Guides
GBD began in Paris in 1850 and later made pipes in London and Saint-Claude. Its pipes carry no date code. Three marks still give honest brackets: the country stamp, the stem rondelle and the line name.
Updated 2026-09-25
Welcome. If you hold a pipe stamped GBD in an oval, this guide is for you.
GBD never stamped a date code. So we read three marks instead: the country stamp, the stem rondelle and the line name.
The rondelle is the small round GBD badge on the stem.
Each mark gives a bracket. Where the brackets overlap, that is our answer. We never make it narrower than the evidence.
One date matters more than any other: 1981. That year GBD merged with Comoy's, and both brands came from one English factory after it.
From the sources we read
Three men founded GBD in Paris in 1850: Ganneval, Bondier and Donninger. The name is their initials (Pipedia; pipephil).
They began with meerschaum and soon moved to briar.
Our own archive holds a Manchester newspaper advertisement of 26 December 1873. It offers G.B.D. briars from "the best French makers".
In 1902 the London firm A. Oppenheimer & Co. bought GBD. A London factory opened in 1903 (Pipedia).
A new Saint-Claude plant, formed from two older factories, was ready in 1906 (Pipedia).
During the First World War, London became the main GBD factory. Paris kept making pipes for France and Europe (Pipedia).
In 1952 the Paris factory moved to Saint-Claude. One source only: Pipedia.
In 1981 GBD merged with Comoy's. From then on, both brands came from one factory in England (Pipedia).
Our two sources disagree here. Pipephil says the Cadogan group took over GBD "sometime in the 1970s". Pipedia names 1981. The stamp and rondelle changes follow 1981, so our brackets use 1981.
Read the country stamp first. It tells you whether the pipe is from before or after 1981.
Then read the rondelle on the stem. A painted rondelle confirms a pipe made after 1981.
Then read the line name. A line name sets the earliest year the pipe can be.
If the pipe has a hallmarked silver band, read the band with our UK silver hallmarks guide. It can give an exact year.
One Birmingham trap is known on GBD bands: a small "o" means 1913 and a capital "O" means 1938. The shield around both letters is the same (pipephil).
A mark that is missing tells you nothing. A missing rondelle or a worn stamp never dates a pipe.
Earliest years, from the line name
Our cabinet gives these line names years but no rank. So we list them here without a rank.
Xtra: Pipedia calls it a very early model, from the late 1800s. No exact start year is known, so we allow from 1895.
Xtra ended in 1937. That end year is a Pipedia editor's note: one source only.
City de Luxe: launched in July 1921, with a star on the stem. We hold the launch advertisements from July 1921 newspapers.
New Era: the top model in 1931 (Pipedia). We allow from 1925, because the start year is not known.
Extra Dry: a metal-filter line from France, introduced in the late 1920s (Pipedia). We read it as 1927 onward.
Prehistoric: a deep black sandblast, new between the two world wars (Pipedia). We allow from 1930.
Pedigree: designed around 1926 but not made until the later 1930s. One source only (Pipedia). We read it as 1936 onward.
Marcee: a French-market line named after Marechal Ruchon & Co. Ltd., the firm formed by the 1902 sale (Pipedia). So we allow from 1902.
Marcee was sold until the Second World War and one or two years after (Pipedia). So our bracket ends in 1947.
Riseagle: a cheap Paris-made line for England, ended by the tax on pipes after the war (Pipedia). Our bracket is 1920 to 1947.
Collector and Unique: introduced between the late 1960s and the late 1970s (Pipedia). Our bracket is 1965 to 1985.
Century: first made "some time in the 1960's or 1970's", from memory. One source only: G.L. Pease, 1996. We read it as 1960 onward.
Autumn Gold, Bermuda and Facet: new lines of the Cadogan years, after the 1981 merger (Pipedia).
"London Made" or "London England" does not always mean made in London. Pipedia says some Saint-Claude pipes were stamped that way.
Pipephil agrees: straight-line "London England" pipes were sometimes made in France.
GBD sold second lines under other names. Beau Nash, Brentwood, City Gold Star, Country Club, Digby and Irwin's are examples.
Peter Kent, Samuel Pepys, Theydon, Town Club and Jameson's are seconds too. Do not date them with the GBD line years above.
Dr. Plumb's, Peter Piper and Marcee were separate brands from the same house. They follow their own rules.
Brass rondelles came back on recent GBD pipes. So a brass rondelle alone does not prove an old pipe.
"MADE IN LONDON ENGLAND" contains the words "LONDON ENGLAND". Read the whole stamp, and check if it is round or straight.
The country stamp gives the widest honest bracket. Read its words and its shape: straight line or round.
“MADE IN LONDON ENGLAND” (round, Comoy's style)
After the 1981 merger, the round Comoy's-style stamp replaced GBD's straight-line stamp. One source only: G.L. Pease, 1996.
“LONDON ENGLAND” (straight line)
The English GBD before the merger. Pipephil notes that some of these pipes were made in France.
“LONDON MADE”
After the First World War this became a line name, Standard London Made. It also appears beside “London England” on later pipes. So the bracket stays wide.
“SAINT-CLAUDE”
The Saint-Claude plant was ready in 1906. French GBD production ended with the one-factory merger of 1981.
“MADE IN FRANCE” or “FRANCE”
French GBDs came from Paris until 1952 and from Saint-Claude from 1906 to 1981.
“PARIS”
The Paris factory moved to Saint-Claude in 1952. One source only for the 1952 year (Pipedia).
The inlaid metal GBD badge came from Paris in the late 1920s. London used it at once (Pipedia).
Painted rondelle (not inlaid)
G.L. Pease wrote in 1996 that a painted rondelle means a late pipe, made after the merger. One source only.
Inlaid silver rondelle
Introduced in the late 1920s (Pipedia). Pipephil says the metal rondelles stopped after the 1981 merger.
Inlaid brass or other metal rondelle
Metal rondelles stopped after 1981, but brass ones came back on new production (Pipedia). So brass alone is a weak hint.
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 GBDyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
GBD in the Shop