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Brand Dating Guides
Oldenkott made pipes in Germany up to 1992. A revival made in Italy began in 2012. The line name and the marks give wide dates.
Updated 2026-10-08
Welcome. If your pipe says Oldenkott, this guide helps you place it in time.
Oldenkott was a German tobacco company first. It was based in Rees, a town on the Lower Rhine.
Later it became one of the biggest pipe makers in Germany.
Our main source is one Pipedia page. It also shows a 1973 Oldenkott catalogue.
We add our own search of old newspapers. Pipedia also cites the German trademark register.
Pipedia is an online pipe encyclopedia. Pipephil.eu is a website of pipe stamps and logos.
Europeana and ANNO are online libraries of old newspapers.
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.
Be ready for wide dates. Oldenkott gave no date codes, and most of its line names have no known years.
1740 to 1929
The sources do not agree on the start. Pipedia gives 1740 in one place and 1760 in Amsterdam in another.
There were two family lines. One worked in Rees and one in Ahaus, a town in Westphalia.
Pipedia says that in 1838 August Kersten of Rees bought the Oldenkott factories in Elten and Weesp.
A newspaper of 1901 says Paul Kruger smoked Oldenkott tobacco. His face was on the tobacco packet.
A print of 1918 names the firm in Ahaus, with a branch in Amsterdam.
Pipedia says that in 1929 the company bought the Hermann Oldenkott factories in Ahaus and Neuss.
1926 to 1992
Pipedia says the German company made pipes from 1932.
Our own search found an earlier date. Berlin newspapers of May and June 1926 advertise an Original Oldenkott pipe.
That is eight adverts in one campaign. So pipes with the Oldenkott name were on sale by 1926.
We do not know who made those 1926 pipes. Oldenkott may have bought them from another maker.
Pipedia says Oldenkott was the second pipe maker of Germany, after Vauen, until it closed.
Pipedia gives these dates. In 1972 the Dutch company Niemeijer bought it.
In 1974 tobacco making stopped. After that, only pipes were made.
In 1987 the Kersten family bought the pipe company back. Pipedia says it closed in 1992.
Pipedia also quotes the book of José Manuel Lopes. It says the factory in Hallen closed in April 1982.
Lopes adds that some of its workers moved to Vauen.
The two dates do not fit together. We keep the wide date, 1992, and name both.
2012 onward
Pipedia says that in 2012 Alexander Strähnz of Cologne bought the rights to the Oldenkott marks.
Pipedia says the new pipes come from a company in Italy. It does not give the name.
They are a little smaller than the old pipes, with a slimmer shank.
The premium models carry a red and white dot again. This dot was an old Oldenkott mark.
Start with the shank. Look for the word Oldenkott, a line name, and a shape number.
Shape numbers have one to three digits.
Pipedia shows a 1973 Oldenkott catalogue. It links many shape numbers to line names.
Line names include Rubin, Supra, Nicofry, Toscana, Atlantic, Oxford, Tower, Privat and Red and Black.
Our sources give no start or end year for these names.
A name in the 1973 catalogue was in use in 1973. The catalogue does not show when it began or ended.
Some pipes carry a second brand name: Eminent, Excellent, Excelsior, Maxim, Oldex or Derby.
Excellent and Derby pipes can carry a horseshoe stamp.
Some Eminent and Excellent pipes are stamped Danish Design.
On the stem, look for a red and white dot. It was used on old premium pipes and on the revival.
Turbo pipes are easy to see. The bowl has ribs like a car engine, with a silver-grey lacquer.
A red and white dot does not prove an old pipe. The revival from 2012 uses it on premium models.
Porsche Design pipes are not Oldenkott. Pipephil.eu, quoted by Pipedia, says Elbert Gubbels made them.
Oldenkott made the Turbo series. It may have given the idea for the Porsche Design pipes.
Our cabinet notes say an Excellent with a horseshoe stamp is an Oldenkott, not a Bari pipe.
Eminent, Excellent, Excelsior and Maxim pipes do not always carry the Oldenkott name.
Pipedia says Maxim pipes were made for the Terella company of Hamburg. Later Design Berlin made them.
Shops sold old Maxim stock long after Oldenkott closed. So a Maxim stamp gives no clear date.
Egra is an Oldenkott line in one source only, the Pipedia list. It gives no shape numbers.
We found no source that links Egra to the Belgian maker Hilson.
The name alone gives only a very wide window.
Oldenkott stamped on the shank
Pipes with the name were advertised by 1926. The German factory closed in 1992. The revival began in 2012. The window ends today, as revival pipes may still be made.
Only two line names have years in our sources.
Michelle Visconti
One source only: the German trademark register, cited by Pipedia. The mark was registered on 23 June 1981 and deleted in 2002.
Turbo, the ribbed silver-grey bowl
A wide estimate. The Turbo came before the Porsche Design pipes, and the German factory closed in 1992.
These stamps give low-rank, wide windows.
Danish Design on an Eminent or Excellent
An estimate from the years when Danish-style shapes were popular.
Horseshoe stamp, on Excellent or Derby
A mark of the German factory years. The start year is an estimate.
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 Oldenkottyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Oldenkott in the Shop