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Brand Dating Guides
Ropp stamped no year. Its pipes are dated by the workshop stamp, the family signature and the 1991 closure.
Updated 2026-10-10
Welcome. If your pipe says Ropp, this guide helps you place it in time.
Ropp is a French maker. It is best known for pipes made of cherry wood, often with the bark left on.
Ropp never stamped a year on its pipes. So every date here is a range of years.
Our facts come from two websites about pipes: Pipedia and pipephil. Few Ropp years are written down anywhere.
So most rules here are wide. We say so beside each one.
Each rule has a rank: high, medium or low. High means strong evidence. Low means a wide range or a weak hint.
This guide has no high rule. The Ropp sources are too thin for that.
1869 to 1914
Eugène-Léon Ropp lived from 1830 to 1907. In 1869 he got a patent for a pipe made of wild cherry wood.
In 1870 he opened his first workshop in Bussang, a village in the Vosges mountains of eastern France.
Around 1893 the business moved into an old mill near Baume-les-Dames, in the Doubs area.
The pipes sold well abroad. Shortly before 1914, A. Frankau and Co. became the only seller of Ropp in Britain and its colonies.
Frankau is the firm behind the BBB brand. We have a BBB guide too.
1917 to today
Pipedia says Ropp probably bought a workshop in Saint-Claude in 1917, to make briar pipes. The word probably is theirs.
In 1923 a small polishing workshop near Saint-Claude was added.
Even so, cherry wood pipes stayed the main Ropp product until the end.
In 1988 a company called GBA Synergie, run by Bernard Amiel, bought Ropp. It owned the brand until 1991.
The Ropp company closed in September 1991.
In 1994 the brand went to Cuty-Fort Entreprises, the group behind Chacom. Since then Chacom makes Ropp pipes in Saint-Claude.
So no Ropp pipes were made from late 1991 to 1994.
This gap is the most useful fact in this guide. A Ropp pipe is either old, up to 1991, or new, from 1994.
Pipephil says the brand stayed in the Ropp family for three generations.
First came the founder, Eugène-Léon Ropp, who died in 1907.
Second came Eugène Ropp. Some early pipes carry his signature, Eug. Ropp, in joined-up writing with a line under it.
Third came Jean Ropp. Some pipes say J. Ropp, Maitre Pipier, which means master pipe maker.
No source gives the years when each signature was used. So these two rules are low and very wide.
Start with the shank. Most Ropp pipes say ROPP inside an oval. This oval was used in many years, so it does not date the pipe.
Next to the oval you often find a line name, such as Virgin De Luxe, Hors Classe, Nationale, Classic, Edil or Yeco.
Our sources give no years for these line names. They help to name the pipe, not to date it.
Hors Classe pipes carry a brass logo. Pipephil says it was kept for the better pipes.
Some stems carry a 1er logo or the letter R. Some export pipes have a joined-up R on the stem.
Cherry wood pipes with bark often say Genuine Cherry, Made in France on the bottom.
Now look for the oldest marks. The word Bussang on the pipe points to the first workshop.
Look also for S G D G. It is a French patent mark, which France stopped in 1968.
Last, look at the mouthpiece. A horn mouthpiece with a round lip is a sign of an early pipe.
Made in France does not date a Ropp. The firm worked in France in every year.
A horn mouthpiece is only a hint. French makers kept using horn on country pipes for many years.
Pipephil says a Bussang pipe may be from 1870 to 1893. That is a may, not a must.
Do not date a new Ropp by an old catalogue. The shape numbers changed after 1994.
The Chacom shop lists the shape numbers of new Ropp pipes, such as 29 for a straight billiard.
The old factory used other numbers. So an old pipe with the number 29 is not the same shape.
Pipes called Golden Burl, Grande Morez, Nantua or Versailles were Ropp seconds. Our sources give no years for them.
These are the strongest dating marks on a Ropp. Read them together with the mouthpiece.
Ropp Bussang on the pipe, often with S G D G underneath
The first workshop period. Pipephil says such a pipe may be from these years. One source only.
S G D G (also S.G.D.G.), the old French patent mark
A ceiling of 1968 for any French pipe. On a Ropp the window starts with the firm in 1870.
A weak hint. Use it only with a stamp.
Horn mouthpiece, often with a round lip
An early sign on Ropp. But horn stayed on French country pipes for many years.
No source gives years for these. The windows are our honest wide ranges.
Eug. Ropp, in joined-up script with a line under it
The second generation, Eugène Ropp. No documented start or end year.
J. Ropp, Maitre Pipier
The third generation, Jean Ropp. The end is the closure of September 1991.
Shown so you do not lean on it.
Made in France, or France
Ropp worked in France in every year. This mark does not narrow the date.
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 Roppyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Ropp in the Shop