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Brand Dating Guides
Read the Steel's name, the country stamp and the valve beneath the bowl. Our saved sources identify the makers, but leave the brand's dates open.
Updated 2026-11-05
A Steel's pipe may carry De Luxe, Senior, Algerian Briar or Made in France beside its name. Write down every mark before comparing examples.
Check beneath the bowl too. Some examples have a regulating valve, described as a carburetor in our saved reference.
These details help identify the pipe. They do not yet give us a reliable production year.
The saved British and French Pipedia brand lists describe Steel's as a former Anglo-French brand produced by Civic and La Bruyère.
Our saved Pipephil reference names the same makers. That agreement supports the maker connection; it does not establish the brand's first or last year.
We cannot yet divide all surviving Steel's pipes between the two makers. A clear country stamp is evidence to keep, rather than a complete chronology.
Pipephil describes a regulating valve on the underside of the bowl. Its illustrated examples include Steel's Senior and De Luxe marks.
The cabinet records a Senior example marked Made in France and a patent number. We have not verified that patent's country or date.
Do not turn the patent number into a year. A patent needs its own register evidence before it can date a pipe.
One source only, the Amsterdam Pipe Museum record APM 18.622, describes a Steel's De Luxe numbered 30 as a bulldog.
The museum describes that example with a straight diamond shank. One numbered example is useful evidence, but it is not a complete factory shape chart.
Our Pipephil copy also shows number 26, without a shape name. We leave that number unassigned.
Keep the visible name, grade, country stamp, patent lettering and shape number together. Photograph the valve and any worn lettering separately.
Algerian Briar and De Luxe are recorded marks. Our sources do not give either wording a dependable date range.
A useful identification can end with an open date. That is more accurate than borrowing a maker's founding year for every pipe it produced.
Our Steel's cabinet contains no brand-specific dating range. These rows separate identification evidence from an unsupported date.
STEEL'S name with Senior or De Luxe
The wording is recorded in our saved references. It does not establish an individual pipe's year.
Patent lettering on the shank
Read the complete number, including any suffix. Its country and year remain open.
Shape number 30 on a De Luxe example
One source only: Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 18.622 describes a bulldog. Do not extend that example into a factory-wide chart.
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 Steel'syou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Steel's in the Shop