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Brand Dating Guides
Old Winslow pipes have one silver dot on the stem. Newer ones have two.
Updated 2026-10-25
Welcome. This guide helps you place a pipe stamped WINSLÖW, also written Winsløw.
Winslow pipes carry no year stamp and no shape number.
So we date them by the name stamp and by the dots on the stem.
These give wide windows, not a single year.
Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.
1967
Poul Winsløw is a Danish pipe maker.
In 1967 he answered an advertisement from the pipe maker Preben Holm.
Andersson says he was 17. First he swept floors.
Within a few years he became Holm's head assistant.
Holm wrote about him in his own life story, written in 1983.
Our Preben Holm guide covers the pipes from that workshop.
1985
In 1985 Poul came back from a holiday and found the Holm factory closed.
He built a small workshop at his house in Hvidovre.
So 1985 is the earliest year for any pipe under his own name.
He says the first years were hard.
Stanwell, the biggest Danish pipe factory, helped him.
He finished pipes for Stanwell at shows abroad, while visitors watched.
1985–1997
Our main source is a profile by Jan Andersson, written in May 1997.
Old pipes show the name in big block letters, or in an oval.
These old pipes have one silver dot on the stem.
In rare cases there are three dots in a triangle.
By May 1997 the stamp had changed to a new mark.
The new mark is a fancy pipe symbol. WINSLÖW is in small letters.
New pipes always have two stem dots. One is a little bigger.
No source gives the exact year of the change.
So we let the two windows overlap, from 1993 to 1997.
1988
The top grade is stamped P.C., short for Private Collection.
Below it come the letters A to E. A is the best of these.
These grades span the whole brand. They do not date a pipe.
Crown is a cheaper Winslow line. It has its own stamp.
A grade number follows, such as Crown 300.
Andersson says Poul started Crown some years before 1997.
We start its window in 1988. This is our estimate, ranked low.
Crown pipes are not seconds. The wood has less dense grain.
Their acrylic mouthpiece is moulded, then finished on the pipe.
Harlequin pipes are limited editions. Our sources give them no year.
A Winsløw name with Stanwell marks is a Stanwell pipe.
Our Stanwell guide covers those pipes.
The grade letter is not a year. A to E and P.C. span the whole brand.
Trust the stem dots only on the original mouthpiece.
A replaced stem can carry the wrong number of dots.
Crown is a Winslow line. It is not a separate maker.
Our sources show no Winslow shape numbers.
A number after Crown is a grade.
Each row comes from our Winslow cabinet.
WINSLÖW or Winsløw name on the shank
His own workshop opened when the Holm factory closed in 1985. The brand is still made, so the top end stays open.
One silver dot on the stem (rarely three in a triangle), with big block or oval name
The old stamping. The May 1997 profile says it had already changed by then.
Two dots on the stem, one bigger, with the fancy pipe symbol
The new stamping. The exact year of the change is unknown, so the start has slack.
CROWN stamp
The 1997 profile says Crown began some years before. The 1988 start is our 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 Winslowyou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Winslow in the Shop