Charatan's Make London England Belvedere 350DC Dublin Estate Pipe

CHARATAN'S MAKE, LONDON ENGLAND, BELVEDERE on the shank, with 350 D.C stamped with its dots and a circled L. This is a Charatan Belvedere Dublin in glassy, reddish smooth briar, slightly bent, on a vulcanite Double Comfort saddle stem with a fishtail bit.

It carries no filter. The 350 D.C is clear, and the three-line nomenclature is legible, with some letters lighter than others.

The house of Charatan reached back further than most English pipemakers: its own 1951 catalogue gives the start as 1863 (one later account says about 1873), when Frederick Charatan opened a meerschaum workshop in Mansell Street in the East End of London. From there he moved to Prescot Street, turned to briar, and made a point of producing every part of the pipe himself, the bowl and the stem, from the rough block onward. The stamp CHARATAN'S MAKE stood for that promise in a trade where many pipes were assembled from parts bought in.

The quality drew attention early. Before Alfred Dunhill opened his own workshop he bought his pipes from Charatan, between 1908 and 1910. In 1910 Frederick handed the firm to his son Reuben. From 1955 Herman G. Lane imported the pipes into the United States, and in the early 1960s Lane bought the company. Lane itself passed to Dunhill in 1976 (other sources say 1978). The name was sold to J.B. Russell in 1988, production moved to France, and Dunhill took the name back around 2000 to 2002.

THE MARKS

- CHARATAN'S MAKE / LONDON ENGLAND / BELVEDERE stamped on the shank, in block capitals
- 350 D.C stamped on the shank
- A circled L stamped on the shank
- REGD No 203573 on the stem, as recorded on our sheet (the first digit is outside the photograph)

The circled L is the mark of Lane, the American importer. Ferrara's dating study finds it on pipes imported into the United States from 1955, through the Lane years, and until about the end of 1980; after that, he writes, it no longer appears, though another study (Milan 2014) says Lane still imported the pipes later.

Belvedere names the grade, and Charatan graded by the briar rather than the shape: in a catalogue of the Lane years the groupings differ "strictly upon the character of the grain". The same catalogue describes the Belvedere this way: "The rich burgundy finish is traditional British coloring - permitting the deep, extraordinary graining of the pipe to stand out." Collector sources count Belvedere among the four basic grades before Lane, the step below Executive, Selected and Supreme, but the 1951 catalogue does not list it, so the sources do not agree on its age. This pipe is glassy and reddish; please see the photographs for the grain.

A Dublin bowl opens steadily from the heel to the rim, so the chamber is wider at the top than at the bottom and the bowl shows a lively, flared line from the side. A slight bend in the stem lets the pipe hang a little lower from the mouth than a straight one. The number 350 is not on the Charatan shape chart we hold; one dealer listing of a Charatan 350DC also describes a Dublin.

DC after the number is the Double Comfort, the stem Charatan is known for: a saddle stem whose bit drops in a small step, so it is slimmer between the teeth than the stem behind it, finished here in a fishtail that spreads the draw across the tongue. It was the first change Lane made to Charatan's production, and Ferrara found the DC stamp only on pipes made after 1960 (some sources place the first Double Comfort stems in the 1950s). With the circled L and the block-capital London nomenclature, the marks point to a pipe made in London, most likely between 1961 and about 1980 by Ferrara's study.

Condition: pre-smoked once, in excellent mint condition. Please see the photographs.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 144 mm (5.67 in)
- Bowl height: 47 mm (1.85 in)
- Bowl width: 41 mm (1.61 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 40 mm (1.57 in)
- Weight: 65 g (2.29 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 568