French Estate Butz Choquin JURA 1009 Sandblast Straight Billiard Pipe

Butz-Choquin in script, then JURA, then 1009 and ST CLAUDE FRANCE: four marks on a smooth panel of the shank, with the sandblast on the bowl and on part of the shank.

This is a straight billiard from the Saint-Claude house of Butz-Choquin, on a black stem with a striped wood ring at its shank end. The ring stays with the stem when the stem comes out. All the marks are legible, the script a little soft.

THE MAKER

The name joins two men of Metz. In 1858 the tobacconist Jean-Baptiste Choquin and his first workman Gustave Butz, his son-in-law by marriage that same year, created the Choquin pipe: a bent, flat-bottomed bowl with a hollow albatross-bone mouthpiece extension fixed with silver rings. Butz went on to build the Metz house under the Butz-Choquin name.

Before 1951 the pipes were made and sold by various makers, Berrod-Regad among them. In 1951 Berrod-Regad bought the trademark and production moved to Saint-Claude. The year 1960 brought entry into export markets and the Gold Cup of French good taste, and the collection grew from 10 to 70 series. Jean Paul Berrod managed the firm from 1969 to 2002, then retired and sold to Fabien Guichon, a Saint-Claude native. In 2006 Denis Blanc, owner of EWA, took over S.A. Berrod-Regad.

THE MARKS

- Butz-Choquin in script on the shank
- JURA on the shank
- 1009 on the shank
- ST CLAUDE FRANCE on the shank

Here bowl and shank meet at about a right angle and the pipe runs on one straight axis, the plan of a billiard. The sandblast gives the bowl its texture, the smooth panel keeps the stamps readable, and the rim looks smooth. The stem is flat at the tip.

DATING

ST CLAUDE FRANCE is the mark that helps. St Claude wording on a Butz-Choquin means after 1951, the year production moved there, and that point is well documented. No year is known for the JURA line or for the number 1009, so these stamps do not narrow it further: this pipe dates from after 1951.

Please see the photos for the condition.

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 037