Hilson A 108 Sapphire Blue Smooth Straight Billiard Dutch Estate Pipe

Saphir: the word is stamped on the shank under HILSON.

This is a Hilson A 108, a smooth straight billiard on a black tapered stem. A metal band with a repeating knot-like pattern sits at the stem end of the shank and stays with the stem when the pipe is taken apart. HILSON and Saphir are clear; the A of A 108 and MADE IN HOLLAND are small.

THE MAKER

HILSON was the brand of the Belgian pipe factory Hillen, in Bree. In 1980 Elbert Gubbels and Sons of Roermond in the Netherlands, the maker of Big Ben, bought the Hillen factory together with the HILSON brand, and Bree closed soon after.

Gubbels had started pipe production in Roermond in 1946. In December 1972 the firm moved to a new factory at Keulsebaan 505 in Roermond and took the title Royal, as the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory. In March 2012 Elbert Gubbels and Sons filed for bankruptcy.

THE MARKS

- HILSON on the shank
- Saphir on the shank
- A 108 on the shank
- MADE IN HOLLAND on the shank

A billiard is the plainest of the classic plans: a straight round bowl on a straight shank. Here the blue runs from the bowl along the shank to the band, and the black stem tapers away from it.

DATING

No source gives a year for a Hilson by its stamp, and the brand history alone does not date one: a Hilson pipe may be from before or after 1980. The stamps on this pipe do not narrow that.

Please see the photos for the condition.

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

SKU: 667, SKU: 669