Kriswill Chief 1850 Sandblast Sitter Pipe, Bent Vulcanite Saddle Stem, Denmark

Very nice old school: a Kriswill Chief from Denmark, stamped KRISWILL in block capitals over CHIEF and HANDMADE IN DENMARK on a smooth panel of the shank, with the number 1850 beside the stem and Kriswill's star on the side of the stem.

This is a sandblasted cylinder sitter. The upright bowl has a flat base, so the pipe stands on its own, and the blast has a craggy, ringed texture in a medium brown over the bowl and the lower part of the shank. A black vulcanite saddle stem, bent, ends in a fishtail bit. There is no filter. It comes with the original Kriswill silk sleeve, printed in gold with BY APPOINTMENT TO THE ROYAL DANISH COURT with a crown, KRISWILL in a gold panel and KRISWORK BRIAR PIPE TRADING.

THE MAKER
Karl Robert Kris was a ship's engineer with A.P. Moller. He brought briar home, and in 1947 he set up as a pipe maker in Kolding, Denmark, selling his first pipes as ROCKY at home. In the mid-1950s a new factory went up in Kolding and the pipes were branded KRISWELL. Stanwell objected that the name was too close to its own, and the two sides settled on KRISWILL (one source dates the founding of the Kriswill firm to about 1955). The stem logo, a stylized compass rose that some call the star, was chosen for the founder's years at sea.

Kriswill worked with designers: first a local architect, then Sigvard Bernadotte, a Swedish prince and brother of Queen Ingrid of Denmark, together with Acton Bjorn. The factory made several lines. The Golden Clipper was smaller and lighter, for Europe; the CHIEF, the line on this shank, was the larger pipe made for the United States. Danish Crown and Navigator were the firm's seconds. At its height in the mid-1960s the firm had 40 employees. Karl Robert Kris died in 1966, and his son Jens was director until 1975. Soon after Jens left, the company failed, and its machines went to Erik Nording. For a while in the 1980s Kriswills were made by Iberica de Pipas, and later the firm Dan Pipe bought the rights to the name for a revival line made for 9 mm filters.

THE MARKS
- KRISWILL (block capitals) / CHIEF / HANDMADE IN DENMARK on the shank
- 1850 on the shank, beside the stem
- Star (compass rose) logo on the side of the stem

The meaning of the number 1850 is not known.

DATING
One reference holds that Kriswill stamped its name in script letters before 1970 and in block letters from 1970 on; another source says the compass-rose logo came in with the Kriswill name in the 1950s. This shank carries block capitals. HANDMADE IN DENMARK rules out the Iberica de Pipas pipes, which carry another country stamp, and this pipe takes no filter, while the Dan Pipe revival pipes are all made for 9 mm filters. Together with the CHIEF name, a line of the original Kolding factory, this points to Kolding between 1970 and the end of the factory some years after 1975. That is the likely reading, not a certainty: a HANDMADE IN DENMARK stamp alone cannot rule out later Danish-made Kriswills.

Condition: pre-smoked, good condition. Please see the photographs.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 125 mm (4.92 in)
- Bowl height: 57 mm (2.24 in)
- Bowl width: 35 mm (1.38 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 52 mm (2.05 in)
- Weight: 47 g (1.66 oz)

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

SKU: 497