Kriswill Count Made in Denmark 385 Vest Pocket Oom Paul Volcano Sitter Smooth Vulcanite Estate Pipe

KRISWILL / COUNT / MADE IN DENMARK across the shank, a 385 beside it, and a small star-shaped logo inlaid in the stem. This is a Kriswill Count, a vest pocket full bent oom paul in a smooth volcano-sitter shape, on a tapered vulcanite stem with a fishtail bit.

It is pre-smoked and in very good condition, a vintage old-school pipe, with no filter. The KRISWILL line of the stamp is partly worn in the photographs.

The Kriswill story starts with a ship's engineer. Karl Robert Kris worked for A.P. Moller, brought briar home, and in 1947, aged 47, set himself up as a pipe maker at Haderslevvej 115 in Kolding, Denmark. His first pipes were sold for the home market under the name Rocky. In the mid-1950s a new factory opened on the Sdr. Ring road in Kolding, and the pipes were branded Kriswell. Stanwell objected that the name was too close to its own, and the compromise was Kriswill. Sources differ on the date of the Kriswill name: Pipephil says the firm was established about 1955, Pipedia says it was founded in the late 1950s, and Pipedia's history also gives 1947 for the maker's first pipes.

The factory drew on outside designers. A local architect worked for it first, and then the Swedish prince Sigvard Bernadotte, with Acton Bjorn, designed the series sold as Bernadotte designed. The lines named in the sources are Golden Clipper, Chief, Danish Clipper, Bernadotte, Saga, Supreme, Count and Kriscon, and the seconds were sold as Danish Crown and Navigator. The firm reached its peak in the mid-1960s with 40 employees, and catalogues exist dated January 1969 and April 1970. Karl Robert Kris died in 1966. His son Jens stayed on as director until 1975, and soon after Jens left, the company failed (Pipephil says it went bankrupt). The machines went to Erik Nording. Kriswills were made for a while after that by Iberica de Pipas in Spain, which Pipedia calls Kriswills in name only, and Pipephil adds that Dan Pipe later bought the rights to the name.

THE MARKS
- KRISWILL / COUNT / MADE IN DENMARK, stamped on the shank
- 385, stamped on the shank
- a small star-shaped logo inlaid in the stem

Pipedia reads the stem logo as a stylised compass rose, chosen for the founder's years at sea; Pipephil calls it the star. The Count is one of the lines the sources name. Pipephil's rule is that Kriswill stampings before 1970 are in script and that block letters came in from that date, but that is one source only, and the name went on after the original factory failed, so no year is claimed for this pipe. MADE IN DENMARK does not settle it either, because Dan Pipe's later Kriswill line is also made by Danish carvers.

The shape is a vest pocket full bent oom paul with a smooth volcano sitter bowl. The stem is tapered vulcanite and ends in a fishtail bit.

The finish is smooth, reddish brown.

Condition: pre-smoked, in very good condition.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 120 mm (4.72 in)
- Bowl height: 45 mm (1.77 in)
- Bowl width: 36 mm (1.42 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 31 mm (1.22 in)
- Weight: 34 g (1.20 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 067