Oldenkott Piccadilly Smooth Straight Billiard Estate Pipe, Vulcanite Stem

Oldenkott in script with PICCADILLY under it: this is an Oldenkott Piccadilly, a smooth straight billiard on a vulcanite tapered stem with a fishtail mouthpiece, used without a filter.

It is pre-smoked and in good condition, with faint scratches around the briar, a tiny darkness at the rim and very light bite marks on the stem.

The bowl stands upright with straight sides. It is 58 mm high and 35 mm wide, and the chamber goes 47 mm deep at 20 mm across. The stem narrows from the shank to the fishtail.

Oldenkott was a German tobacco house long before it made pipes. In 1838 August Kersten of Rees bought the Heinric Oldenkott factories at Elten and Weesp, and Oldenkott was one of the largest tobacco firms in Germany. In 1901 its Knaster tobacco packets carried the likeness of Paul Kruger.

Pipes came later. Berlin newspapers advertised "Original Oldenkott" pipes in 1926, and Pipedia gives 1932 as the start of the firm's own pipe production. The Dutch firm Niemeijer bought Oldenkott in 1972, tobacco stopped in 1974, and the pipe company went back to the Kersten family in 1987 before the factory closed in 1992. In 2012 the marks passed to Alexander Strahnz of Cologne, who brought the name back with pipes made in Italy.

THE MARKS

- Oldenkott in script, on the shank
- PICCADILLY, under it

Piccadilly is one of the quality names in a 1973 Oldenkott catalogue, in the chapter headed Filter/Special. This pipe has no filter. No shape number shows in the photographs, and no source dates the start or end of the Piccadilly name, so no date is given for this pipe.

The finish is smooth and glossy, and grain lines show up the sides of the bowl.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 145 mm
- Bowl height: 58 mm (2.3 in)
- Bowl width: 35 mm
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.8 in)
- Chamber depth: 47 mm (1.9 in)
- Weight: 1.8 oz

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 141