Oldenkott Supra Large Smooth Slightly Bent Estate Pipe, Vulcanite Fishtail, 9mm

OLDENKOTT over SUPRA, two lines of capitals on the shank: this is an Oldenkott Supra, a large smooth pipe with a slight bend, on a vulcanite tapered stem with a fishtail mouthpiece, made for a 9 mm filter.

It is pre-smoked and in very good condition. There are faint scratches around the briar and a bite mark on the stem. SUPRA is clear in the stamp, and OLDENKOTT is a little soft.

The Oldenkott name stood on tobacco long before it stood on pipes. Two family lines, at Rees and at Ahaus, go back to the 1740s and 1760s. In 1838 August Kersten of Rees bought the Heinric Oldenkott factories at Elten and Weesp. The house was one of the largest tobacco firms in Germany, and by 1901 the face of Paul Kruger looked out from its Oldenkott Knaster packets.

Pipes came with the twentieth century. "Original Oldenkott" pipes were advertised in Berlin newspapers in 1926, the Hermann-Oldenkott factories at Ahaus and Neuss were bought in 1929, and the firm's own pipe production began in 1932. In the years after the war Oldenkott ranked as Germany's second pipe maker, after Vauen. The Dutch firm Niemeijer bought the company in 1972, tobacco ended in 1974, the Kersten family took the pipe company back in 1987, and the factory closed in 1992. In 2012 the marks passed to Alexander Strahnz of Cologne, who revived the name with pipes made in Italy.

THE MARKS

- OLDENKOTT in capitals, stamped on the shank
- SUPRA in capitals, stamped under it

Supra is one of the quality names of Oldenkott's 1973 catalogue, alongside names such as Rubin and Nicofry, and that catalogue sorted its pipes by shape numbers. No shape number shows in the photographs of this pipe, and the stamps give it no year.

The vulcanite stem tapers from the shank down to the fishtail mouthpiece. The bowl is 50 mm high and 42 mm wide, and the chamber is 42 mm deep and 20 mm across.

The finish is smooth, and grain lines show across the bowl and along the shank. Please see the photographs for the scratches and the bite mark.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 155 mm (6.10 in)
- Bowl height: 50 mm (1.97 in)
- Bowl width: 42 mm (1.65 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 42 mm (1.65 in)
- Weight: 51 g (1.8 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 347