Vauen 3288 Smooth Straight Billiard, Vulcanite Saddle Stem, Fishtail, 9mm Filter

VAUEN and the number 3288 are stamped on the shank of this smooth straight billiard with a large bowl, a vulcanite saddle stem and a fishtail mouthpiece. It takes a 9 mm filter.

THE MARKS

- VAUEN, on the left side of the shank
- 3288, on the right side of the shank

On this pipe a large, upright bowl rises from a straight shank, the billiard plan, and the briar is smooth and polished. The saddle stem keeps its wide section at the shank end, then runs to a thinner bit that widens and flattens again into the fishtail at the tip.

THE MAKER

Vauen's roots go back to 1848, when Karl Ellenberger and Carl August Ziener opened a pipe factory in Nuremberg, recorded as the first pipe factory in Germany. In 1866 Gebhard Ott founded a pipe works of his own, and in 1901 the two houses merged as Vereinigte Pfeifenfabriken Nurnberg, run by Ernst Eckert of the Ott family. In 1909 Adolf Eckert made the name VAUEN from the V of Vereinigte and the N of Nurnberg, and the trademark was registered on 21 September 1909.

A paper filter came in 1921, and in 1934 the Dr. Perl junior brought the 9 mm activated-carbon filter, the first of its kind. Production has stayed in Nuremberg, the firm has stayed in the family, and Alexander Eckert, the fifth generation, has led it since 1982.

DATING

The VAUEN name on the shank was coined in 1909, so the pipe was made in 1909 or later; this point is well documented. The 9 mm filter points roughly to 1934 or later, the year of the Dr. Perl junior filter. One restoration report names a Vauen 3288 as a Dr. Perl billiard; no Dr. Perl mark is seen on this pipe, and the number carries no year. No country line is seen in the photographs, so the stamps do not narrow the date further. This pipe was most likely made in Nuremberg in 1934 or later.

Condition: a very old release, still in good condition, with faint scratches in the stain and tiny dents around the briar.

THE MEASUREMENTS

- Length: 145 mm
- Bowl height: 50 mm (2.0 in)
- Bowl width: 40 mm (1.6 in)
- Chamber depth: 40 mm (1.6 in)
- Weight: 1.7 oz

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe. SKU: 102