DUNHILL Shell 116

DUNHILL Shell 116 1950

England, 1950s

Normally the dating of Dunhill pipes doesn’t cause complications. In this particular case we may say for sure it’s one of the late patent period Dunhill Shell samples made in 1950, so it’s already more than 70 years old beauty now. Nevertheless the stamping “EX 511” adds some mystery and charm. Of course it’s not a shape number, Dunhill shape numbers starts from the group size designation. And our pipe doesn’t belong to the Group 5 under any circumstamces. Fortunately Steve Laug (rebornpipes.com) published recently a post dedicated to another Dunhill pipe with the “EX” stamp and performed some investigation (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/dunhill-root-briar-pipes/) . According to it “EX” means “exchange of a pipe under guarantee” and we’re pretty sure 511 is the date code (January 1951 or the exchange number 1 in 1951). That sounds quite logically: the pipe was made in 1950 and given as a replacement to a customer already i 1951 (in such a case the pipe from Steve’s blog was made in 1958 and exchanged in 1960 what’s absolutely believable). Good prooof that Dunhill is so highly respected not only due to the excellent quality, but to the top level service as well.

The pipe marking is “116”, “EX511 (?)”, “DUNHILL SHELL”, “MADE IN ENGLAND 0”, “PATENT №417574/34”, “(1)”. The same patent number you may see on the stinger (The length is 15.5 cm (6.1″), bowl’s height is 3.7 cm (1.46″). External diameter of the bowl is 2.8 cm (1.1″), internal diameter is 1.8 cm (0.71″). The depth is 3.2 cm (1.26″) and this pipe weights 18 gr. Briar, vulcanite stem (looks a very liitle bit overpolished from the shank side), aluminium tube (stinger) with some signs of a wear. The stem looks a very liitle overbuffed from the shank side.

Similar Posts

  • DUNHILL Shell 5102

    England, 1991 A really large (“5” was one of the largest group size in the serial production), really traditional (02 – is one of the oldest and respected Dunhill shapes) and really impressing by its size, shape, grain and condition Dunhill Shell from 1991.

  • DUNHILL Bruyere ODA N806

    England, 1972 The first Dunhill OD pipes (where OD stands for “Own Design”) were created long time ago in 1920s and they definitely weren’t a regular production series examples, rather some rare and therefore highly collectable quaint and oversized creatures. After the World War II Dunhill began expansion to new markets (first of all to…

  • ORLIK Special L172

    England, 1950-70s L&A Orlik was a well known manufacturer of great quality and at the same time inexpensive pipes since the end of XIX century till añquisition by Cadogan in 1980. Despite more advanced management and technology level of Cadogan Group’s production these pipes from pre-cadogan era made without Hi-Tech tricks but with love are…

  • DUNHILL Shell Briar 120

    England, 1962-63 It seems the pipe has two year suffixes – one (“2”) was printed after the word “England” and the second (“3”) is located a bit below it. A new year transition pipe? 🙂 Despite the Group Size 4 the pipe really impresses with its dimensions and the shape – a very stylish large…

  • DUNHILL Red Bark 114

    England, 1972 Red Bark is perhaps the best-known and valued Dunhill series among other “retired”. The Red Bark pipes were produced not for a long time – from 1972 to 1987, and in fact, they are traditional sandblasted Dunhills, but smokers and collectors are still attracted by these pipes and their unusual staining. By the…

  • DUNHILL Bruyere 335

    England, 1967 In the beginning Dunhill created Bruyere. And several years (1910-1917) it was the single brand made by the company of a firm and dense Calabrian briar. And though pre WWII “bruyeres” were marked just by a letter “A” instead of model, the Bruyere series is the one of the oldest long-livers not only…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *