OXFORD De Luxe unsmoked

England

This unsmoked pipe became a subject of a special investigation. Many more and less known manufacturers applied the “Oxford” stamping on their pipes: Wilczak & Colwell mention S. MC Lardy, Sasieni, J. Redman, Hall & Fitzgerald, Carrington, Orlik and even GBD! Pipephil (the greatest and highly respected pipe expert) places Oxford on the Hardcastle’s page. However only two manufacturers of this list used exactly such the stamping “LONDON MADE” – Orlik and John Redman. Another hint is the rich and deep rustication. This is not really typical for Orlik – they sandblasted their pipes or used quite light rustication. This is not typical for John Redman either. But since 1960s Richard Martin (Blakemar Briars) was one of Redman’s subcontractors and Blakemare pipes did have very frequently the same deep and distinct rustication. So in this case the most probably the pipe was made by Blakemar for John Redman in the 1960s or a bit later.

The pipe markings are “OXFORD \ DE LUXE”, “LONDON MADE”. The length is 13.6 cm (5.35″), bowl’s height is 3.9 cm (1.54″). External dimensions of the bowl are 2.6 x 2.8 cm (1.02 x 1.1″), internal diameter is 1.8 cm (0.71″). The depth is 3.4 cm (1.34″) and this pipe weights 26 gr. Briar, vulcanite stem, aluminium stinger.