Denmark, 1960-70s
Peter Brakner was born as Peter Micklson, but later changed this name to Brakner, most probably just for marketing purposes. The young carver got an excellent professional school, he began at the Teofil Suhr workshop in Copenhagen led by Sixten Ivarsson. Therefore it was not a miracle that the worldwide glory came to Brakner very soon, after the 1955’s World Championship of Pipe Smoking, where his pipe won. Unique Brakner’s micro-rustication technique (named “Antique”) was not repeated by any carver, and Peter Brakner didn’t show it to any pipe maker, that is why his pipes are so rare and collectable now. Brakner’s pipes were very well sold both in Denmark (many of them through W.O. Larsen shop) and overseas in USA (what was a very rare situation before Preben Holm’s success).
Brakner’s pipes are very rare and highly valuable now. But the “Royal Danois” (“Royal Danish”) series is even more rare and collectible. In the early 1960s catalogues “Royal” pipes were almost two times expensive than regular “Antique” ones. The series was named after the Royal Danish Guard Regiment, founded in 1689. You may remark that Stanwell also had the “Royal Danish” series with the combined finish and that’s not just a coincidence: as we mentioned, Peter started his career under the leadership of Sixten Ivarsson, the great friend and inspirator of Stanwell. So the idea of the both series name belongs to him most probably.
The pipe marking is “BRAKNER ANTIQUE \ ROYAL DANOIS \ HAND CUT \ DENMARK”. The length is 16.6 cm (6.54″), bowl’s height is 6.5 cm (2.56″). External dimensions of the bowl are 3.6 x 4.4 cm (1.42 x 1.73″), internal diameter is 2.0 cm (0.79″). The depth is 4.8 cm (1.89″) and this pipe weights 63 gr. Briar, vulcanite stem, no filter.
Leave a Reply