Old Pipes

[Athenry]

I received four old pipes a while ago, two are standard, completely unmarked pipes. So It'll be hard to find anything on them. But two others have markings.

Hopefully the first one will be easy, it's a Falcon Pipe, stamped with 'Made in England' and 'FD11' all I want to know is the range of years it would have been made if that's possible.

This is what it looks like:



The second one might be a bit trickier. It's a wooden pipe, a face carved on the front (looks like Native American) stamped 'Bruyere Garantie', I believe that means 'Briar Guaranteed' and that it's from the pipemakers of Saint Claude, France. I would like to know a little about this pipe, but mainly the year it was made and the maker if possible. Here are some photos:





I've seen one pipe very similar to this on the internet, I'm guessing they're made by the same craftsman, perhaps in the same series. Sadly it didn't have much information about it.

Anything you can tell me will be of great help.

[Rauville]

Looks like the Falcon pipe was first produced in England starting in the early 1960's.
http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=107

[talesofthesevenseas]

I ran a French to English translation on "Bruyere Garantie", thinking that it sounded vaguely French to me. According to the translator it says "Guaranteed heather". I ran some searches on Google and this is indeed French, and some of the pipes marked Bruyere Garantie were also marked "St. Claude" which is in France. I found this, dating the pipes to about 1920-ish:

"The second is not stamped in any way with a name. Merely “Bruyere Garantie”, which is absolutely French and supports my St. Claude theory. The pipe makers of St. Claude were a humble lot. Everyone was in on the business. The entire village population was involved in one way or another. No need for a carvers name, as just the town’s name was enough. At that time, the “Bruyere Garantie” stamp was its own passport and absolute credential."
http://thepipesmoker.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/old-wood-new-pipe/

La Bruyere is a 'commune' or unincorporated municipal district in France. So I believe your pipe was made by a respected French craftsman of this area and if the collector at the link above is correct, it might date to the 1920's or thereabouts. Nice find!

[Athenry]

You guys are amazing, thank you so much. It always bugs me when an antique doesn't have any markings on it, or just the vaguest of markings. They're always so hard for me to identify.

[jondar]

Can only comment on the Falcon pipe.  Great pipes, I smoked a pipefull of HH Aged Syrian in one yesterday afternoon.  As I understand it, the older Falcons were made here in the U.S. and later in England.  Also I read that the ones made here in the U.S. go back to the WW2 years.  The ones made here, of course, would not have "England" on the bottom of the pipe.

[talesofthesevenseas]

You guys are amazing, thank you so much. It always bugs me when an antique doesn't have any markings on it, or just the vaguest of markings. They're always so hard for me to identify.

Yeah it is really nice when they come with patent dates stamped right into them, then we know for sure, but sometimes the challenge of being forced to research something turns out to be half the fun!