• Home
  • DGs Blog
• T G Green
  • T G Green History
• Car Broker
  • Cars Sold
• Smoking Pipes
  • Dunhill
  • Comoy Pipes
  • Comoy History
  • Comoy's Literature
  • Ashton
  • Others
• Links
• Contact

A history of Comoy’s and a guide towards dating the Pipes

Stop press News

Comoy's Focus Group at the Chicago Pipe and tobacciana Fair

This will be held at 5 pm on Friday 2nd May. We would be delighted to see any Comoy's collectors at this event. Bring your collection of Comoy's however small.

Larger images can be viewed by clicking on them.

This history page is continually updated as new information is found

I have for many years been collecting pipes made by Comoy’s and have found them all beautifully made and excellent smokers. I quickly realised that there was very little information on the make generally and often the information published was inaccurate. Unlike Dunhills, Comoy's did not stamp their pipes with a date code and therefore I will never be able to produce the type of information that John Loring has been able to do with Dunhills. I hope however that the information that I have gathered will be of interest and use to both old and new collectors of these beautifully made pipes. As a collector and smoker of both Dunhills and Comoy's, I am convinced that Comoy's are just as well made, smoke every bit as well and only lack the cache of the name.

Although there is still a lot more research needed, this will no doubt surface as more Comoy’s are added to the collection or are viewed.  I now have well over 150 examples of pipes made by Comoy’s in my collection, of which 29 have hallmarked silver bands. These together with other dated examples I have seen together with original catalogues have enabled me to considerable flesh out some of the previously published facts.

I have also been fortunate to have had several long discussions with Jacques Cole who was at St Claude from 1948 to 1957 and was factory manager at Comoy’s from 1958 until 1963. Jacques is now retired but is still active in the pipe world being Grand Chancellor of the “Academie International de la Pipe.” I am most grateful to Jacques for allowing me to quote from an article he wrote about Comoy’s which was part of a series on The Pipe Makers (1850-1994). I am also fortunate to have a history of the company written by Louis Comoy in the 1950’s and believe that the history given as an introduction is as definitive as possible.

Francois Comoy and his brothers started making pipes (probably clays, boxwood and beech) in 1825 in the small monastic town of Saint- Claude in eastern France. Claude and his son Louis discovered that briar had vastly superior qualities and from 1848 made pipes only in this wood. In 1879 Francois’s son Henri who was born in 1850 moved to London with a small bag of tools, but a great deal of experience. Henri set up a small factory in Seven Dials which is today known as Cambridge Circus. He was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the briar pipe trade in London and is credited with being the author of the appellation “London Made.” He was helped at first by some of his brothers and around 1891 was joined by his two nephews, Louis and Charles Chapuis. Louis took the name of his adoptive parents.. By 1895 the business had outgrown the Seven Sisters site and a new factory was built in Newcastle Place, Clerkenwell. By 1905 markets were being sought in America and the extra business required a new factory to be built in 1913 at 72 Rosebury Avenue.In 1914 the partners Henri Comoy and his nephews Louis and Charles incorporated the business as H.Comoy & Co. Ltd. Before the 1914/18 war Henri was also joined by his sons, Adrien and Paul who were born after his nephews arrived in London. In 1921 Sam Zinberg was appointed Director of Sales for the USA and the House of Comoy was established. Henri Comoy died in 1924 at the age of 74 leaving the company in the hands of Louis and Charles.

In 1929 the company was invited to join Cadogan Investments Ltd. This was known as “The Merger” which consisted of the Civic Company and Oppenheimer Pipes with their associated companies. This merger was formed in order to create co-operation between the various companies.

In 1937 a new, model and splendidly-equipped factory was opened in Pentonville Road to accommodate additional staff of several hundred. The next generation had joined the firm by the time the Second World War broke out. Louis Chapuis Senior joined in 1938 and Pierre Comoy in 1947 after service in the Royal Armoured Corps.

The Second World War was a difficult period for the company, because the whole of industry in Great Britain was turned over to the production of armaments and the war effort, consequently the manufacture of pipes ceased except for a small workshop. After the war ended in 1945 it was an uphill struggle for all British companies to once again get established and it was not until 1950 and the opening of a new purpose built factory in Aldershot that production nearly met demand.

The main manufacturing companies in the merger known as Cadogan Investments Ltd were Civic, Comoy’s and Marechal Ruchon & Co Ltd and in the early 1960’s manufacture came under one management, but the marketing departments continued working independently for a number of years. My 1965 catalogue makes the following statement “And now, we the Comoys of the fourth generation, together with those of the fifth, Pierre Comoy and Louis Chapuis, continue to follow the course set by our forefathers, who would be gratified to see our latest ultra modern plant in Aldershot Hampshire.” Comoy’s remained a family owned company until it was finally taken over by Cadogan Investments during the early 1980’s. Cadogan have continued to manufacture Comoy pipes to the present day and under Michael Adler the Comoy brand is their flagship and efforts are being made to once more re-instate the well known quality of the brand.

The collector of Comoy pipes is really only interested in those pipes made before Comoy was finally taken over by Cadogan in the early 1980’s and I have therefore concentrated on that period. I have also, for the purpose of this article only briefly mentioned some of the other brands made by Comoy’s such as Cecil, Every Man, Town Hall, Guildhall etc, where they can contribute some evidence to help in dating.

Some indication of the period in which the pipe was made can be learnt from the name or grade stamped on the pipe, however the names are not reliable guides to dating unless associated with other factors. It is obvious that Comoy’s often reintroduced the same name at various dates, presumably as a marketing exercise or at the request of their wholesalers.

There is insufficient knowledge at the moment to be sure exactly which of the names used in the 20’s and 30’s were intended as “Grades” as apposed to just names for a slightly different finish or market. I have a beautiful cased pair of small dark “plum pudding coloured” pipes with the name “Par Excellence” from the early 1920’s. The name is stamped below the arched Comoy’s. The name is shown in the same way in the cartouche in the lid of the case. Both the pipes and the case are also stamped Altson of Melbourne & Perth. It may be that the name “Par Excellence” was reserved for the Australian market or indeed just for Altson. An interesting feature of these pipes is that the three piece inlaid “C” is on top of the stem rather than the side. I have not seen this on any other pipe. (Addendum. I have now acquired from my friend Dennis Moore another Par Excellence which dates to the early 1930's and therefore we know that it was indeed a Grade.)

In the 1909 catalogue, it states “we are the manufacturers of the following well known brands: - Comoy’s Prima London Made, Comoys London Made, H.C. London Made, Yomac London Made, Standard London Made.”

The order in which I have illustrated the pipes is not neccessarily chronological because there was considerable overlapping of the introduction and discontinuation of the grades. It is also clear that Comoy's added extra definitions to the grades such as Supreme or Straight Grain if the pipe warranted it.

Prima

This was the top grade introduced in the early 1900’s. Jaques Cole kindly let me copy his beautifully illustrated catalogue dated 1909 which is almost certainly the first one produced by Comoy. It illustrates 96 pipes all with silver bands dated 1909. Apparently pipes were seldom graded during the 1914/18 war because the production effort was quantity rather than quality for the troops at the front.  

Old Bruyere

I have two Old Bruyeres dated 1921 and a 1931 sales leaflet that states. “Out of every gross of Bruyere pipe bowls made, only 4 are good enough to be called Comoy’s Old Bruyere. At this time therefore it was definitely a high grade. By 1943 it had been downgraded, as it was listed at $7.50, the same price as the Grand Slam and Tradition. At this time the Blue Riband was $35 as was the Meerschaum lined. The Royal was $12 and the Virgin Briar $10. The Old Bruyere was no longer listed in 1965

I have a Virgin Briar dated 1925. On the evidence of the pipes in my collection, these were definitely very fine quality however in the 1931 sales leaflet; the “Virgin Briar” was obviously the main grade below the “Old Bruyere” which was obviously the higher grade. In a 1936 advertisement the “Virgin” was priced at $6. I also have a “Virgin Briar Supreme,” but do not know whether this was a grade in its own right. The Virgin Briar was no longer listed in 1965.

This grade was introduced in 1925 to mark 100 years of pipe making and continued in production until the 1970,s.  In 1965 it was priced at $20

Grand Slam

Introduced in 1933 with the patented (Patent Number 2001612) metal filter system and still in production until the 1970’s. The early Grand Slams had an inlaid bar on the top of the stem that was composed of two white inserts with a pale blue insert between them. Later this was replaced by the 3 piece inlaid C . I believe this occured around WW2. The “Grand Slam” was priced at $5 in 1936 and $20 in 1965.

Additional stamps on the Grand Slam

In addition to Patent being stamped underneath Grand Slam, the early pipes from the 1930's also had Pat Pending on the underside. Grand Slam pipes also have a * followed by a number on the underside this indicates the size of the filter. I have a shape 309 with *1, a shape 163 with *7 and a shape 64 with *6. Jerry Heifferon emailed me to say his shape 24 had *2. Recently Jerry has seen an Apple Shape 159 with *9. And more recently Regis McCafferty has acquired a shape 441 with *4

Note. I have now acquired some original packets of spare filters and it apparant that the number refers to the size of the leather washer that fits on the end of the aluminium stringer. 

Deluxe 

I have one cased pipe stamped with this grade which has the arched Comoy’s and therefore dates to the 1930’s. It was made for “John’s Pipe Shop of Los Angeles” I also have a 1930’s Deluxe which is stamped “Straight Grain. Another in my collection is stamped “Supreme Patent”. ”The same grade is also featured in the 1965 catalogue as a walnut model for $22.50 and also sandblasted model at $20 with silver military mounts. 

Royal

The Royal has always been a high grade Comoy, and pre WW II it was the highest standard grade after the Prima was dropped and before the Blue Riband was introduced.  Priced at $7.50 in 1936.

Straight Grain

These two pipes are the earlist examples I have seen stamped Straight Grain. The one on the left is a hallmarked silver banded 1916 Prima Straight Grain and the one on the right is an early 1920's De Luxe Straight Grain. These both have as straight a grain as any "Specimen Straight Grain" I have seen. They are extremely rare.

Blue Riband

This name was a very clever marketing ploy by Comoy’s and it was given to celebrate the record crossing of the Atlantic by the great ocean liners of the Cunard Line. It is my belief that the name was first used by Comoy’s in 1936 to celebrate the crossing by the Queen Mary in 4 days 27 minutes. It was priced at $35 in 1943 and the same price in 1965. Certainly it was a rare pipe and Jacques Cole tells me that they always had great difficulty in meeting the demand for this brand. A catalogue from just after the war states “Of every thousand pipe bowls that are made in the Comoy’s workshops, forty or perhaps fifty will be picked out worthy to bear the Comoy name.” It goes on to say that of these only three or four will be given the name “Blue Riband”. The Blue Riband was the first pipe where the grain was carefully selected, given a dark stain to acentuate it and then finished with an orange top coat. The result was startling and although others tried to copy it, no-one could equal its appearance until recently. 

London Pride

This was introduced as the second grade to the Blue Riband in 1947 to meet the American demand for a lighter finish. It was priced in 1943 at $25 and in 1965 at $25 then in 1979 at $95

Specimen Straight Grain 

I am not sure when this grade was first produced, but it probably appeared just before the Second World War. This certainly was the top grade from its introduction. It is described in my 1965 catalogue as “The rarest and finest of all Comoy pipes. It is so unusual to find a completely perfect straight grain that shapes and quantities are strictly limited” It was priced at $50 in 1943 and 1965. Jacques Cole recalls that in the 1950’s there was a very large bent which was reckoned to be about the” perfect” Straight Grain. It was not for sale but used as an exhibition piece and valued then at £500 

Selected Straight Grain

These were in effect a “Specimen Straight Grain” second, which exhibited some small flaw or sand pit. They were listed in the 1965 catalogue at $15 or $17.50 in Extraordinaire size. 

Extraordinaire 

 This designation was given to any pipe that was out of the ordinary in size, shape or grain.  The E/O was introduced in the 1920’s and “Extraordinaires” can be found with no other designation or also stamped for instance “Blue Riband” or “London Pride”. The 1936 advertisement lists the “Extraordinaire” at $13 to $23 and the 1965 catalogue also lists a “Specimen Straight Grain Extraordinaire” at $60. I have one example, but cannot imagine many of these were made! There seem to be two distinct sized pipes that were called “Extraordinaire”.

• The  very large or Magnum sized variety are unique and were given shape numbers in the 800 series - my 1939 panel example is 803 and is 9 inches long with a bowl 2 3/8” high and 1 ¾” wide. I understand that BBB, Comoy and Dunhill made these Magnum sized pipes in the 1920’s and 30’s and that Dunhill purchased the bowls for their Magnums from BBB when they started producing them in 1921. 
• Other Extraordinaires are somewhat larger than a Dunhill LBS, for instance 6 ½” long with a bowl height of 2” and 1 ½” wide. These are given normal shape numbers and are illustrated in the 1965 catalogue.

The designation Extraordinaire was also given to unusual shaped pipes, for instance the pipes that were made for Brasenose College Oxford through the 1920's and 30's. See the one illustrated in my collection.

The “Extraordinaire was reintroduced in 1979 as the  “Extraordinaire 1” which was priced at $100 in the  1979 catalogue, which was in a light natural finish and the “Extraordinaire 11” a light two tone walnut finish. These were about the size of a standard Extraordinaire and not as large as the 800 series.

Magnum 

As mentioned above, the 800 series are “Magnum” sized but I also have one pipe that is stamped Magnum with the shape number 802 and is the same shape and size as my Extraordinaire 802. It dates from the 1960’s and Comoy’s may have used this name as a marketing exercise to supersede the 800 series. The name Magnum was re-introduced by Cadogan in the 1990’s but these were not magnum sized.

Sandblast 

I am not sure when Comoy’s first produced the sandblast finish, but have one dating from the late 1920’s. I also have an Extraordinaire 802 which is “Rusticated” as apposed to Sandblasted, but believe this to be a very rare finish.
Sandblasted pipes normally have "Sandblast" stamped below the Comoy's and this is slightly longer than Comoy's and may have serifs. There are exceptions to this as I have several Extraordinaires that do not have "Sandblast" stamped.

Meerschaum Lined 

Meerschaum lined pipes were produced from the 1930’s onwards and perhaps earlier. I have a large ODA sized Virgin Briar from the 1930’s (Illustrated). My 1959 example has a hallmarked 22ct gold band and straighter grain than any “Specimen Straight Grain”. They were priced at $10 in 1936 and $15 in 1943. M is stamped after the shape number.

Specimen

It would seem that the name Specimen was given to hand carved pipes. These were always different and therefore unique. Horace (Ory) Jameson who was the well known carver for GBD, was known to have also carved several pipes for Comoy's and the Specimens may have been his masterpieces. Because of their individuality they always comand high prices.

 

Comoy's Specimen Carved Head This is a very rare Comoy's carved head of wonderful quality. I have yet to see another! Probably carved just before WW2

Comoy's Specimen An unusual pipe for Comoy's with wonderful straight grain configuration under a light sandblast. Bought by the original owner through Churchill's Ltd in the 1960's I have a GBD Unique Straight Grain carved by Ory Jameson that is almost identical.

Exceptional

I have only seen one example stamped with this designation, but believe there would probably have been others. I feel sure that it would have been reserved for pipes of exceptional quality or rarity.

Comoy's Exceptional This is a quite outstanding pipe and was almost certainly carved by Horace (Ory) Jameson the famous carver who did most of his work for GBD but also produced pipes for Comoy’s in the early 1960’s.

Comoy's Olympic This was probably made to commemorate the 1948 Olympics which were held in England in that year.

Other named shapes. 

There were of course many other names used by Comoy's in the pre Cadogan era, over 400 names are recorded in "Who Made That Pipe" by Herb Wiczak & Tom Colwell. Most of these were given to pipes made for other companies or various seconds lines. In these cases they were not also stamped Comoy's. I have concentrated on, and only list those that I believe were grades or a special production. 

 A summary to help date a Comoy’s pipe. 

Unlike Dunhill who stamped a different number for each year of manufacture on all their pipes, we are not so fortunate with Comoy. Dating the Comoy pipe therefore is far more difficult, however there are certain changes of nomenclature that occurred over the long history that assist in arriving at approximate time scales. These changes include: -

• The way that the Comoy name was stamped on the left side of the pipe. 
• The way that the “Country of origin” stamps appeared.
•  The introduction of and different ways that the inlaid C was formed on the stem.
• The name of the pipe and when these names were introduced and or discontinued.

It should also be remembered that as the stamps used for stamping pipes get worn, new ones would have been ordered and used alongside the old ones and there could therefore be overlapping of a different style.

In England from the end of the 13th Century it was required by law to mark silver with an assay mark or “Touch”. In 1478 the date letter was introduced which leads to the three marks we see today. First a lion passant to indicate that it is silver, followed by a mark to show which assay area, for instance a leopards head for London and finally a letter for the year. I have in my collection nineteen pipes with hallmarked silver bands which provide a reasonably accurate date for that particular pipe and therefore a guide for when other nomenclature was used. I use the words “reasonably accurate” because there is always the possibility that the silver bands may have been ordered in by the factory in batches and therefore could have been used up over several months and be a year out of date by the time they were applied to the pipe.

Jacques Cole kindly let me copy his beautifully illustrated catalogue dated 1909 which is almost certainly the first one produced by Comoy. It illustrates 96 different styles of pipes all with silver bands dated 1909. All except 2 are Prima’s and have the long tail, on the “Comoy’s” stamp. The other 2 do not have a tail and are just stamped London Made. I will list below just some of the dated pipes in my collection to illustrate the different nomenclature to be found.

Comoy’s Name

1900 to about 1919. Normally the Comoy’s name will be found in a joined flowing script canted forward, with a long tail running backwards from under the “S” to below the “C”. There are however 2 pipes in the 1909 catalogue where Comoy’s does not have a tail at all. This pipe is dated 1915 and has an amber bit with screw tenon and the long tail.

From about 1917 to the end of the 1930’s the slightly fancy “Comoy’s” can be found stamped in a curve, in upper case script with serifs, apostrophe before the “S” and the “C” larger than the other letters.  Pipes can also be found with the name stamped across the top of the stem as apposed to along the side.

During the 1940’s not many pipes were made, but just after WW11, in 1945 or slightly later the “Comoy’s” stamp was changed from the curve to a straight line.

From the 1950’s, the Comoy’s stamp can be found in three variants.
1. A simple block letter style without serifs but with the C larger than the other letters and the apostrophe before the “s”.
2. A return to the slightly more fancy block letters with serifs and the apostrophe. My 1959/60 gold banded example falls into this category.
3.  A simple block letter style without serifs and without the apostrophe and with the “C” the same size as the rest of the letters. I don’t think that this stamp was used for very long.

Comoy’s were the first London pipe maker to use this phrase and it is the earliest stamp to be used. It can be found from 1902 or perhaps earlier and into the 1920’s . I have not yet seen it on any pipe after 1916. It can also appear as London over Made as below.

This would seem to be the next stamp to be used. London is in a curve and Made is underneath curving the other way. It would seem to be used from the mid 1920's until about 1930

This is stamped in a circle with “Made” at the top, “in” in the middle and “England” forming the bottom of the circle. I call this the rugby ball shape or (R/B) for short. I have seen this stamp on a Cecil dated as early as 1919, the Old Bruyere illustrated below and then on pipes from the 1930’s

"Made in England" (In Circle)

This stamp is basically the same, but it forms a circle and I call it the football shape or F/B for short. I believe it appears early in the 1930's and continues up until World War 2.

This is again stamped in a circle with “Made” at the top, “In” in the middle and “London” at the bottom with “England in a straight line beneath the F/B. I believe this stamp was first used in the export drive in the early 1950’s and I have not seen any pre WW11 Comoy’s stamped in this way.

I have a cased pair of early 1920’s “Par Excellence” where the “C” is on top of the mouthpiece.

Pipe Shape Numbering

Comoy's pipes were given shape numbers in the 1909 catalogue and also names for each shape, but it would seem that these numbers were NOT stamped on the pipes until sometime in the 1920's. The earliest hallmarked pipe that I have with a shape number is 1925. The shape numbers are all 3 digits until after the Cadogan acquisition of Comoy's when some shapes were introduced with 4 digit numbers. The first catalogue that I have showing these is 1979 with the Designer range. No shapes were mentioned in the 1975 catalogue and I do not have catalogues for 1976, 77 or 78, so they may have been introduced earlier. On pre Cadogan pipes additional letters can be found after the three numbers:

• M on Meerschaum lined pipes.
• P on Panel shaped bowls. ( This may not always be the case as I have now seen a photograph of a non panel Shape 309 with a P)
• C on some shapes with curved bits. This does not seem to be universal for all curved bits and it would appear to be mainly on Princes and Bulldogs.
• F believed to indicate a "Fishtail" bit.
  At the Chicago show in 2007 I acquired an early 1930's Virgin Briar with the shape number 206F and it has a fishtail bit exactly like the Dunhill F/T that was not introduced until 1950.

Finish

Every Comoy from the pre Cadogan era was finished to the very highest standard. Jacques Cole confirms that among other factors contributing to this quality was that every mouth piece was hand scraped to achieve the notable slim bit and that mouth pieces had to be an exact fit no matter which way around they were placed in the bowl. Perhaps this was a dig at Dunhill who placed a white dot on the top of the mouthpiece to show which way up it should be! All details had to be right and quality control was paramount and this ensured that Comoy's were amongst the very best London pipe makers.

There is no doubt that the finish on all Comoy’s pipes was excellent, however one of the factors that make the Comoy pipe so attractive and collectable is the stained finish that highlights the grain figuring. This was introduced with the Blue Riband so successfully and also in the Guildhall series. This accentuation of the grain has more recently been copied by the Danish pipe makers to great effect.

Derek Green  
Updated with illustrations January 2007

Updated February 2008

Further information has been gratefully received from : 
Jerry Heifferon, Jesper Klith, Regis McCafferty, Bob Herbert and other collectors.

References

Jacques Cole – The Pipe Makers (1850 – 1994)
Richard Hacker – Rare Smoke and The Ultimate Pipebook
Greg Pease – Article on the internet.
Comoy’s – Various Catalogues, sales leaflets and old letters.

This history appeared as an article in the December 2006 issue of  "The Pipe Collector", the newsletter of the North American Society of Pipe Collectors. Since then I have added further to my knowledge and been able to correct and add to it. I have also been able to illustrate it with photographs. I am hopeful that readers will be able to supply me with further information or indeed correct any information that I have got wrong. It will therefore be permanantly "Under Construction" 

Top of Page

SiteWizard.co.uk Web Site Design Company : eCommerce Software Shopping Cart Solutions