Dunhill question

[wojtekpastuch]

Hi guys! I'd like to ask the Dunhill experts here about a pipe that I have. It is a Dunhill with a strange mouthpiece, one I had never seen before on a Dunhill pipe. I'm asking this question now because there is one exactly like mine (except mine is a 3103 billiard) on sale on ebay right now: http://cgi.ebay.pl/DUNHILL-SHELL-PIPE-4407-F-EX-CONDITION-STUNNING_W0QQitemZ290304295223QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item290304295223&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A4%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
So my question is is that an original Dunhill stem? And what does the "F" stamping mean? I hope it doesn't stand for Fake
Thanks for your help

 

[Dock]

Nothing looks right about that pipe to me! The finish surrounding the staming area looks cheesy and the DUNHILL SHELL all in caps looks wrong! The numbers after it are slanted to the left slightly. That looks wrong too. If I'm not toally misdirected this stamping was only done on earlier pipes. The blast looks really odd too and not what I'm used to seeing on a Dunnie. Then as you said the stem treatement is very odd. Perhaps this was a European (ed. destined for sale in Europe) cause it's not like any Dunnie that I've ever seen! It looks far more Danish than English. The obvious question then is, why would someone replicate this pipe? Doesn't seem worthwile! It's not a commemorative or a magnum or anything worth big bucks! The "F" stands for fishtail, but the stem isn't a fishtal bit!

I'd steer clear of this one if it were me!

Hopefully LL will chime in here. He's our resident Dunhill expert.

 

[wojtekpastuch]

Thanks for your answer Danish Pipe Guy
In case of my pipe I simply assumed the mouthpiece was a replacement but now that I saw another one exactly the same I thought it might be worth asking. As to the stummel I haven't really paid much attention- I'm definitely far from being an expert on Dunhills but I browse ebay a lot and from what I've seen Dunhill is not always consistent in their stamping style... The only thing that I didn't understand was the "F", I always thought fishtail was marked with "F/T" but I guess that's not a rule.
As to the possibility of it being a fake I thought exactly what you said- why make a fake Dunhill that is a regular shape, not rare by any means. It is not even an early piece, it's from the eighties so not very collectable. Also putting a non-Dunhill style mouthpiece on a fake Dunhill would be kind of stupid I guess..
Anyway those are just my not-so-educated guesses 8)

 

[LL]

It's legit, I think. The "F" is for filter, most likely.

Dunhill made all manner of one-offs and special orders over the years. Some of them truly goofy. Don't think that atypical means anything in and of itself.

Regarding ALL fakes, anyone with the carving chops to convincingly fake a "name" collectable pipe would do far better just making them under his own name. It isn't economically reasonable to bother with, and could destroy credibility forever. The well-known Dunhill fakes that started everyone worrying about the possibility weren't even fakes in the truest sense, only technically---they were made with Dunhill components in the Dunhill shop by (ex) Dunhill employees. Meaning they weren't "authorized" more than anything.

 

[dennis569]

Damn! I've been bidding on this one and you all had me worried there for a sec.
It will probably end up out of my price range anyway.