This is a big Peterson System 0 featuring a polished nickel shank cup and a P-Lip mouthpiece.

It's a system pipe in a familiar traditional shape produced since the beginning of the 1890s. We cannot identify precisely the date of this specimen's manufacture, because its band is nickel and not hallmarked. We know it was made no later than 1959. It is stamped Made in England, and Peterson's London factory closed in 1962– but a K&P catalog in 1959 announced discontinuation of the use of grading numbers such as the 0 on this pipe. That factory opened in the latter 1930s, but no documented records of pipes known to have been made before or during World War II or even up until 1949 carry any kind of Made in England stamp.

After over 55 years, the pipe here remains in exemplary condition and may have never seen much use. It has no issues whatsoever except for one small, insgnificant ding on the nickel band. Briar surfaces are clean and smooth as new, and the briar grain is very nicely configured and colored– for the System 0 was an elite line, described in a 1937 catalog as "a grade slightly under first quality," with only the De Luxe being a higher grade.

This Peterson pipe is one of a very large number of specimens I acquired to examine, to document and to photograph for the upcoming book on the Irish pipe making company Kapp & Peterson. Watch our listings for many more to come. 
Peterson Pipes: The Story of Kapp & Peterson is scheduled for publication late in 2016. GM