Dunhill Stem - Legit?

[ssjones]

A buddy posted this and asked if I thought this stem was legit. I'm not savy enough on 1930's Dunhills, to not get your opinions here!
The white dot looks good, as does the stem/shank transition, but he is right, the button shape is a little off.
Thoughts?
I told him George and Jessie's opinion would worth the cross-post.

This is a Dunhill 127 /5 Shell double patent dated 1937. The stamping all checks out, except I can't remember what the "/5" is for? However, look at this shank and stem. The shank tapers down a bit and the stem is an odd shape, to me, for a Dunhill stem. That in mind I looked at the usual suspects and the tenon looks like a factory turned tenon, the button looks like a button of that era, the slot looks like a Dunhill slot of that era, the inner tube fits perfectly in them stem and in the bowl, the stem material seems to be very high quality (I haven't soaked/polished it yet) as per Dunhill stems, but that shape... Now, the proportions look funny, but the shaping is high quality. What I mean is the taper is uniform, there's no duckbill as most mass produced replacement stems have, the edges just before the button are perfect. What are your thoughts on this? I appreciate any help you can give and feel free to either tell me to shove off or send me to someone else.

 

[tobakenist]

I would say Legit.

 

[georged]

Yup, it's legit

 

[georged]

For future reference ---

While the absence of a 45-degree sharp-edged transition from tenon to shank face doesn't mean the stem is not an original Dunhill, its presence almost certainly means that it is.

Why? Because it's difficult to duplicate, and no repairmen or pipe owners cared about something so subtle until recently (and even today it's only hardcore collectors).

 

[OzPiper]

For future reference ---

While the absence of a 45-degree sharp-edged transition from tenon to shank face doesn't mean the stem is not an original Dunhill, its presence almost certainly means that it is.

Why? Because it's difficult to duplicate, and no repairmen or pipe owners cared about something so subtle until recently (and even today it's only hardcore collectors).


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Thanks @georged
Learn something new every day
Not that I am, or ever will be, a hardcore Dunhill collector

 

[sablebrush52]

The shaping looks legit to me as well, but the slot looks like someone tried to “improve” it.

 

[ssjones]

For future reference ---

While the absence of a 45-degree sharp-edged transition from tenon to shank face doesn't mean the stem is not an original Dunhill, its presence almost certainly means that it is.

Why? Because it's difficult to duplicate, and no repairmen or pipe owners cared about something so subtle until recently (and even today it's only hardcore collectors).

The tenon transition was always my "tell", but thanks for clarifying that it is not necessarily a dis-qualifier.

 

[georged]

The tenon transition was always my "tell", but thanks for clarifying that it is not necessarily a dis-qualifier.

I worded it the way I did because Dunhill phased out the 45-degree transition by the 1980's, but there's no hard date it went "round".

 

[ssjones]

I worded it the way I did because Dunhill phased out the 45-degree transition by the 1980's, but there's no hard date it went "round".

This is the kind of stuff they just aren't teaching in school!

 

[doctorbob]

I also have a 1940 shell that has a wasp-y waist and is original, so they were found that kind of shaping at that time.