Lee Star Grades had three eras.
From 1946 to about 1950 they had seven point inlaid jeweler’s gold stars.
From 1950 until sometime unknown, they had five pointed inlaid jeweler’s gold stars, and I think the second era pipes are slightly, maybe better than the first.
All first and second era Lees I’ve seen have a hidden screw stem, hard rubber stems, and while a flashy grained Lee is a rarity so is one with lots of fills.
You want first 7 point star or second 5 point star era Lees. They were best.
Then came third era Lee Star Grades with stamped stars and fake gold inlays. Early on the pipes are the same quality just the fake gold rubs off quickly leaving black stamped stars.
Fake gold was a cost cutting measure. Fake gold is not as expensive as real low carat jeweler’s gold hammered and inlaid into the stars.
The very last Lees were probably push stemmed stamped stars. They kept the removable stinger, but went over to a conventional push tenon into a wooden mortise. Many push stem Lees are still excellent quality pipes.
But near the end, some Lee Star Grades shipped with low quality Kaywoodie type mortises, a cheaper nylon type stem, and Lee screw tenons. They are Frankenlees, maybe parts clean up using Briarlee mortises, screw stems and nylon stems. And they had tons of fills.
Here’s the worst Lee Star Grade I own. It’s also the largest Lee pipe I own and a wonderful smoker and beautiful pipe at arm’s length.
Lee never made junk. This is genuine Lee oil cured briar.
Note this Lee is NOT stamped
PIPE BY Lee
LIMITED EDITION
and on the other side there is no
AN AUTHENTIC IMPORTED BRIAR
It was an authentic imported briar, but even Lee had a tiny trace of humility to not call it a limited edition.
From 1946 to about 1950 they had seven point inlaid jeweler’s gold stars.
From 1950 until sometime unknown, they had five pointed inlaid jeweler’s gold stars, and I think the second era pipes are slightly, maybe better than the first.
All first and second era Lees I’ve seen have a hidden screw stem, hard rubber stems, and while a flashy grained Lee is a rarity so is one with lots of fills.
You want first 7 point star or second 5 point star era Lees. They were best.
Then came third era Lee Star Grades with stamped stars and fake gold inlays. Early on the pipes are the same quality just the fake gold rubs off quickly leaving black stamped stars.
Fake gold was a cost cutting measure. Fake gold is not as expensive as real low carat jeweler’s gold hammered and inlaid into the stars.
The very last Lees were probably push stemmed stamped stars. They kept the removable stinger, but went over to a conventional push tenon into a wooden mortise. Many push stem Lees are still excellent quality pipes.
But near the end, some Lee Star Grades shipped with low quality Kaywoodie type mortises, a cheaper nylon type stem, and Lee screw tenons. They are Frankenlees, maybe parts clean up using Briarlee mortises, screw stems and nylon stems. And they had tons of fills.
Here’s the worst Lee Star Grade I own. It’s also the largest Lee pipe I own and a wonderful smoker and beautiful pipe at arm’s length.
Lee never made junk. This is genuine Lee oil cured briar.
Note this Lee is NOT stamped
PIPE BY Lee
LIMITED EDITION
and on the other side there is no
AN AUTHENTIC IMPORTED BRIAR
It was an authentic imported briar, but even Lee had a tiny trace of humility to not call it a limited edition.