With the complexities of early nomenclature, if the nomenclature on this pipe were not so clean and crips, it might be difficult to date, but fortunately, the condition of the bowl, the rim, the chamber and most of all, the nomenclature make dating this pipe easy. It is shape # 324, and while my Dunhill “Manual for Retail Salesmen” guide (and I had to mug the poor guy to get this) does not list that shape number, the two shape numbers in the 320 range are both Grp. 4 sizes and I think this is a Grp. 4 size, too.
The silver ferrule is stamped “AD” for Alfred Dunhill and we can assume that is original. When we come to the stem, we have a problem. I don’t think it’s original, although it might be. It’s clearly an old vulcanite stem, but it does not have a dot. Further, the bend is wrong. It doesn’t make sense to me. What to do? Well, it’s vulcanite and by an experienced repairman, like Tim West or Silas Walls, it can easily be bent to a proper, Prince-like curve. I could probably do it, too, but I tend to screw up things that require some manual skill. Leave it to someone with practice in this art.
Alternatively, a new stem could be added, and a dot inserted, but it would not, likely, be old vulcanite, with the old type button, and thus look inappropriate for this wonderfully preserved old bowl.