The Pamplin Company’s literature stated, Tomahawk Pipe-Novelty, molded from hand engraved brass die, of finest clay, hard-burned and glazed. An attractive item for carnivals, conventions, fairs, etc. Packed 200 to a box with 5″ reed stems. Price $13.50 per box. This pipe was a regular sales item for festive occasions ([Plate 11]).
[Plate 23] AL. Right Angle. (A surface find). One example. Deep red. Most Pamplin pipes of home manufacture were made by women; however, Miss Wilsie Thornton and Dr. C. G. O’Brien said that a Mr. Rodgers, about 1938, made pipe molds and pipes of unusual form as a hobby. Miss Thornton mentioned two forms that he made—an Indian Head, and a Woman’s Leg, the calf being the bowl and the foot being the base, with the toes at the stem end of base. This pipe is credited locally as being of his manufacture.
[Plate 23] AM. Right Angle. Home. Two examples. Deep glossy red. The decoration on the lower portion of the round and expanding bowl reminds one somewhat of a peach seed; this decoration is separated from the upper part of the plain upper bowl by a rounded band. The base is undecorated, and terminates in a smooth enlarged stem end. The second pipe of this form was a surface find.
If the Factory had Nos. 103 and 117 how many more numbers may they have had?
Impressed identifications, usually put on the base of the pipe with a stamp after the pipe came from the mold, appear on pipes from both the Homes and from the Factory. It is of interest that apparently identifications in raised lettering came only from the Factory.
CONCLUSIONS
In the beginning of this effort we had assumed that the pipes made by the Factory would be quite different, in both form and decoration, from those made in the homes. We have found that this assumption is not valid.
There is a great deal of overlapping, probably due to the Factory, after its arrival in Pamplin, taking over and producing a number of the shapes and designs that had long been in use in the Home Industry. It is also possible that the Home Industry appropriated some of the Factory pipe forms.
In addition, all local evidence agrees that the Thornton Store did not purchase pipes from the Factory; they were getting plenty themselves, taken in trade for their merchandise, and which they would have to dispose of on the wholesale market in competition with the Factory.
There is local evidence that the Factory did, at times, buy locally made pipes in order to fill large orders, as well as when their machinery was not in operation. It is quite unlikely however, after buying and paying for them, that these pipes would be found in the landfill on the Factory grounds, the fill from which the “factory” pipes considered in this study came.