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Mastro De Paja was formed around 1972 by a group of businessmen intent on ressurecting the Italian pipe market. They chose a little-known craftsman by the name of Giancarlo Guidi to start pipe production. Perhaps that name sounds familiar, and it should: Giancarlo later left Mastro to form his own company, Ser Jacopo. But it all started with Mastro De Paja. In fact many people consider Mastro to be the forerunner of the Pesaro school of pipe design, which spawned such well-known brands as Il Ceppo, Don Carlos, Rinaldo, and Le Nuvole - all of them got their start at Mastro De Paja and helped shape the company into the design juggernaut it became by the 1990s.
This particular piece is a near-mint 1B-graded half-bent egg. The pipe has a loose wavy ringblast - not particularly sharp but still deep and interesting - as well as a silver ferrule and fancy cut saddle stem. The rim is smooth and chamfered, and outside of a touch of soft rounding to the nomenclature edges, this pipe is lightly smoked and in overall excellent condition.
Markings read: Mastro de Paja, FATTA A MANO, Pesaro, 1B, (sun stamp). Silver is marked 925 indicating Sterling. The original stem has an inlaid logo Measurements: 5 1/8" long, bowl is just about 2 1/8" wide and just over 2" tall. The pipe weighs 73 grams - quite light considering the amount of wood here. About a Dunhill small group 5 in capacity.
Condition:
9.75 out of 10. Really fantastic condition overall with no darkening on the rim, clean finish with no darkening or handling marks, and nary a mark on the original stem. The only issue is a few areas of the nomenclature where the edges are no longer crisp (it wasn't deep from the factory to begin with), but nothing serious at all. That’s it. All cleaned up and ready to go.
SORRY, THIS PIPE DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR OUR 15 DAY "SMOKE AND RETURN" GUARANTEE FOR SELECT ESTATE PIPES, but CAN be returned, unused, within seven days. For more information, please see our "Return Policy" page.
