Serial Number: P0168
Status: Display
Description:
Gambier Paris, Clay Vintage Pipe
approximately 8 cm, in good condition, straight
Finish.
RAF Brussels Trip
08-10 March 2017
Jean was an artist made famous by his clay pipes.
Based in Givet, in the Ardenas, the Gambier Factory
was founded in 1780. In 1867, it had 660 workers
and at one stage, producing more than 100,000
pipes per day. The company began by reproducing
long Dutch pipes, but came to fame in 1817, under
the direction of the son’s founder, Joseph Gambier,
it became the first factory to make bowls depicting
personalities of the time. Examples includes Victor
Hugo, Napoleon, and Gambetta. Its 1894 catalog
included over 1600 models, with Jacob being the
most popular, endlessly reproduced as the Great
Jacob, or the Good Jacob.
Production fell into decline after 1870, and closure
followed in 1926. They were succeeded by the
Vve Hasslauer Factory.
One of Gambier famous publicists was the French
poet, Arthur Rimbaud, who smoked the cheapest
pipes on the market.
