SOLD – This set came to me about a year and a half ago and has been my personal set for the past few months. They came to me as hallmarked 1926 Hendersons; however, this is not what they were at all. They were clearly Lawries, and while the pipes certainly had every indication of being from the 1920s — including the superb tone — the silver was neither PH hallmarked nor 1926. Only the slides are hallmarked, and as far as I can tell from the date stamp in the hallmark, the silver slides are from 1983. The rest of the silver may have been installed at the same time, but this is not certain.

The pipes are blackwood and the projecting mounts are new imitation ivory installed some months ago to replace ivory which was aging badly. Why did I play these pipes as my own set for some months? Because the tone was brilliant: a big drone sound that blended beautifully with the chanter. I couldn’t resist making them mine for a while.

The set was stripped and refinished during its initial refurbishment. All evidence points to this being a brilliant early Lawrie set, with silver added later.