This set came from the estate of Captain John A. MacLellan in Edinburgh and is a lovely but curious instrument. The sticks are ebony, and the profiles are early Lawrie. The two tenors don’t match exactly. They certainly came out of the same shop, but maybe not quite at the same time. It’s possible at some point in its history, a number of the mounts were replaced, resulting in, for example, ferrules that are not typically Lawrie in design.

As has been noted often on this page, celluloid was a brilliant ivory substitute, complete with a grain and the right hue. The projecting mounts on this set appear to be ivory, as do most if not all of the ferrules. It can be difficult to tell, such is the quality of celluloid as an ivory copy.

It is possible that the chanter stock is a replacement, though the mount is original. The blowstick stock is also a replacement, including the mount.

The projecting mounts were made in two pieces: a method used by early pipemakers in order to save the wider pieces of ivory only for the widest part of the projecting mounts. The seams are visible in the photos, though the joins are solid. This implies an earlier rather than a later date. John MacLellan purchased these pipes from the Glen shop in Edinburgh and was told they were circa 1900.

The tone is rock steady, but not quite as full as the typical Lawrie. It is not a quiet sound by any means, but more toward the MacDougall than the Henderson/Lawrie sound. They may have been custom-bored for a client wanting a more refined sound. The pipes are quite distinctive in appearance and very lightweight to carry.

They are free of cracks and needed no refurbishment.