This set is a real beauty: silver and ivory Hendersons thought to date from the early 1920s. They appear to be blackwood and are free of cracks. The only flaw, as you’ll see in the photos, is that one tenor drone projecting mount has a piece broken off the side. Someone with good sense had the break sanded straight and polished, so, while visible, it is not unsightly.

The blowstick is a poly-lined blackwood replica by Dunbar Bagpipes, with an ivory mount that is not original to the set but was taken from the previous cracked blowpipe. The mount matches the rest of the set fairly well; it just doesn’t look quite as old. The finish has been left on the set as is, though the wood, silver and ivory were all polished on a lathe.

The chanter is a Henderson, and the fact that it has an ivory sole would suggest it is not original to the pipes, though it may be.

Like the pipes directly below, this is a first-class old Henderson set. The tone is full and steady, and the pipes went brilliantly with both sets of reeds I tried.