Category: Bredevoort Fortress

“We visited the factory of the firm Peters & Gans in Aalten, manufacturer of horn, imitation horn, and wooden pipes, and of the typical German pipes with many horn decorations, of walking sticks and… of snuffboxes! Beautiful snuffboxes, manufactured entirely from horn, which find a market among the mining population of Sweden and Germany.

This firm, which saw its products awarded a gold medal as early as 1897, manufactures a great variety of smoking articles, namely the wooden pipes used by everyone, imitation horn pipes, cigar and cigarette holders, while this factory focuses particularly on the large-scale manufacture of mouthpieces for pipes, among others for the Gouda “clay” pipes (doorrookkoppen). These mouthpieces are made of horn or imitation horn, often in connection with so-called Weichsel wood or scented wood, which enhances the ‘taste’ of the smoking.

The typical long German pipe is a ‘specialité de la maison’ of this factory!

As is evident from one of the accompanying photos, such a pipe consists of a concatenation of artfully crafted horn components; the workmen who make these artfully crafted pipe specimens are true sculptors in the horn trade! Americans, in particular, enjoy buying these pipes, which they take with them as a memento of Holland… to then tell their compatriots that all of Holland smokes from these remarkable pipes! The firm Peters & Gans wishes it were true!

It is, however, a pipe from which one ought to smoke in the entourage of an old farmhouse or amidst a cosy furnishing from several decades ago, preferably wearing a black suit and a skullcap (calotje)! It is precisely this distinct character of this old-fashioned pipe that is its charm at the same time; it is worth the effort to hang it as an ornament on a pipe rack and to smoke from it for curiosity’s sake from time to time. These ‘German pipes’ find their market in Holland and furthermore, as we already noted, go much to America and also to Germany. They are, therefore, actually Dutch ‘German’ pipes.

The horn components of these pipes are manufactured on the lathe. Besides pipes and snuffboxes, the firm Peters & Gans is a supplier of walking sticks, in which they deal wholesale; they specialise in the cheap and middle-range, make mountain sticks for the Valkenburg tourists, rattan sticks for the cattle markets, modern gentlemen’s walking sticks, with horn or imitation horn knobs or decorations.

A widely used material nowadays, as the partner assured us, is the Tahiti rattan from the Dutch East Indies, a light and strong stick that is very flexible. The wooden sticks mostly come from Central Europe; they generally already have the hook shape roughly applied, after which the sticks are first left to become bone-dry and subsequently shipped to our country. Because they then already somewhat resemble walking sticks, the tax authorities charge them at the border with 8% import duty, which the firm Peters & Gans finds a very incorrect practice, as here the raw material for the Dutch industry is being taxed!”

“Today 40 years ago, 1 May 1896, the deed of incorporation of the firm Peters & Gans was passed here. The founding of this firm was purely a result of local conditions. The elders among our readers will surely still remember that in the eighteen-fifties, the horn industry was founded here locally by Mr B. Vaags. He then processed the dense part of the horns; the open part was actually waste for pipe fabrication. This waste was later made productive by Mr A. ten Dam by applying it to the manufacture of combs. This comb fabrication took such a flight that soon the roles were reversed (de bordjes werden verhangen), and the pipe manufacturers then bought the tips from the comb factory.

The father of the current eldest founding partner, Mr Joh.s Peters, was one of the first servants of B. Vaags; he began his own business on the Hoogestraat, later in the premises on the corner of the Markt. Some 20 workmen found employment here then. In 1896, Mr Peters ceased his business. His son, Mr Joh.s Peters, then founded the business, which through association with Mr M. Gans, received the company name Peters & Gans.

This business was run on a much more modern footing. In place of the primitive treadle movement came the motor-driven power. In 1900, Mr Gans retired from the firm. On 27 May 1917, the factory on the Gasthuisstraat was totally destroyed by fire and not rebuilt, but already in June, the business was continued in the former furniture factory of Mr Vreede, which through addition and renovation had been adapted to the requirements and needs of the business.

Primarily pipes were manufactured; the raw materials were mainly the pieces of the horns unusable at the comb factory. Alongside pipes, walking sticks were manufactured; the market area for both products was, until the war, located mainly across the border.

Now, however, the roles are reversed and the company imports more than the export amounts to; the own production has had to be reduced to a minimum. A great contrast with the mobilisation years when demand exceeded production. The genuine pipe turning as it happened in the past was a beautiful, yet very difficult trade and required, besides dexterity, taste and initiative.

Many have found a sphere of work in the factory of the firm during these 40 years. One of the oldest workmen, who has been employed there almost since the founding, is Mr G. Eppink.

The tobacco pipe is the main article that the business is currently pushing; the smokers will likely not be strangers to the well-known briar ‘Pega’ pipes. The wooden ‘bowls’ are imported roughly; the ‘tips’ or mouthpieces are of own manufacture. Alongside the briar pipes, the so-called German pipes are still manufactured, which in certain regions still find a market, and the firm Peters & Gans is in its district actually the only one that can meet the demand for this article.

Mr Joh.s Peters, who has taken his two sons into the firm, is despite his 69 years still regularly active for the flourishing of his business with a vitality that many a younger man will envy him.

Today is a day of celebration for the partners and staff; undoubtedly the outing to Emmerich will be enjoyed, and the ups and downs of the business will surely pass in review. We gladly congratulate the partners on this anniversary and link to it the wish that their business may enjoy a steady flourishing.”

“The small pipe factory of the firm Peters and Gans still exists and pipes are still being manufactured, yet in the main, this business has nonetheless switched over to wholesaling, including in all kinds of related smoking articles.”