Catalogue J.B. Vinche, Brussels

J.B. Vinche - Brussels (Belgium)

Manufacturer’s catalogue of the Belgian firm J.B. Vinche, which was founded in 1864 by Jean Baptiste Vinche. Initially, it was a pipe and tobacco shop on the Rue d’Escalier, where imported pipes and tobacco products were sold. From around 1895, the shop was taken over by his son Victor Vinche, and the manufacture of pipes—particularly meerschaum and calcined meerschaum, produced according to a family recipe—was also started. The catalogue likely dates from the period circa 1900–1940 and contains 64 pages, of which slightly less than half include illustrations of water pipes, meerschaum, and briar tobacco and cigar pipes. In addition, detailed prices are listed for the many hundreds of models and variations.