A C Nicol

So who is A. C. Nicol? According to Jeannie Campbell's exceptional book, Highland Bagpipe Makers, Robert Nicol appeared in the classified section of the Glasgow directory from 1872 to 1874 as a bagpipe maker. The brief information regarding Robert and his family made no mention of anyone with the initials "A. C." The bagpipe pictured herein came to light through Thomas Doucet, who was looking after a repair. I followed up through Jack Lee, who confirmed to me that the bagpipe is owned by Mr. Bruce Brown of Vancouver, British Columbia.

I did not get to handle this bagpipe however from the pictures, Glasgow styling is obvious throughout. The short ferrules and the very long tuning pin on the bass bottom section are a bit uncommon.

So, is this the work of Robert Nicol or do we have something else going on here? This is one that we'll hold onto for awhile yet and hope for more information to surface somewhere down the road.