The London Lounge

A friend of mine is writing an historical novel and wishes to describe a man with a large handle bar moustache, should this be a fine moustache or fine moustaches? I am sure I have heard the plural used for walrus or handle bar styles but a web search has not confirmed this. Does anyone know the history of this term?

Here's a relevant quote from Dickens, from All the Year Round: A Weekly Journal (1859) p. 448:

Thank you Couch! I was sure I had heard the expression a pair of moustaches, now I have proof!