More Low Tide Mudlarking

I always cycle to work and as I said goodbye my husband asked me where my bike was, I’d forgotten to tell him I’d taken the morning off work to go mudlarking. Having been down for the midnight mudlark the night before, ‘your obsessed’ were his parting words, but one more mudlark during these midsummer low tides was not to be missed. 

As I descended the stairs to the Thames I spotted a woman I recognised,  Hilary Bravo who I follow on pinterest, an artist who makes jewelry from her mudlarking finds, which you can see here.  It was lovely to meet her out of that social networking world and a coincidence as I’d arranged to meet Tania Covo, another artist who makes fabulous jewelry from her Thames pottery finds, you can see her work on her facebook page here.

I did a bit of mudlarking London Mudlark style, where the rewards are usually small and metal and find of the day has to be this minuscule spoon at the end of a hollow 4cm silver arm with a hole for attaching at one end. I didn’t have a clue what it was. I assumed it was part of something larger but expert mudlarker Mackie put me right and immediately identified it as a ear scoop the equivalent of today's cotton buds. No idea what period it's from, could be anything from 15th C to the Victorian period. 

Mudlarking Find: Silver Ear Scoop

Mackie said he thought it was silver so I later looked up the treasure act, which requires you to report items (apart from coins) which are 300+ years old and silver, presumably including this little thing if it's that old. I'll certainly be taking this find down to the Museum of London when I finally get a slot. 

Also found a couple of lead cloth seals, these ones are probably 19th Century and a clay marble, only my second. 

Mudlarking Finds: Clay Marble and lead cloth seals 

Ended the morning with lunch at the Tate with the 'Ladies who Mudlark' , after which we pored over and delighted in each others finds. Again struck by how this mudlarking business takes you to places off the beaten track you never would have visited and lovely people you never would have met.