Friday 23 August 2013

Finds from last month's midnight mudlark

Another evening mudlark on a balmy summer's evening after work. Met up again with London Mudlark and picnicked overlooking the Thames as we waited for the tide to go out. It's strange being down there on a weekday evening. The noise of city workers drinking interrupted our expected peace. As usual very impressed with London Mudlark's finds which you can find on her site here. 

I must say I didn't have the concentration or perseverance on this trip. At times I was certainly more interested in savouring the views and cracking open the bottle of beer I'd brought along. 

As the sun was setting we were surprised to be joined by a whole determined gang of no messing mudlarkers. They were drawn by the lowest tide of the year, we hadn't realised it was going to be so low. Loads of pipes were suddenly exposed, so I scooped up several with long stems. According to my pipe identification chart most of these are Georgian from around 1770, which is incredible as they look spanking new. You can find a previous post on clay pipes here.

Mudlarking Finds. Clay Pipes from around 1770s. 
A large section of what I presume is a German stoneware mineral water bottle, probably from the 19th Century. 
Mudlarking Find: Probably German Stoneware Mineral Water Bottle ca. 1800
I picked up some usual pins. The first is 4.5cam long and has an unusually large head and unpointy end, the others are thicker than the average Thames pin.  A previous post on pins can be found  here.
Mudlarking Finds: Pins 14th - 17th Century. 
A particularly large section of metropolitan slipware and a star design spotted by London Mudlark. A previous post on slipware can be found here.

Mudlarking Finds: Metropolitan Slipware probably 17th - 18th Century 
Surrey/Hampshire border ware 1580-1800 (Museum of London) 
Two interesting large pottery shards both painted over the glaze, I think this is called enamel.  The first I suspect is Georgian, the second with back and front shots is porcelain and possibly Japanese. I can't find anything similar on the net. 

Mudlarking Find. Hand painted pottery shard.