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. |
Mudlarking Find: Probably German Stoneware Mineral Water Bottle ca. 1800 |
Mudlarking Finds: Pins 14th - 17th Century. |
Mudlarking Finds: Metropolitan Slipware probably 17th - 18th Century |
Surrey/Hampshire border ware 1580-1800 (Museum of London) |
Mudlarking Find. Hand painted pottery shard. |
I have some pins like that from a Thames mudlark - I am a teacher and I use them in my classroom, and he was kind enough to send me a whole bunch. One of mine is brightly gold colored - obviously handmade and in all other respects it looks just like yours, but gilded. Is this unusual? Might it have been a later pin? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA lot of the pins on the Thames are brass, but not gilded, so it is unusual, but can't caste any more light on it I'm afraid. Julia
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