Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Note on Tobacco Pipes

Through all our work, and other's work, we have seen a large number of tobacco pipes at Port Tobacco. No whole pipes, but lots of stem pieces and bowl fragments. Most of the tobacco pipes discovered have been made of white clay. A few have been terracotta pieces. As we clean and catalog the stems, we can get a sense of their date by measuring the bore sizes.

Another way to distinguish when (and where) the pipe was manufactured is through the Maker's Mark on the stem or bottom of the bowl piece. We actually found one of these on a stem piece during the ASM field session this past June. It is most likely a 19th Century piece and it has stamped lettering on it, although it is incomplete. The letters "DAV" are the first three on it. The fourth and last letter on the piece we have is hard to make out. It is either an I, or part of another D.

Going through the research material I have at my disposal, I have not been able to come up with a name of the manufacturer. I will post a picture of it tomorrow as it is saved on my computer at the office and I am at home. Research will continue to try and find it's maker which may include emailing pictures to some of our colleagues in the area.

-Peter

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