Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Clay Smoking Pipe, c. 1870-1880s |
Object Name |
Pipe, Smoking |
Description |
Clay Smoking Pipe, c. 1870-1880s. Clay tobacco pipe bowl and stem without mouthpiece. Narrow rounded bowl, slightly tapered to base. Bowl joins stem at a right angle, with a tiny foot on the bottom. There is a line of small carvings on the side of the stem, but the design is difficult to determine. The pipe appears broken at the stem, based on the irregular surface of the stem end and the abrupt end of the carvings. The inside is blackened and ashy from use. The clay is a light beige or perhaps a discolored white, with spots of further discoloration to brown in dents, pitting, and the crevices of the carving. |
Date |
c. 1870-1880s |
Creator |
Unknown |
Role |
Manufacturer |
Catalog Number |
2019.002.042 |
Dimensions |
H-2 W-1 D-3 inches |
Collection |
3D - Personal Gear |
Inscription Text |
none |
Provenance |
Part of 4+ boxes of archaeological material recovered from the Morgan Oyster Beds on Bear Island in Belmont, CA. |
Notes |
For a history of tobacco use in post-settler America and a discussion of other Bay Area pipe finds, see https://web.sonoma.edu/asc/west_approach/pdfs/06_Tobacco.pdf [05/03/2019]. According to this source, clay pipes are the most common type found in late-19th century deposits in California (p. 241), particularly because they were cheap and fragile and therefore replaced frequently (p. 250). Figure 6.23 offers an almost identical comparable example excavated from another site in the Bay. |
Search Terms |
Archaeolgy Archaeological Material Archaeological Materials Morgan Oyster Company |
Subjects |
Tobacco pipes |
Credit line |
Courtesy of John Shroyer |