by Tom Licence | Jun 23, 2016
Ceramic caviare pot, with printed lettering: ‘Finest Astrachan Caviare, imported by Fortnum & Mason Ltd’, etc. A Russian delicacy consumed at Holme Hale Hall, Norfolk.
by Tom Licence | Jun 23, 2016
Lead alloy toy wheel, painted red.
by Tom Licence | Apr 24, 2016
Transfer-printed pot lid, showing a single angry bear: ‘Genuine Russian Bear’s Grease – For Beautifying and Nourishing the Hair’ Exact provenance uncertain – north of England, 1880s site
by Tom Licence | Apr 24, 2016
Pot lid with printed design of bears against a mountainous backdrop: ‘Genuine Russian Bears’ Grease – for Increasing the Growth of Hair’. From an 1880s tip in Yorkshire.
by Tom Licence | Apr 24, 2016
‘Extractum Carnis “Liebig” – One Pound of this Extract contains thirty Pounds of Beef without fat Bone or tendon. To add to boiling water. C. Van Abbot, original importer, Cavendish Square, London, 2 ounces’. A small white ceramic pot...
by Tom Licence | Apr 24, 2016
Large (4 shillings) size pot lid for James Atkinson’s Bear’s Grease – a pomade for the hair. Dug from a dump of c. 1885 in Rugby, Warwickshire. Genuine bear’s grease was imported from Russia.
by Tom Licence | Apr 24, 2016
Batty’s Nabob Pickle (showing a nabob, seated, consuming pickle from a bottle): ‘only genuine when secured with Bett’s capsule’ (referring to a patent closure device). Late VIctorian. Provenance uncertain (Yorkshire).
by Tom Licence | Mar 10, 2016
Green glass bottle (base only), embossed on the base ‘Hunyadi Janos, Saxlehners Bitterquelle’, for mineral water. It was regarded as a cure for constipation. This was imported and consumed at Kirton Rectory in the 1900s.
by Tom Licence | Mar 3, 2016
Jars for Keiller’s Dundee Marmalade and John Moir’s Red Currant Jam. Found amid unscavenged domestic waste, 1890s.
by Tom Licence | Mar 3, 2016
Base of a cylindrical cream pot from an unidentified dairy in Hastings. Above ‘Hastings’ is the word ‘Ro???’ Can anyone identify the dairy? Found amid ash and domestic refuse of the 1890s at the King’s Lynn ash yard, this had travelled...
by Tom Licence | Feb 26, 2016
‘Irish’ clay pipe bowl, made of kaolin, embossed with a harp.
by Tom Licence | Apr 3, 2015
Tiny white ceramic specimen vase, painted with red floral decoration, made for the Chinese export market. This was one of three oriental vases discarded after the death of Mary Everett in 1908, probably because her daughters did not share her tastes. Other crockery...
by Tom Licence | Apr 3, 2015
White ceramic oriental vase with blue and white painted decoration, discarded with two others after the death of Mary Everett in 1908.
by Tom Licence | Apr 3, 2015
Imported oriental white ceramic flower vase, with transfer-printed design in blue, showing human figures and animals. This was one of at least three small imported oriental vases discarded, in 1908, after the death of Mary Everett, along with old and worn crockery....
by Tom Licence | Mar 31, 2015
Clear glass Parisian perfume bottle, which contained Cologne. Embossed ‘Rue de la Cloche/ No. 4777A, Cologne’. Two were discovered among the rubbish discarded after the death of Mary Everett in 1908 (including a number of perfume and medicine bottles)....
by Tom Licence | Jan 31, 2015
Transfer-printed cup, with pink, blue and gold colouring, showing the Clarkson Monument and General Post Office, Wisbech. Chipped but intact when discarded in Essex.
by Tom Licence | Jan 31, 2015
Dark olive-green glass Dutch gin bottle (typical design). These were packed into cases and imported. Excavated amid rubbish from the 1880s at Great Wakering. Discarded in London, dumped in Essex.
by Tom Licence | Jan 17, 2015
Copper alloy gilt brooch, showing Vishnu reclining on the serpent Ananta. The pin is missing. Victorian London had a small Hindu population.
by Tom Licence | Jan 17, 2015
Ceramic disc, black transfer on white, bearing the name of the French perfumier Maison Dorin. This disc formed a hard base on which rouge and powder were compressed. Once the make-up had been used up, it was discarded. Made in Paris and shipped to England, it was sold...
by Tom Licence | Jan 11, 2015
Part of a cylindrical white ceramic pot with a purple transfer. The most common sort is printed ‘Pure/ Clotted Cream/ From/ Devonshi[re]/ [D]aily’. (The ‘re’ of Devonshire and most of ‘Daily’ are visible on this fragment.) Others...