by Tom Licence | Jun 1, 2019
Clay pipe bowls, moulded as a tulip (left) and an acorn (right). Note the smaller acorn which forms the part of the bowl called the ‘spur’ or ‘stud’. This was partly decorative and partly for knocking loose the congealed burnt tobacco. Kaolin...
by Tom Licence | Jun 16, 2018
Clay pipe moulded in the shape of a wicker fishing basket with a herring swimming in through a hole at the base, where the bowl joins the stem.
by Tom Licence | May 14, 2018
Two clay tobacco pipe, one embossed with buffalo horns and RAOB (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes), the other with leaf decoration up the seam and a heart, wreathed, beneath the sun, on one side, and a hand, wreathed, beneath the sun, on the other. The first pipe...
by Tom Licence | May 13, 2018
Two clay tobacco pipes, possibly made by a Yarmouth pipemaker. One is decorated with fish scales going into a wicker basket. The other depicts fish or ripples swimming into a wicker basket (less crisply moulded). Designs of this sort may relate to the Yarmouth herring...
by Tom Licence | Oct 16, 2016
Buffalo clay pipe, with the acronym RAOB (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) and a buffalo’s face, with evidence, in the form of burn-marks, that the pipe has been smoked.
by Tom Licence | Oct 16, 2016
Clay pipe with the acronym RAOB (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes) and a buffalo face embossed.
by Tom Licence | Mar 30, 2016
Clay pipe bowls excavated from a ditch that was filled in 1883.
by Tom Licence | Jan 25, 2015
Ally Sloper was a popular Victorian cartoon character. Here his head adorns a clay pipe, with his nose serving as the spur. The pipe has been in a destructor.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Clay pipes: an animal (top); an Irish pipe with harp and shamrock on other side (middle), and the maker Parnell (bottom).
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Kaolin pipe bowl showing Edward, crowned as Prince of Wales. The other side shows Princess Alexandra. The second bowl (right) bears the symbol of the Crossed Keys. Originally a papal emblem, it attached to many pubs, and this pipe may have been purchased at a pub of...
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
One ribbed, without spur.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Plain clay pipe bowls, one with maker’s initials on spur.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Kaolin pipe bowls, one with a horse’s hoof for a heel/ spur.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Made in Holland, smoked in London, dumped in Essex. Dutch clay pipes are distinctive because the bowl sits at about 45 degrees to the stem. This one is in the shape of a tulip – another Dutch import to Victorian London.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Clay pipe in the shape of a bird’s claw clutching an egg.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Clay pipe in the form of a bird’s claw clutching an egg.
by Tom Licence | Jan 4, 2015
Kaolin pipes, smoked in London and dumped in Essex. Top right, the ‘spur’ or ‘heel’ of the pipe is Ally Sloper, a Victorian cartoon character. Centre left: a basketwork design.