THE DATING OF CLAY-PIPES
25
7. Is the bowl-shape one which you can recognise from the sheet of
outlines in figs. 9 and 10. The bowl became pinched-in below the lip
after 1640 until 1670, when this form was generally abandoned for the
long, more "straight-sided" Dutch type of bowl. Many thousands of
pipes were made specially for the American market between 1690 and
1730, having no 'foot' at all, and decorated with a circular medallion
on either side of the bowl.
DATES GIVEN BY THE BOWL OUTLINE SHOULD BE NOTED IN
CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INDICATIONS, AND NOT USED
ALONE.
8. Now examine the pipe-bowl in detail: has it a foot or spur, and if so,
of what shape?
NO foot or spur—base of bowl smooth and rounded, running into
stem: LAST HALF OF 19th CENTURY OR LATE 17th to EARLY
18th CENTURIES—IN THE LATTER CASE, MAY BE A PIPE MADE
FOR EXPORT TO AMERICA (see note to para. 7).
PROMINENT foot:
(a) "Cylindrical", i.e., circular in section: MAINLY SECOND HALF
OF 17th CENTURY OR 19th CENTURY GENERALLY.
(b) Heavy, "heart-shaped" in section; projecting beyond the width
of the stem and also usually in front of the bowl: BROSELEY,
OF 17th AND 18th CENTURIES.
(c) Foot running off from stem to project only at front of bowl:
VERY EARLY—1580 to 1640—AND CORRESPONDINGLY RARE.
THE PIPES OF 1580 to 1600 HAD UNDERSIDE OF FOOT IN
LINE WITH UNDERSIDE OF STEM; A LITTLE LATER, THE
UNDERSIDE OF FOOT RAN DOWN FROM STEM, THE PRE-
LUDE TO THE PROMINENT FOOT. IN ALL EARLY PIPES,
THE FOOT IS "EMBRYONIC".
(d) Foot formed by a flat base to the bowl, with or without a step
up to the stem: SECOND HALF OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
(e) Spur, more or less conical (thereby distinguished from the
cylindrical 'foot'), projecting downwards or a little back from the
bowl: ANY PERIOD BETWEEN 1650 AND 1850, and OCCASION-
ALLY LATER (not in itself a useful evidence of date).
(f) Foot generally cylindrical, but with toe pointing markedly for-
ward: PROBABLY DUTCH OF LATE 17th CENTURY, BUT
CHECK BOWL SHAPE AND SIZE—SOME PIPES OF LONDON
MAKE IN EARLY 17th CENTURY HAD THE SAME "TOED"
FOOT.
9. Has the bowl any decoration or marks OTHER than initials?
(a) Rouletting in a band just under the lip: 1620-1690 IS THE MOST
LIKELY PERIOD.
(b) An incised plain band just under the lip: 1630-1650 IS THE MOST
LIKELY PERIOD.
(c) A design alluding to grapes, barley, ships, horses and so forth:
MAY BE THE SIGN OF A PUBLIC-HOUSE OR TOBACCONIST
OF LATE 18th OR 19th CENTURIES, OR MAY CONTAIN THE
REBUS OF A MAKER (USUALLY OF 17th CENTURY IN THIS
CASE).