Quick sift - pottery, buttons and lead pencil

[OutdoorAdv]

At the very last minute I decided to get out for a couple hours after work yesterday. I opened up a new section to sift and things were looking mediocre with a couple buttons and various pieces of broken pottery. It was looking like this section would be the typical one where nothing too great turned up... until.... I was squaring off the walls and doing one last iron removal sweep before getting ready to begin sifting the dirt back in. I squared off one corner and a handful of larger shards appeared. I slowed down and carefully began to excavate the corner and realized that most of two different bowls were down there. All pieces were packed tight and this rarely happens. Typically I find lots of shards but they are all small and only a few times have I found a pocket where large portions are buried together.

What came out of the pocket was large portions of two bowls that I reconstructed. The hand painted blue flower bowl belongs a set that I have been finding many pieces to throughout the last year. I have some parts to matching mugs that must have been purchased as a set at the same time as this bowl. Those blue shards are easily my favorite design that I have pulled from this area, so I was thrilled to get most of a bowl from the set.



After washing and drying the shards, it took a few hours to glue all the pieces back together.



Got a few buttons, including a nice flower button and a lead pencil. There is part of a pewter spoon and a piece of a tombac shoe buckle frame too. The non-ferrous rose heads and other items are in the tumbler now. **The other blue flower shards, above the buttons, belong to a different mug from the same set that was in the same section as the bowl**



Here is part of a mug that I found last year. This would have belonged to the same set that the bowl was from. I have many large boxes of shards with more pieces to the blue flower pottery, so this winter I will sort them and see if I cant match any pieces up and do some more reconstructions.



These were the shards from the pocket yesterday. I typically just toss all the shards from a section into my pouch, but when I get into an area where its evident that I'm finding shards belonging to the same piece of pottery, I will separate them to make the reconstruction easier.



I was excited as I rinsed them off as I saw that many of the pieces matched.



Sorting and drying in preparation to reconstruct them.

 

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[against the wind]

Incredible amount of work.
I may have a few tubs of coins to clean and deposit during the winter. I'll also do some research and send out a couple of dozen emails. It looks to me like you have a full time job.
Congrats on your success thus far. I admire your patience and dedication.

 

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[OutdoorAdv]

Nice digs Brad. You know how to get it done. I don't care what the Mrs says, those shards are cool brother!

3 weeks

Thanks man! It'd been a while since I found some pottery worth gluing back together. I jokingly showed her the pile of muddy shards and told her "I'm going to eat out of this bowl"... she laughed! I'll need to borrow one of Abe's spoons when I find the rest of these bowls.

Outdoor--I love your posts and the awesome reconstruction work you do with the pottery! Thanks so much for sharing. Just amazing! -Lisa

Thank you Lisa! If you guys are finding some shards at your mass property, be sure to hang on to them... might be able to put something back together.

Incredible amount of work.
I may have a few tubs of coins to clean and deposit during the winter. I'll also do some research and send out a couple of dozen emails. It looks to me like you have a full time job.
Congrats on your success thus far. I admire your patience and dedication.

Thanks against the wind! It doesn't seem like work because its so much fun, but the evening after sifting I sure realize how exhausting it is. Here is about 75% of the shards I have slowly collected from this area. I have one other box full, but its not easily accessible for a photo... the dollar is for size reference! This winter the real work will begin when I will sort them all and see if I cant put anything together. There are many pieces to the blue flower set in there, but I don't know if any will match. Its like the worlds most insane puzzle.... if someone took a few pieces from 50 puzzle bozes, then mixed them all up into a large pile, that would be what this is.

 

[against the wind]

Thanks man! It'd been a while since I found some pottery worth gluing back together. I jokingly showed her the pile of muddy shards and told her "I'm going to eat out of this bowl"... she laughed! I'll need to borrow one of Abe's spoons when I find the rest of these bowls.



Thank you Lisa! If you guys are finding some shards at your mass property, be sure to hang on to them... might be able to put something back together.



Thanks against the wind! It doesn't seem like work because its so much fun, but the evening after sifting I sure realize how exhausting it is. Here is about 75% of the shards I have slowly collected from this area. I have one other box full, but its not easily accessible for a photo... the dollar is for size reference! This winter the real work will begin when I will sort them all and see if I cant put anything together. There are many pieces to the blue flower set in there, but I don't know if any will match. Its like the worlds most insane puzzle.... if someone took a few pieces from 50 puzzle bozes, then mixed them all up into a large pile, that would be what this is.

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Wow,, I understand that it is a Labor of Love or we wouldn't even THINK about doing it.
I would probably give up once I realized that there are pieces in there with the same design, but from 4 different cups or bowls.
I really respect your dedication.