UnderMiner
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- Jul 27, 2014
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I have been excavating the site of a late 19th/early 20th century clandestine opium den on and off for the past two years now and thought I would share some of the finds.
Here are four artifacts directly linked to opium smoking in the late 19th and early 20th century from an illegal (mostly likely) upscale (historically rich neghborhood) opium den that operated within the confines of NYC. On the far left is a ceramic opium pipe bowl, this would be attached to the pipe and a bead of opium placed on it before smoking. Next are two opium vials, one still with original cork (and possibly some oily residue), and on right is a most precious artifact - a silver opium pipe saddle - the part of an opium pipe that connects the bowl to the pipe as depicted here:
This saddle likely belonged to an opium pipe thay would had an appearance similar to this:
In this image you can see the top of the bowl, notice the hole in the center where the smoke would have been inhaled and note the burn marks on the ceramic where the bowl was passed over a flame likely hundred of times.
And here is the inside of the silver saddle, note the Chinese character, if anyone can translate it would be immensely appreciated as I have tried countless times:
And here are the Chinese markings on the ceramic bowl:
These are not all the artifacts, there are many dozens of opium vials as well as broken Chinese porcelains likely for tea ceremonies, but all broken. Hope you enjoyed this short presentation and if you want to know more/see more artifacts from the opium den just let me know.
Here are four artifacts directly linked to opium smoking in the late 19th and early 20th century from an illegal (mostly likely) upscale (historically rich neghborhood) opium den that operated within the confines of NYC. On the far left is a ceramic opium pipe bowl, this would be attached to the pipe and a bead of opium placed on it before smoking. Next are two opium vials, one still with original cork (and possibly some oily residue), and on right is a most precious artifact - a silver opium pipe saddle - the part of an opium pipe that connects the bowl to the pipe as depicted here:
This saddle likely belonged to an opium pipe thay would had an appearance similar to this:
In this image you can see the top of the bowl, notice the hole in the center where the smoke would have been inhaled and note the burn marks on the ceramic where the bowl was passed over a flame likely hundred of times.
And here is the inside of the silver saddle, note the Chinese character, if anyone can translate it would be immensely appreciated as I have tried countless times:
And here are the Chinese markings on the ceramic bowl:
These are not all the artifacts, there are many dozens of opium vials as well as broken Chinese porcelains likely for tea ceremonies, but all broken. Hope you enjoyed this short presentation and if you want to know more/see more artifacts from the opium den just let me know.
