pipe bowl letters decipher please.....

villagenut

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Found several of this same pipe bowl, but rather may be from a few separate broken bowls....Se a few letters R L S and maybe an O. It seems that S may be the last letter if I am deciphering it all correctly. Shame to find so many S pieces and not enough to make out the whole word. Serif letters may indicate age but what could the word be....can I buy a vowel..lol Any ideas?

20210404_194707.jpg 20210404_194730.jpg
 

ANTIQUARIAN

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I'm thinking the first thing you should do is try to determine when your pipe fragments date from. :icon_scratch:
This might then lead you to a similar design
and to a possible maker.

To me, all these look like are old Scrabble tiles. :laughing7:
Dave
 

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villagenut

villagenut

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I'm thinking the first thing you should do is try to determine when your pipe fragments date from. :icon_scratch:
This might then lead you to a similar design
and to a possible maker.

To me, all these look like are old Scrabble tiles. :laughing7:
Dave

The site dates from 1840 to 1880. Defintly pipe bowl fragments.
 

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Mud Hut

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It wasn't uncommon for tobacco producers and sellers to advertise their products in that fashion.
 

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xaos

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So none of the pieces fit together or are close?

That is a thick pipe bowl....you sure on this?

I dont see any ref to the size or thickness with a scale or other measurement...

Please provide a scale reference, but also, you can determine the radius of the circle from the sections, that will tell how big this was.. looking at the images provided, the diameter looks far too large for a clay pipe....if you proved a scaled top version with radius, that would help...

There is little slope to the sides to form a curved pipe bowl, and the thickness seems like this was far larger than a pipe bowl?
Images of the other side, it it glazed or coated?

claypipes.jpg claypi3.jpg s-l300.jpg
 

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villagenut

villagenut

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It wasn't uncommon for tobacco producers and sellers to advertise their products in that fashion.

My guess as well, but was just wondering if anyone recognized it. I know there were kazillion designs made so It may not be recognizable. Thanks MH
 

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ANTIQUARIAN

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Your fragments are definitely letters to words around the top of the bowls. :thumbsup:
I find a lot of stems, but I've never found a complete bowl in the farm fields.

Here's a fragment I found yesterday, thankfully there's enough information here for me to figure out what this is.

Queen Victoria's 50th Jubilee Commemoration.
Dave
 

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Red-Coat

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Your fragments are definitely letters to words around the top of the bowls. :thumbsup:
I find a lot of stems, but I've never found a complete bowl in the farm fields.

Here's a fragment I found yesterday, thankfully there's enough information here for me to figure out what this is.

Queen Victoria's 50th Jubilee Commemoration.
Dave

Cool piece of history Dave... but this was for Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 60 years. She came to the throne in 1837.

I don't have any doubt that the OP's pieces are from pipe bowls, but tracking the lettering is going to be really difficult.
 

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villagenut

villagenut

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have you tried to see if any of the peices fit together?

......of course, but this may be a few pieces from multiple pipes, as there was a lot of smoking going on there.But to answer your question, yes I have tried and nothing matches.
 

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ANTIQUARIAN

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Cool piece of history Dave... but this was for Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 60 years. She came to the throne in 1837.

I don't have any doubt that the OP's pieces are from pipe bowls, but tracking the lettering is going to be really difficult.
Of course you're right my friend, here I thought I knew my British history better than that. :laughing7:
 

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BuckleBoy

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In terms of date range, clay pipes were made into the 20th c which was a surprise for me to find out—but their prevalence waned beginning around 1870-80 due to the growth in popularity of briar and cob pipes as well as cigarettes and small cigars.
 

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