🔎 UNIDENTIFIED How old is this tobacco pipe?

[Fishin-4-a-Livin]

My buddy found this today. It was found in the Florida panhandle, in an area that has been used since the Spanish. The British had a trading post very near here in the early 1800s. Lots of Indian artifacts like pottery pieces and a few points come out of here.

Just wanting some of your very knowledgeable opinions and any info that I could pass along.

Thanks for the help!

 

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[villagenut]

The form looks a lot like an early one....like 1700 to1750

 

[UnderMiner]

18th century based on the bowl size. Nice score!

 

[Red-Coat]

Nice find It could be 17th Century, or through to as late as about 1750 based on what's left of the bowl. I have provided the information below previously, which helps confirm possible dates of imported pipes (that one will be an import) because bowl shape/size alone will not always tell you:

One interesting thing about clay pipes is that the diameter of the hole in the stem progressively decreases as the pipes become more recent. Probably because stem lengths were progressively decreasing. Although only 'verified' for pipes originating from Britain, it does at least provide some indication of date for clay pipes in general. Building on work by J. C. Harrington in the 1950s (he examined thousands of pipe stems excavated at Jamestown and other colonial Virginia sites) Louis Binford later devised a mathematical formula from which he derived the following table (the cut-off dates are of course not absolute):

9/64" bore dates to 1590-1620
8/64" bore dates to 1620-1650
7/64" bore dates to 1650-1680
6/64" bore dates to 1680-1720
5/64" bore dates to 1720-1750
4/64" bore dates to 1750-1800

The easiest way to check the bore is with a set of small steel drill bits. Carefully insert the bits into the stem hole until you find one that fits exactly.

 

[villagenut]

Nice find It could be 17th Century, or through to as late as about 1750 based on what's left of the bowl. I have provided the information below previously, which helps confirm possible dates of imported pipes (that one will be an import) because bowl shape/size alone will not always tell you:

One interesting thing about clay pipes is that the diameter of the hole in the stem progressively decreases as the pipes become more recent. Probably because stem lengths were progressively decreasing. Although only 'verified' for pipes originating from Britain, it does at least provide some indication of date for clay pipes in general. Building on work by J. C. Harrington in the 1950s (he examined thousands of pipe stems excavated at Jamestown and other colonial Virginia sites) Louis Binford later devised a mathematical formula from which he derived the following table (the cut-off dates are of course not absolute):

9/64" bore dates to 1590-1620
8/64" bore dates to 1620-1650
7/64" bore dates to 1650-1680
6/64" bore dates to 1680-1720
5/64" bore dates to 1720-1750
4/64" bore dates to 1750-1800

The easiest way to check the bore is with a set of small steel drill bits. Carefully insert the bits into the stem hole until you find one that fits exactly.

An important note on bore hole formula dating is that the formula charts end at 4/64 which was a standardized hole size continuing into the late 19th century. I was involved in an archeological dig where I knew the site to be mid 1800s but the archeologist attributed every pipe stem to the mid to late 1700s in order to have them fit his agenda of it being an earlier site. He assumed that the bore hole sizes kept getting smaller as the 19th century began. He also didn't have the quantity of stems that is really required to get a proper estimation of the sites date, which Hume recommends a large quantity. Therefore bowlform is important....and it should match with a bore hole of 5/64. But even then, there are lots of variables to how the bore holes are interpreted. Hope all that makes sense...I am typing during a close 4th quarter