White and blue pottery: what is it?

[Lakesurfer]

I found this piece of white pottery on the southern shore of Lake Michigan after a big storm brought a lot of new pebbles and beach glass onto the beach. It appears to be the rim of pottery with a landscape scene on the outside and an abstract on the inside of the rim. It's about the same shape as the curve of a coffee mug.

 

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[johnnyi]

Possibly Spode pattern. Check your images under "blue china" and you will find a match.

 

[Got_4by4]

Looks like japanese "willow ware" to me.

 

[johnnyi]

Looks like japanese "willow ware" to me.

Do you think so "Got"? It was my first instinct too, but I just couldn't find any true "willow pattern" that didn't have the pagoda roofs on all buildings and addditions. Figure I'd start with the most common similar applied (Spode maker) then and work through them. (ha, buy the way, I gave up a half hour after starting)

 

[ARC]

Ok... wanna know what it is?,,, heh you found something cool... It is........ Sea Glass... well sorta... this is what we call Sea glass... ok works like this... its acyually "ballast" from the hold of a ship... ballest was bought and sold on ship docks for centuries... most of the time it was stones... but... where there were no stones... there was broken glass and pottery from the factories... and it would be another comodity which was high in demand... the ballast was made up of any wieght to "right the ship".... after arriving at destination if it was no longer need they would "toss it overboard" OR its from a wreck..... during some voyages they would need to "lighten the ship" ... so .... off goes some ballast.

 

[johnnyi]

That's very interesting. I would think, as this was found in Lake Michigan, who's early trade routes entailed the long passage up the Mississippi River where ballast was far less an issue than freeboard, that perhaps interest in identifying a date of the pottery might under the right circumstances be relevant; fur trade for instance?

 

[unclemac]

i find that stuff on the coast all the time, all kids of colors and eras. In my case it is almost always from folks discarding broken stuff before there was regular garbage pickup....you know, broke a cup?...toss it (literally) out.

 

[Red James Cash]

Theres also a possibility that it could Delftware,looks oriental though.

 

[GatorBoy]

This is just my opinion but the imagery does not look oriental to me at all looks more like something European