Early 1800's Clay Tobacco Pipe

Thanks to Sir Walter Raleigh, who, in the late 1500's is reputed to be the first to introduce tobacco to England, smoking soon became popular in Elizabethan England and men, women and even children were addicted to the habit.
By the 1720's clay pipes were being made in small factories in virtually every town and city, the   thicker and stubbier pipes were more favoured by the countryman, and the elegant, thinner pipes, often embellished with designs, were usually used by the townsman.

The above pipe bowl, the stem missing, was found on the banks of the River Thames and is possibly around the late 1790's to early 1800's.

Shipping R25