Two Early clay Tobacco Pipes Circa 1840 1880 Ref. CL-16

History: Dating back to around the 1600s smoking tobacco became a common pursuit in Britain. Clay pipe bowls can be dated with some certainty according to their shape, size and decoration, and with even more accuracy if they feature a makers-mark on the heel, the protrusion under the bowl. Smaller bowls indicate an earlier date whereas the larger bowls are closer to the late 1800s.  King James 1 detested smoking and in the early 1600s placed a 4,000 percent tax increase on tobacco causing the English pipe makers to set up factories in the Netherlands and, together with the Dutch pipe producers, the clay pipe production thrived.
Marks/Observations: The pipes are likely to have been retrieved from the Thames River in England.