social history
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History Hunting the River Thames. Rare WWII Coin! GPO Find! Antique Pottery! Mudlarking 28.09.20
Hello Mudlarking Friends, Join me down on the River Thames Foreshore to unlock some liquid history. We’re all about the small metal items today, and, of course, we’ll be taking a look at some antique pottery classics. Ever thought a drainage system could be alluring? Of course you did! Be warned – there’s a bit…
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Post-Medieval Cloth Seal! 500 Year Old Pottery! Mudlarking with Old Father Thames: 16.07.20
Hello Mudlarking Friends! I’m back on the River Thames after four long months, so join me down on the foreshore to see what I find today. From teeth to pottery and curious post-medieval metal items, the history hunt is on and I’m talking you through the treasures I find. I also find something I’ve been…
archaeology, black basalt, bottle digging, clay pipes, Cloth Seal, history, history hunter, jasperware, london, london mudlark, london redware, metal detecting, metal detector, mudlark, mudlarker, mudlarking, old coins, old father thames, old london, outdoor life, pottery identification, richard hemery, river thames, salt glazed, samuel pepys, si finds, social history, thames and field, tideline art, treasure, try mudlarking -
Maria Theresa, Roman Empress
Whilst reading Deborah Cadbury’s ‘The Lost King Of France’ (Revolution, Revenge and the Search for Louis XVII), I finally worked out the relevance of the portrait on a curious cufflink I found last year. At the time, getting nowhere with my own research of the portrait and initials, I took the cufflink to our most…
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Little Leaden Lovelies
Ready for info overload? I cleaned up my favourite lead tokens (used as an alternative currency to overcome a shortage of small change) last night, including the ‘partefacts’ (aka incomplete artefacts). Here’s TMI about them… Clockwise, from top left… Photos 1 & 2: my fave leddies. Photo 3, L-R: Powell Type (PT) 19 (animals)…
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Lead Love
There are many items in the ‘mudlarking starter kit’ (for example, pins, hand forged nails, garnets), most of which I’ve now disciplined myself not to take home. However, there are a few objects that are just so lovely, I can hardly bear to leave them to fate. Lead tube screw top lids rank in the…
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Night Larking
Spoils of a pleasant night lark. In no particular order – giant fish hooks, musket ball, lead shot, codd bottle stopper, modern key, loose change a half-cut Franc (modern, but a good story), fouled anchor and rampant lion naval livery button by Jennens & Co (again, good story, more to come later), a little lead…
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These Wheels Were Made for Rollin’
Cast iron wheel by Slingsby of Bradford, found last year whilst out with @mudlark_mud_god. In 1893 Harry Crowther Slingsby, part of a family firm of wholesale bottlers, established in Bradford, began to look into the invention of labour saving devices for the company. Recognising that working practices in the local factories relied heavily on manual hauling,…