Artifact: Pipes from Arell's Tavern
Materials: Ceramic
Dimensions:
Date: Post 1760
Origin:
Collection: Alexandria Archaeology Museum
License: Public Domain
Ledger Entry: Pipe
Department: Personal
Customer: John King
Ledger Page: 76
Imported From: While, some pipes were produced locally in Virginia and New England, large quantities of pipes were imported from English, Irish, Dutch, and French manufacturers.
Product Description
The Native American tradition of smoking tobacco through a pipe was enthusiastically taken up by the British and Colonials alike. The quality of pipes could vary greatly from crude coarseware to ornate and embellished. As a reasonably inexpensive and well used item that were frequently broken and discarded, they are ubiquitous at colonial archaeological sites to the extent that they are frequently used to help establish dates.
Citation: Ivor Noël Hume. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), 296-313.;
Historical Price: 3 pence per dozen; Modern USD: $2.8
Product Variations
The databases record seven purchases of pipes. Although smoking was a typically male activity, one purchase was made by a woman. They were sold by the dozen or by the gross. Although there were no qualifiers to indicate quality or type, the prices ranged from one and a half pence to sixteen pence.
