You got rats on the foreshore, bed bugs uptown, what a mess, this town is in tatters.....

Okay, Okay, I took a little lyrical license from the Stones to describe yesterdays visit to the river.  The tide wasn't a very low edition, barely exposing enough surface to find much.  It did wash up the first dead rat I've seen!  Little guy looked he'd been deceased for a while..

I did manage to pick up a few decent pipes, one from the late 1600's, early 1700's.  Also found one pipe bowl with a nice design that looks a bit like a shell..

Found another old hair comb..

a nice serene scene on a piece of china..

and a collection of other odds and ends..

With the change of the time, the sunset early and I snapped a few nice pictures of London...This town isn't really in tatters!!

And Lastly... see you next low tide......

A little of this and a little of that.....

   I was lucky enough to enjoy two low tides on Monday,  and the weather couldn't have been any nicer.  The morning tide exposed some foreshore that doesn't always get uncovered, and I found some new treasures.  I started out looking for only pipes, but soon the allure of odd pottery and glass and china overtook my good sense.  There was only a few others out scavenging the shoreline, one metal detector and a nice German mudlarker I've come across quite often.  By the turn of the tide I'd filled my bag with a good assortment of pipes, pipe bowls, glass and pottery.  Later in the evening I was bored so I returned to see what the second low tide of the day might expose.  I wasn't disappointed, as the shore gave up some offering I hadn't found before.  

I found my first part of  hair comb and also part of what I believe was part of a brush.

Also found three nice little china pieces, all three I believe would have been small bowls, maybe sugar or creamers.  Two are banded ware I think, the other a tea ware piece.

This is a piece of pottery that was used as a colander, glazed on one side

Three nice pieces of different design.  they are bigger than the usual find, about 3-5 inches in width and length

Lastly a picture of a variety of neat finds, two tops of jugs, two interesting handles and a piece of black ware, I believe might be really old, possible Roman.

My favorite find was the top of a glass bottle that had a glass top stopper.  Labelled,  Shaws Patent, I believe it is from the late 1880's.  The bottle was clear, the glass stopper is light green.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and commentary......see you next low tide!!!

Is smoking all these pipes ruining my teeth?

Well, another low tide, another pile of china pieces, lots of pipes of various age and length, lots of pipe bowls and 3 nice pipe bowls with neat designs.  One looks like a crest, another some official coat of arms, and the other floral.  Advise if you have seen them before.  I particularly like the teeth, they look like an Austin Powers set of chompers....Yeah Baby!!

The Bone China writing is on the back of a Willow ware shard.  The little wood handle is about 4 inches long, heavy wood, appears to be from some kind of tool.  Let me know if you've seen this before.  The potter piece is the top of some old jug or bottle, very primitive in design and quality.  I would guess quite old.

The Thames continues to offer up enough surprises and bounty to keep me coming, rain or shine, day or night.  More low tides coming in the weeks to come, hopefully will find a coin or lead seal, or something different.  Still haven't bought myself any Wellies yet, will need them soon as the rainy season sets in.

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Some people are hunters and gatherers and others are artistic!

     A co-worker of mine who prefers to keep their hands clean and their feet dry made this mosaic tray using some of the pipe stems and Victorian china I've collected off the foreshore.  The deal was that they have to make me something also once they have perfected the craft.  Nice first job effort!

Two low tides and good weather ...

My run of good luck mudlarking in great weather continues.  Tuesday there was two nice fairly low tides.  This brought out more mudlarkers than I have seen before.  I arrived a little late for the morning tide, with only about 20 minutes to look before the tide turned.  I was beaten to the punch I think and didn't find much of significance.  I did get to converse with a couple of mudlarkers using metal detectors and watch them in action.  They both picked up a couple of nice coins and other small metal objects buried beneath the mucky shore.  Later in the evening I returned to comb the foreshore, this time having it to myself.  The retreating river rewarded me with some nice pipe finds, numerous bowls, and a couple of nice pottery finds.  The crest of the lion from a Westervald jug was a happy find, it is in beautiful condition and the first I've found complete as is.  Included is a few pictures of my days work.  If you know what some of it is , please comment.

I guess it's about time to invest in some Wellies ( rubber boots to us Americans ).  I have dunked my feet into the Thames just about enough by now!!

It's not all about the treasure, the scenery is rewarding by itself !

Night or Day, coloring the imagination...