Sir,
Do your readers dig up clay tabacco pipes in their gardens, or have some lying around the home or the garden shed?
Clay tabacco pipes are readily dateable and the identification of the location of makers is often known. Pipes appeared soon after the introduction of tobacco, and so appear from 1620 onwards.
I shall be very pleased to receive any that people may have which will help to build up a picture of trading patterns during the period 1600-1900.
Hopefully, I shall receive enough to incorporate them into a paper for one of the regional archaeological journals where their efforts will be acknowledged very gratefully.
Michael Owen,
46 Prospect Place,