Thanks for the replies. I thought maybe pipe stem as a possibility. Laying the pieces side by side (assuming consensus is correct) it makes sense too. They do form a taper, albeit with pieces missing. No less thrilling a find thinking about who smoked that last pipe yards from where my dad's pier now sits...I like to sit there too, but more of a cigar guy. Maybe kinder'd spirits.
The stretch of land is called Thiebeau Point, named for a French trader that was there from late 1700's till 1836. Maps I have been reviewing could put his cabin within a stones throw of dad's place. Rumor has it that he was murdered by his Indian wife. That he disappeared is a fact. Perhaps this was his last pipe prior to head meeting club in previous post.
Hard not to love this stuff...and let imaginations run.
Cool thing is you go back there an look you will probably find LOTS more Clay pipe fragments. A Clay pipe was like a pack of cigarette. They were dirt cheap. And folks went thru them like cheap socks! A disposable item. The broken stems were also
Used by the natives for beads! Generally they tried to make them look like a regular bead.
In the same vein, the French made a pipe Clay bead, fired and salt glazed them to look like a Venitian white glass bead. They were much cheaper to make than the glass bead! I have several strings of them. I'll try to post some pics of them tomorrow! The Venitian glass bead trade was extremely lucrative. The guilds guarded their manufacturing secrets with the death penalty. European traders were pretty much at their mercy. Although some
Offshoots did appear. Lots of stuff ended up coming out of China. Like "Padre" beads. Cool thing is lots of original beads that are 300-400 years old are still available to collect. West Africa is full of them! Same beads traded here 300 years ago!!
