Hey all, Canadian here. Was visiting Whitby and I found some interesting pieces of ceramic in the harbour. Was hoping someone would be able to help me identify how old some of these pieces are?

I have listed my guesses below. I found a pottery identification sheet compiled from Paul Blinkhorn’s research. I used that for my guesses.

https://digschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Pottery-Identification-Guide-DigSchool.pdf

1. Tin glazed earthenware?
2. Victorian?
3. Rim or base of a jug/bowl? Creamware?
4. Creamware?
5. Thick pale green glass. 5-10mm thick. Bottle?
6. Fossilized horse tooth?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated! Cheers.

by bobleuko

10 comments

  2. Can’t comment on the pottery and glass as not an archeologist, but I am a geologist…

    It does look like horse teeth but not fossilised – the geology around Whitby makes a great hunting ground for Ammonites and other creatures from the Jurassic Period (circa 185 million years ago) so somewhat before horses were a thing. Also horses evolved in north America until they migrated to Siberia about 8-10 million years ago.

  4. Most of that stuff wouldn’t warrant a second glance in the UK I’m afraid, old middens are full of it.

  6. We see stuff like this in the fields by my house all the time. When I was a kid I’d pick up all the pieces I could find and take ’em home to wash and identify. Best piece I ever found was the clawed foot off an old butterdish. I’m now doing a PhD in ancient history lmao.

    Anyway to answer your question that is certainly some variety of early 20th century tat. That kind of blue floral and lace-y pattern is super common- I dug up many a fragment just like it from the ploughed fields.

    It’s worth mentioning- before plastic was widespread, all homeware was glass, cermaic, or metal. Think of how many hundreds of tons of shards that will have been produced from people chucking out old butterdishes and broken teacups and the like, all of it winding up buried or strewn in the ground.

    Pottery shards are a good indicator of what kind of activities were going on in an area, but as items themselves they are worthless. Even ancient pottery shards are usually just left on the ground after being surveyed, simply because there’s not enough space in museums to keep boxes and boxes of crushed amphorae.

    In your specific case, these items are probably the remnants of homeware that was tossed out, got into the waterways, and wound up in the harbour. The first one looks like it was broken somewhat recently (edges are still sharp) so I’m guessing it’s a modern plate or dish. The others have smoothed in the water so they’re a fair bit older, but certainly not Victorian. 50s, maybe.

  7. 1. Definitely not tin-glazed earthenware. Tin-glazed earthenware typically has a warm yellowy/sandy coloured fabric. The blurred/fuzzy decoration is diagnostic of ‘Flow-blue’ whiteware.
    2. Part of the border pattern of a Victorian or later Willow Pattern plate
    3. At a guess I’d say 19th century whiteware, maybe something like spongeware/spatterware.
    4. Probably modern whiteware (Victorian to present).

  10. r/pottery or r/whatisthisthing might be able to help…

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