Antique pottery figural pipes.

Ray & Diane Ginns ©

Specializing in Antique British toby jugs and Staffordshire pottery.
Ralph Wood, creamware, pearlware, Prattware, enamel figures 1780-1900.

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Antique Pottery Figural Pipes:c1790-1840

Early British pottery figural and coiled pipes are great to see in a collection. There are probably more intricate coiled pipes than full character figures but the latter are the ones we like the most. They are mainly in Pratt ware colours but can be found with painted enamel decoration. They do say that a longer pipe stem can give a cooler smoke, this may have given the inspiration for the unusual intricate coiled variations you occasionally see, other long stems are shaped in the form of an ammonite or serpent, all should have a mouth piece and bowl.

The full figure ones are very desirable, washer women and sailors astride barrels, Martha Gunn, Mr. Punch, Napoleon, country gents, and animals in the form of monkeys and bears to name just a few. Most figures smoke a pipe where the bowl is a separate figural head and the mouth piece can be the tail end of a serpent.

Note: All pipes could have been used for smoking so make sure they have a clear airway when blown. The bowl and mouth piece is susceptible to damage, if the figure has a plain bowl beware that it might have been replaced.

Early English Pratt ware pottery pipe head inscribed Nelson.

Rare Pratt ware pipe of Lord Horatio Nelson wearing a hat as tall as a Bishops mitre, inscribed Nelson on the front, his loss of one arm portrayed after the battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerif: See a similar pipe displayed at the National Maritime Museum, London and for more Nelson pottery information from the battle of Trafalgar circa 1805 with commemoration toby jugs wares see.... www.antiquetobyjugs.com/articles/trafalgar_and_nelsons_sailors.htm

Pratt ware circa 1790-1810

Pratt ware coiled pottery pipe circa 1790-1810

Pratt ware 1790-1810

Early creamware pottery pipe circa later 18th century

Early British creamware pottery circa later 18th century.

British pottery Prattware coiled with figure head pipe c1790-1810

Martha Gunn

Antique pottery figure pipe in enamel painted decoration

Well coloured enamel decoration full figure pottery pipe.

Enamel decorated with a pearlware body.

Pratt ware pottery character figural pipe of John Bull

Antique Prattware pottery figure pipe circa 1790-1810

Pipe bowl possibly replaced & restored?

Antique British Pratt ware pottery pipe circa 1790-1810

Antique Staffordshire pottery figural pipe of John Bull painted in an enamel decoration.

Early Enlish Pottery pipe in Pratt ware circa 1790-1810

During the early 2000's we were fortunate to view the sale in Bristol were WD &HO Wills, the tobacco importer and cigarette manufacturer, sold their enormous collection of pipes. Just a small selection were figural pottery, some originally sold to the collection by L & J Russell, whose photos helped with this article.... many thanks.
As pottery items so close to our favourite toby jug subject, these pipes in figural characters such as Martha Gunn & John Bull models were always a fascinating subject over our collecting years, some photos shown are from our past Ginns sales archive.
History:
Native Indians from North America first used tobacco products that was sniffed (taken as snuff), chewed or smoked, leaves and herbs would be rolled, ground or mixed. These products were brought back in the late 15th century, firstly for medicinal purposes; early clay potters then copied pipes in Britain in the 16th century as the smoking habit caught on quickly.White or buff clay pipes were made by the million, many with detachable character heads, digs are still finding these as shards of now broken clay and we have dug them up ourselves over the years whilst gardening.

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