Announcement

This site is nearing its end-of-life and at some point will be unavailable.
Most of the data has been preserved and is permanent available at an online archive.
The datasets are listed below, please use these for downloading and linking.

The digitized version of 'Goudse pijpenmakers en hun merken'

The photo collection of claypipe fragments



Dutch clay pipes from Gouda


Clay pipes have been used for smoking tobacco from the 17th century onward. The Dutch city of Gouda was a major production centre and remains of pipes produced there can be found all over the world. Because these items are rather fragile a lot of it was thrown away by our ancestors. Archaeologist can use the pipe fragments for dating when they excavate a site by using the principle that everything that was deposited with it or on top of it must be placed there after the pipe production.
Trying to identify and date clay pipe fragments can be both difficult and fun. The information on this site provides some help with this task, but can never replace the 'experts eye' completely.


What you can find here

Interactive catalog - Goudse pijpenmakers en hun merken Catalog

Interactive catalog of dutch clay pipe marks from Gouda. Information about the claypipe makers marks has been extracted from the digital version of 'Goudse pijpenmakers en hun merken' (see: next item). Use this to visually compare the marks on your finds with the images from the catalog. more>>



Books: Goudse pijpenmakers en hun merken Books

Browse the digitized version of 'Goudse pijpenmakers en hun merken'. It contains information about the history of clay pipes and the development of clay pipe shapes. more>>



Collections of dutch clay pipes from Gouda Collections of claypipe fragments

Browse the heelmark collection with over two thousand mark photographs.
Also view photos and some (pencil) drawings of a small collection of clay pipe fragments found in the area of Gouda. Not the highly decorated and (almost) complete museum pieces, but broken and degraded fragments. This shows how difficult it can be (for a non-expert like me) to identify the marks on the fragments. more>>



Production of dutch clay pipes from Gouda Production

A short explanation of the clay pipe production. Being aware of the production process helps you understand some of the details on the clay pipe fragments. more>>



Links to other sites about Dutch clay pipes Links

Links to other sites with information about dutch clay pipes that can help you identify your finds. These sites are build and maintained mostly by people collecting pipes, involved in archaeology and sometimes even producing pipes. more>>



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P.J.Boon