![Clay pipes collection](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/27.jpg)
When the steel tip entered the hole, it created the hollow in the pipe bowl. Using a traditional “gin press,” he pulled down the lever arm which extended a rounded stopper into the open hole at the top of the mold. Step 5: After securing the two sides of the mold together, Rex set them in a table-mounted clamp which he slowly and firmly tightened. He gently pressed the clay into one side of the mold and put the other half of the mold on top. Step 4: Then Rex took the long clay roll and bent it to fit in the shape of the mold. After retrieving the iron mold from the shelf, Rex used a small paint brush to gently apply paraffin (a type of oil) to both sides of the iron mold to ensure that the clay didn’t stick to the sides of the mold.
![clay pipes collection clay pipes collection](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/03/23/12/3E8DADE900000578-4342100-image-a-30_1490271521057.jpg)
#Clay pipes collection full
Step 3: In his workshop, Rex has several shelves full of beautiful clay pipes molds to choose from, so I asked him to make an eagle’s claw clay pipe because of the intricate, detailed design.
![clay pipes collection clay pipes collection](https://img.antiquesreporter.com.au/170622AOAU/568.jpg)
At the other end, Rex carefully inserted a long, straight piercing rod through the centre of the pipe stem. At one end, he left a lump of clay which would eventually become the pipe bowl. Step 2: Next Rex set the ball of soft clay on his work bench and gently rolled it into a long tube using both hands. Rex took a handful of soft, moist clay out of the bag and beat it repeatedly on the worktop in order to release the tiny air bubbles caught in the clay. Step 1: Originating in Cornwall, the fine grey clay was shipped to Rex’s production facility in large sacks. Rex kindly demonstrated the traditional Victorian method of producing clay tobacco pipes, illustrated and described in the following photos and text. I had the fortunate privilege of interviewing Rex in his clay pipe workshop. Rex Key has been making clay pipes for over 50 years, and he has a collection of over 14,000 clay pipes which he has acquired over the years. In Broseley, England where clay pipe production began in 1590, there is one man who is the only pipe maker in the world who still produces clay pipes using the traditional Victorian methods with original pipe molds from the 19th century. As a result, the commercial production of clay pipes dwindled and ceased in the 1960’s.ġ7th century clay pipe token, photo by Tony Thira The pipe making industry flourished until the beginning of the 20th century when cigarettes became more popular than pipe smoking.
![clay pipes collection clay pipes collection](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/8e0AAOSwzCFeov0l/s-l300.jpg)
The brass token is possibly from a clay pipe making business located south of the River Thames in London.
![clay pipes collection clay pipes collection](https://fws-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/website/auctions/items/full/183943_1.jpg)
While beachcombing along the River Thames, a mudlark found a beautiful 17th century token with three clay pipes depicted on it (below). Because of the rising popularity of smoking, there were over 1,000 clay pipe makers in London by the end of the 17th century. To regulate the manufacture of clay tobacco pipes, the Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders was granted a charter by King James I in 1619. Surviving over 400 years in the waterlogged conditions of the Thames foreshore, this wooden mold is the only known example in Britain which still exists. Based on the size and shape of the pipe carved into the mold, the Museum of London has dated it to AD 1580-1610. Historians were not exactly sure how the earliest clay pipes were produced in the late 16th century until Mudlark Alan Place miraculously found the earliest known clay pipe mold in the River Thames in 2011. From the 17th century onwards, pipe makers used iron molds in order to produce their clay pipes. Beginning in the late 16th century, clay pipe making has been a long tradition in England, passed on from generation to generation.
![Clay pipes collection](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/27.jpg)