Tim and Marcus' BIG DIG 2011 - Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Words and photos courtesy of Marcus.
Tim and I found a site in New Lynn yesterday that was in the process of being dug up, and then rapidly refilled.

So we checked with the site manager and he let us have a poke around. The following images are the result of Tim and Marcus' BIG DIG 2011

3 plates stuck together -


Ceramic Disc HPB


Bricks and Shards


Ceramic Handle


Landfill


Mr T Clark's stapler intact and ready to use


Tripod


Molten Brick Glaze


Cup Base Unglazed


Bowl Mold


More photos to follow .....

Woww!! how cool

Tim and Mark's excellent adventure!

I've been told those discs can be decoded as:
top line date
middle line type of ware
bottom line location in kiln

So this one


was from a firing on April 25th, of earthenware (WE), in the top middle of the kiln

Fantastic that we can share your Big Dig 2011 Marcus and Tim

That Tripod is one leg of a Stilt. These were used under the ware to stop the pieces sticking to the shelf when being glaze fired. They leave behind three dots in the glaze on the base. I would say that the 03 is relevant to the firing temperature.. from memory that's quite a low temp .. must check it out.

I have the next lot of photos ready to load

Words and photos courtesy of Marcus ...

I feel kinda miffed that they let diggers etc roll all over the place, crushing pieces that could be of historical value if not now, definitely for future generations.

I mean the area that we discovered is only roughly 600 metres from J. Rancich's old workshop, and Briar's maybe a little further.

CSI New Lynn Branch. Inspector Caulton Investigates


Mixed Shards


Unglazed Pieces


Unglazed Handle


Commandeering an abandoned Digger


Forma Shard


Tim making fire with found objects


Marcus doing the Darwin Shuffle


Vitrified Shard


Part 3 coming soon .....

Wow...some of those pieces are quite old I think..

Correction - I have a 419 mug and a set of 715 jugs in that earthenware pattern. They are in the gallery.

That last shard would surely have to be ....
Super Vitrified Ware (2 Red Lines) Deco No 75 !
Haven't come across it before but knew it existed from the Patterns Database.
There are so many shards with patterns that I haven't seen before in the pics!

I have a cup in that pattern Ev

Dunno -


Dunno 2


Electrical Piece


Molten Brick


Saltglazed Shard


Unknown Piece


Unusual Brick Glaze


Another unglazed handle


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 'Unknown Piece' - hollow tubular shape
looks to me like a shelf prop .... usually 3 per shelf.
It's a very worn out looking one lolz

Ev wrote:The 'Unknown Piece' - hollow tubular shape
looks to me like a shelf prop .... usually 3 per shelf.
It's a very worn out looking one lolz

I was at a local market yesterday and one of the stall holders had some white cabinet handles with gold patterns on the ends made by Crown Lynn, 1970's?.
Turns out that the 'Dunno 2' shape is one of those handles, it measures 40mm long x 42mm diameter at the widest point.

TonyK wrote:Tim and Mark's excellent adventure!

I've been told those discs can be decoded as:
top line date
middle line type of ware
bottom line location in kiln

So this one


was from a firing on April 25th, of earthenware (WE), in the top middle of the kiln

Brilliant Tony, when I first spied that little disc I had a feeling it was something special.

Can I ask? that piece of glazed clay you have as your user image. Was that used in the firing process for a particular purpose?, or is it a piece of off-cut / waste?
It looks as if it has finger marks impressed into it?
Cheers
Marcus.

Hi Marcus

It looks and feels like an improvised bit of kiln furniture. I think its a piece of pipe with some small lumps of clay stuck on. It has an impressed arc possibly from something circular having been pushed into it. It's salt glazed.

I can't see fingermarks but if it was five times the size it'd look like one of those arty geomorphic forms from the late 70s or early 80s.

Tony

Wow. Such utterly cool finds! I'll let the local historical society know about this thread.

Lisa T wrote:Wow. Such utterly cool finds! I'll let the local historical society know about this thread.

Hi Lisa,
They can have the pieces that we found, if they are interested?, also we can show them the area that was being dug over.
I drove past there last night and it had been completely flattened out, with a layer of topsoil applied and all the
trimmings, grass-seed etc.

Yeah but they can't have the moa bones right ?

TimCaulton wrote:Yeah but they can't have the moa bones right ?

Hell No!!!, nor the trickle glazed Rhino's, Baboons and Quails !!!!! :madmum:

You guys crack me up ...!

I've sent this thread's link to the President of West Auckland Historical Society. Their base is over at Mill Cottage on Sel Peacock Drive in Henderson, and they do have an exhibition space if they're interested. Mainly, though, I wanted them to know about your wonderful finds, so we can continue to piece together what's been happening beneath the surface of today's New Lynn.

I'd say the moa bones are definitely finders' keepers.

Some more finds I have found

Old salt glaze always catches my eye Tim .....
more so if they have a depiction of an old roman coin type thingy....
Got ..... to ..... find ..... out .... about that ....!

Ev wrote:Old salt glaze always catches my eye Tim .....
more so if they have a depiction of an old roman coin type thingy....
Got ..... to ..... find ..... out .... about that ....!

Yeah I was just watching a show about piltdown man and then took that photo....don't think that thing is roman tho....looks german to me

Germans had roman noses too then?
Did Crown Lynn copy German wares?
So many questions ..... and not enough answers

The only two CL bits are the white things....all the rest is salt glazed stuff from another place

TimCaulton wrote:The only two CL bits are the white things....all the rest is salt glazed stuff from another place

Hey Tim,
That Roman profile piece of Saltglaze, I wonder? was that the piece you found way up North??????

Marcus wrote:

TimCaulton wrote:The only two CL bits are the white things....all the rest is salt glazed stuff from another place

Hey Tim,
That Roman profile piece of Saltglaze, I wonder? was that the piece you found way up North??????

Yes you might be right, it looks like a Hed von Rerring to me.