J found this in a riverbed about 15 minutes after we got there. It was the first time we ever went surface hunting together. When she showed it to me, it was wet & shiny, and looked like it was made of plastic. I told her it was nothing, but we carried it around in a bag with rocks & stuff we picked up through the afternoon. Afterwards, we were told it is an INDIAN TRADE PIPE and was probably made in France or Spain 200-300 years ago. It was used as a bartering item by explorers and settlers.
Any thoughts?
suggestions?
anybody?

Looks pretty nice All that is missing is a fine mesh screen and some of mother natures best. Nice artifact

Hey nice pipe ....Im no expert but it has a two piece mold .. Looks kiln fired with a glaze of some sort.....Here in the states I believe manufacturing and assembly lines began in the 1790's...It had a mold so it was made in some # other than itself but How many and Who Im in the dark...Still an antique cool find...TEXAS???

Considering the large numbers of clay trade pipe categories it is surprising that so few pipes can be identified by manufacturer. Your pipe displays what appears to be a diagonal cockled bowl. Similar pipes have been found at the larger fur trading posts such as Fort Union on the Yellowstone and Bent's Fort on the Arkansas. I find pipes on this site in Austin County from time to time but most are fragmented. Two very prolific clay trade pipe makers were Peter Dormi and Anton Gambier, both of Paris.

I think you might owe your friend a dinner for finding "Nothing".

wow! thanks for all the insight into this find! J is really proud of it. Yes, Aaron, she found it in TEXAS. It was in the N.Sulphur river in Delta Co. Here's the funniest part (& I'm gonna tell on myself): when she showed it to me it was all wet & shiny & slick. It looked liked it was made of plastic & I pointed out the mold seam to her. I told her it looked like a kid's bubble pipe & I thought it was nothing. She wandered off looking disappointed & I pitched it over on a gravel bed. When we got ready to head upstream, I picked it up & put it in the rock bag & we used that bag as a kneepad all afternoon. When we met up with the rest of the guys for a beer at the end of the day, she wanted to show off her bubble pipe. I said - it's your find, but don't get embarassed when they laugh about it. She pulled it out & their jaws dropped. They said they had never seen one intact outside of a museum. What a girl!

Here are pix of the only two pipes I've found. The first is what I believe is a trade pipe. The picture is better than the truth. There is a large chunk of the back of the pipe that is missing. It is a single piece (not molded – hand made) pipe. I did find it a couple miles from the World War 2 Japanese internment camp of Manzanar so I suppose it could be a Japanese artifact but it looks like a classic American trade pipe.
The second is a G-10+ prehistoric Paiute pipe I found in a California sand dune. I’ve seen several Paiute pipes before but none as good as this. It is one of my favorite artifacts of all time.

**** nice handmade pipes, I've alway's had them on my list but I don't get out as much as I used to. So it's nice to see other's cool pipe find's.

Trade pipes were mass produced using moulds. The pipe in the first photo is hand-made and could be an important piece dating back much earlier than the traditional trade pipe.

Thanks Red. I didn't know about the trade pipes being two piece. That's interesting. I found that one back in 1993, If I get a chance to photograph it from other sides this weekend I will post them. It is a shame because a large portion of the back of it is broken. I always figured it was a trade pipe because it was elbow shaped. I knew the straight on is older. Its condition in perfect.

All interesting finds.

Pls pardon a stupid question from a non smoker. . . .

I always thought the tabaco plant was limited to the SE USA. Trade pipes seem to be all over the continent. . . .What were the others smoking ?

If Lewis & Clark went through a new area where smoking was prohibited { unknown ] would they have just traded a pipe as a trinket and the next boat would be bringing up the makins ?

The history of tobacco use in the Americas is rather long and mysterious. Archeological evidence indicates that Paleoindians reached Patagonia about 11,000 BP and began cultivating a dozen or so different species of native tobacco around 8000 BP with Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica being the most commonly utilized. It is apparent that those early tobaccos were up to ten times stronger than todays cigarette tobacco and had powerful hallucinational effects. The when and how tobacco spread northward into North America remains a mystery but the Amerindians of the Northwest coast had tobacco when first contact with Europeans was made.
Several species of native tobacco was being used by the Aboriginal people of Australia when the first contact with Europeans was made.

Ask a stupid question, get a very informative answer, Tks Red.
Not only was everybody smokin right from the beginning of time, it would explain why early humans were shorter than todays average plus only made it to
30 years old. . .

Even if ONLY Dad smoked, , , , , in a confined Tee-Pee house. . . the second hand smoke would have stunted the growth of the whole family starting with newborns. IF he was a two pack of makins per day [ Marlboro country ] man, the kid only had 20 years to go !

Definetly a trade pipe dude. That's a fat ass bowl too. you could pack a whole quarter bag in that!

I do know that the indians in new mexico .....Smoke marijuana.......Lets not forget the "other" green stuff .....I know a couple of people who dug on some gov land and went miles up a canyon to some rock shelters .......And comming out of several shelters was YEP you guessed it weed.....I should say that I dont actually know IF they smoked it ( I wasnt around to see them smoke it)but probably used it for rope atleast...