Laird,

While working with a large assemblage of British military artifacts from
Paget Fort, Bermuda, I noticed a few examples of plain creamware plates
with single Arabic numerals scratched through the glaze on the bottoms
of the plates.  The deposit is dated between 1778-1819. 

Paul

Paul M. Nasca
Staff Archaeologist
George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation 
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-----Original Message-----
From: Laird Niven [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 11:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: incised marking on ceramics


Hello all,
I have just been shown a collection of ceramics recovered by divers near
the naval dockyards in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia. The ceramics are
almost exclusively nineteenth century and there are many examples of
regimental or Royal Navy pieces. However, there are also quite a number
of non-military vessels that have been deeply inscribed with Roman
numerals (usually on the foot). There are also a couple of examples of
regimental vessels with the inscriptions as well, but they do not
correspond with the transfer-printed regimental number. I was wondering
if anyone else has seen similar examples from naval/military contexts?
Thanks. Laird Niven Dartmouth, Nova Scotia