Carl
Often called Marseilles tiles, exported from (surprise) Marseilles and other French towns to everywhere. Very popular in Australia, and still one of the main roof coverings of choice out here.
Robert Varman, a regular HISTARCH list contributor is an authority on these and puiblished a monograph on them (both French and Australian-made variants) for the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology, based on work done at the Wunderlich factory, which was the major Australian manufacturer. See also a book on the Wunderlich factory by Sue Bures, which may have useful information.
Denis Gojak
>>> <[log in to unmask]> 07/29 5:25 am >>>
Listmates--
I have found a number of low fired red earthenware tiles at Fort Johnson,
near Charleston SC. My first impression was that they were stove tiles, but I
wonder if anyone else has seen them and can tell me for sure. They have been
found in fill dating to around 1900, and thus seem to date at least into the
19th century. At that time Fort Johnson served as quarantine station, so it
occurs to me that they might have been used in the sanitation processes. Any
ideas would be helpful.
They are molded, sometimes with a fairly elaborate design on the exterior.
Several are marked with words. This is a central feature of the decoration.
The interiors have tabs and grooves for fitting the tiles together. No
reconstructible examples were found, but piecing them together, they appear
to vary in size, with most being rectangular and roughly 18 x 35cm. .
Most common is "BREVETES S.G.D.G/ St Henry MARSEILLE" followed by "ANTOINE
SACOM..." and "GRANDE ECAIL.../USINE LA PLATA." Examples marked "GU....",
"...E ECAILLE PU...", "SEON St H...", "...OITURE..." and "MARTIN FRERES"
were also found.
The designs also include insects--Bees and Butterflys in their design.
"Antoine" is separated from "Sacom" by a ship's anchor. Other examples have
heart shaped marks. A few had stamped numbers--2, 13, and 46 were seen.
Again, any help would be appreciated.
Thnaks in advance... Carl Steen
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