Found exactly half a century ago

16 March 2016

This decorated clay pipe bowl was about two hundred years old at the moment it was found by Don Duco in March 1966. Just an accidental found in deposited soil in the Westerleestraat in Amsterdam. At that moment it was the most beautiful found from this piece of land. Today it is exactly 50 years ago that the founder of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum did this find, and consequently the most ancient object in the museum. After a few years this pipe has been exhibited for five years in the Pijpenkamer at Frederiksplein in Amsterdam. Later it was on loan to the State Museum for Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) in Leiden, where it was part of the permanent presentation. These must have been the finest hours for this small pipe bowl; since 1993 it is well-kept but hidden in the museum reserves.

News archive