Death anniversary Edward Bird

20 May 2015

Today we commemorate the death anniversary of Edward Bird, a pipe maker of English origin who made Amsterdam well-known as a pipe making city. He managed a large workshop for clay pipes where he produced in huge quantities for export, especially to the New Netherlands. His pipes with EB heel mark are still being found worldwide. His elbow-shaped pipe was particularly popular among the native Americans. Bird died on 20 May 1665, today exactly 350 years ago. The inventory drawn on his death shows how vast his production was. In his storage house he had packed 400.000 pipes for export. His son Evert Bird was meant to continue the successful firm but he failed. Our curator Don Duco wrote an extensive article on the life and work of this important Amsterdam pipe maker, to be found on our old website www.pijpenkabinet.nl > § 19 complete list of publications (Amsterdam, 2002).

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