# Two unidentified artifacts



## Richard White (Jul 20, 2009)

Here are pictures of two different artifact types which I excavated from a dry-well in the basement of the building which had been the Blue Anchor Tavern in Burlington, New Jersey.  The well-fill dated to the last half of the 19th century (1850-1899).  I have never been able to find any mention of similar artifacts.  I suspect they may be related to the hotel/restaurant business, and were not commonly used in homes, or they would be in the literature.

 The first picture are of small objects something like a cabinet dor handle, but with no obvious way to afix them to anything.  On the bottom there is a thin ring of unglazed area.


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## Richard White (Jul 20, 2009)

Here is the next sort of artifact.  It is a flat, round plate some 6 inches in diameter, with a large hole in the center, and a series of smaller holes arranged all over it.  I recovered about 6 or 7 of these from the well.  I would guess that the holes are some sort of device to drain water, and the center hole provides a way to lift it out of whatever it was in, but those are just guesses.


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## Richard White (Jul 20, 2009)

Finally, here are some fragments of artifact type 2, which I include to show that they weren't all round, but at least one was octagonal.


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## capsoda (Jul 21, 2009)

Hello Richard, welcome to the forum. Do the small tiems fit the hole in the larger Item?


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## baltbottles (Jul 21, 2009)

Richard,

 The second item you have is part of a soap dish. I'm not sure about the first. Also do you dig alot in burlington? We did quite a bit of digging near the waterfront earlier this year. Found alot of 18th century privies and a few decent bottle age pits.

 Chris


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## dollarbill (Jul 21, 2009)

I was thinking the second piece was a strainer for a tea or coffee pot and maybe the knob looking pieces held it off the bottom of the pot . Just a guess though .
           bill


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## coboltmoon (Jul 21, 2009)

Your second item looks like a cheese dish bottom insert.


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## Richard White (Jul 22, 2009)

Cap:  No, the smaller doesn't fit in the hole of the larger.

 So far, three good suggestions, a coffee/tea strainer, a soap dish insert and a cheese dish insert.  I'll have to do a bit of sleuthing to see if I can find any illustrations.  I think the holes are too lrge for the coffee/tea strainer.

 Thanks!


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## Richard White (Jul 22, 2009)

Bingo!  Soap dish insert it is.  Thanks to BaltBottles for the hint.


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