Jobbers discounts were offered. “10 to 20 boxes, 20%”, and going up by 5% stages to “101 to 500 boxes, 35% discount”. “We make many other styles of Indian Clay and Stone Pipes, ... we can make any style of pipe that can be made of clay. Our own designers and artists are at your service” ([Plate 11]).
In the last years of Factory operation their sales carried an identification tag, “This Is An ‘Original’ Powhatan Pipe”, and it was being made by the last two women of the Pamplin area who were still making pipes at their homes ([Plate 12]).
PAMPLIN AREA PIPE FORMS
The pipes are illustrated natural size. The largest and the smallest pipe of each form available to us are shown. In many instances this difference in size is not great; however, it does illustrate that minor variations often existed in different molds for the same pipe form. The diameters for the stem openings have not been included since they have proved useful only in consideration of the earlier integral-stem clays, and not for consideration of the “short-base” pipes of the type and time included in this report (Wilson, 1971:2).
| TABLE NO. 1. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sources of Pipes, and Relative Numbers Available for Examination. | ||
| Total number of pipes inspected—4,451. | ||
| Plate. | Source. | Number of Examples. |
| [13] A. | Both | Many |
| [13] B. | Home | 2 |
| [13] C. | Home | 11 |
| [14] D. | Home | 4 |
| [14] E. | Home | Many |
| [14] F. | Both | Many |
| [15] G. | Factory | Many |
| [15] H. | Home | 3 |
| [15] I. | Factory | Many |
| [16] J. | Factory | Many |
| [16] K. | Both | Many |
| [16] L. | Factory | Many |
| [17] M. | Both | 37 |
| [17] N. | Factory | 1 |
| [17] O. | Factory | 1 |
| [17] P. | Both | Many |
| [18] Q. | Both | Many |
| [18] R. | Home | 10 |
| [18] S. | Both | Many |
| [19] T. | Home | 14 |
| [19] U. | Home | 2 |
| [19] V. | Factory | 1 |
| [19] W. | Surface | 1 |
| [20] X. | Factory | 1 |
| [20] Y. | Both | 2 |
| [20] Z. | Factory | 4 |
| [20] AA. | Factory | 4 |
| [21] AB. | Factory | 1 |
| [21] AC. | Home | 1 |
| [21] AD. | Factory | 1 |
| [21] AE. | Factory | 1 |
| [22] AF. | Factory | 2 |
| [22] AG. | Factory | 1 |
| [22] AH. | Factory | 1 |
| [22] AI. | Factory | 2 |
| [23] AJ. | Factory | 1 |
| [23] AK. | Factory | 1 |
| [23] AL. | Surface | 1 |
| [23] AM. | Home | 2 |
| TABLE NO. 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Identifications Appearing On Certain Pamplin Pipes. | |||
| Plate: | Source of Pipe. | Designation. | Lettering. |
| [13] A. | Both | Original | Impressed |
| [13] B. | Home | Original | Impressed |
| [17] M. | Both | Original or Florence | Impressed |
| [18] Q. | Both | Hayiti | Impressed |
| [18] R. | Home | Genuine | Impressed |
| [19] V. | Factory | 117 | Raised |
| [20] Z. | Factory | Catlins | Raised |
| [20] AA. | Factory | 103 | Raised |
| [21] AC. | Home | Original | Impressed |
| [21] AD. | Factory | Powhatan | Impressed |
[Plate 13] A. Slightly Acute Angle. Made both in the factory and in the home. Many examples. All are a deep, dark, glossy red, except 9 pipes which were a light brown. Plain round bowl, octagonal base. It was made in at least 12 slightly varying sizes, there being that many variations between the large and the small pipe illustrated. This was the Pamplin Company’s “Original” Powhatan, and it was no doubt one of the Company’s leaders in production and sales. The word “ORIGINAL” is impressed in the right side of each base, with the exception of one single pipe, and the lettering appears in at least three different sizes, there being no correlation between the letter size and pipe size. This is a sturdily made pipe.
The Company emphasized in its publicity that the Indians had originally demonstrated to the early settlers the method of making the Powhatan and so had enabled them to make this exact form, thereby inferring that this model should have been of particular interest and worth. No doubt at some time and place in our history a happening of this nature may have occurred. However, the Powhatan is a usual form which has been found in aboriginal sites, with some modifications and of varying materials, over a wide area.
Many of these pipes appeared, both from the factory site and among those made by local women and retrieved from the basement of the Thornton General Store. Mrs. Betty Price said that this form was a standard product of the local Home Industry pipe makers before the factory ever came to Pamplin and one of the earliest made in the area. All of the pipes available to us carried the designation “Original” except one.
The making of clay pipes was an old and well established business at Pamplin; whether the impressing of the word ORIGINAL on the base of this pipe was an innovation of the Pamplin Smoking Pipe and Manufacturing Company, or whether this had been long done by the Home Industry is unknown.