Found these shipwreck artifacts in a thrift store...

They were in a shadowbox sort-of case. The thrift store was a couple miles from Lewes, Delaware. Do you think there's a chance that these are legitimate and how would this family have gathered the artifacts?

 

I doubt it

 

Is there any provenance with the artifacts??? Anything to back up the story?? I mean anyone could print up a story or a couple of lines to go with some broken pieces........where's the proof? Is there a history on the shipwreck, just for starters?? If so, what was the cargo?? A myriad of questions could be asked......if the shipwreck was 1774, and the artifacts were LEGITIMATELY found in 2006, I would think they would be in a local museum, not a thrift shop, IMHO!!! AND would have been made a big deal of in the 2006 news as well!! I also think some of that glaze on those pottery shards is pretty shiny with pretty clean edges..........again.....just MHO......

 

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https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/10/lewes-shipwreck-site-window-into-1770s.html?m=1

 

I'd say someone went beachcombing and found these bits. Pottery shards are like dollar bills - not worth enough to bother faking them.

 

The article says 40,000 artifacts from the Lewes shipwreck... so maybe it was common to find them after the dredging project...?

 

how would this family have gathered the artifacts?

walking along the beach....maybe after a storm....

 

If the ship was full of trade goods and wrecked that close to shore, there would be a kajillion pieces scattered pillar to post.

 

Why not. "Tens of thousands of pottery shards..." "...littered 1,000 linear feet of Lewes Beach..."

http://www1.udel.edu/PR/Messenger/05/03/pickingup.html

Debora

 

Thank you, Debora... this is so helpful!

 

We collected some 18th century Chinese pottery shards and numerous fossil sharks teeth,whale bones and shells from the shores of the York river in Virginia. At the time we lived there 3 sunken 18th century cargo ships were still in the river,I think 2 of them have been recovered since then.

 

Is that a real word of made up for the occasion?
Whichever it is I like it and will use it

 

They may well be of that age, sherds get found all the time. Most of that doesn't look British .

 

JMHO. I suspect they are not from the same ship.
the left and mid shard in the bottom line do not look the same age. although both saltglazed the left one looks earlier; the middle one with its greyish blue could be from the left hand side of the Rhine from what today is Alsace and looks too regular to be as old as the mentioned ship. the left one with the typical flower adornment could be from the ship's period and Westerwald from the right side of the Rhine.
it should not be forgotten that millions of saltglaze containers and bottles were simply thrown away after having served as shipping containers.

 

Last night I found some articles online that talk about how the site has been studied since 2004, and has now turned up 80,000+ artifacts. After years of study, it is believed to be not the Severn, but a Dutch merchant ship called the Maria Johanna, so it was carrying "goods" from several different regions (China, South Africa, etc), bound for Philadelphia. Records show that it got stuck in the ice in 1779.

https://www.delawareonline.com/stor...facts-now-safely-preserved-inland/1148430002/

 

I've heard my Dad use that over the past years!!

 

SO, OK, SHOOT ME!!!! I'm somewhat of a Doubting Thomas, guess I always will be!! Reading both those articles, which I hadn't seen, but have now read, thanks to @Debora and @i need help, it seems the items could very well have been in dropped in a 'thrift' shop, especially since one article deemed they were "priceless and worthless".....LOVED reading the articles!!!! And looks like 235 year old shards CAN keep their 'shiny glaze'!!!

 

Westerwald was my thought on that salt glazed blue .

 

best known is Betschdorf . Sauerkraut pots, Cornichon pots, lard etc.. due different clay on the left side they have like a sprinkled grey hue over the blue, as the Westerwald the colors are "cleaner".
https://www.pinterest.de/pin/267190190375211802/