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Before dealing with the lecture and excursion program,
Martin Kügler repeated what he had explained in the invitation to
the meeting, that he had decided on personal grounds to resign at the
end of the present meeting from the chairmanship of the Society and the
editorship of KnasterKOPF. He promised to give the new chairperson and
editor all possible assistance during the changeover period; he would
be available to answer individual questions, but would no longer play
an active part in Society organisation or research.
In the discussion on the future of the Society and KnasterKOPF,
which was in fact continued in many informal conversations during the
whole meeting as well as in the plenum on Sunday morning, no comprehensive
solution to the problem was forthcoming. There was a general feeling that
the open character of the Society, with no official membership or subscription,
should be retained.
Even though no new executive group was formed during the meeting, several
people agreed to take on certain duties. Happily, the annual meetings
will be continued, since Ruhla Pipe Museum has kindly invited us to hold
the 20th Annual Meeting of the Society there in 2006. Marita Pesenecker
said that she was prepared to enquire into the logistics of holding a
meeting at Ruhla. Carsten Spindler suggested that an internet forum would
be a cheap and rapid means of communication for members. It has now been
installed under the usual website address (www.knasterkopf.de).
Anyone interested can visit the website and obtain news about the Society,
join in discussions and ask questions about recent finds.
Several people showed an interest in helping with editorial work on KnasterKOPF.
However, Ralf Kluttig-Altmann, as the one remaining editor, explained
that to guarantee the present high quality and size of KnasterKOPF in
the future the backing of an institution was not only essential but urgent,
although so far no concrete offers had been received.
The scientific program of the meeting began on Friday afternoon with an
excursion to Geisenhausen near Landshut, to the firm of Alois Pöschl
Tabak GmbH & Co. KG. The owner of the firm, Dr. Ernst Pöschl,
invited the members to lunch and afterwards, with the help of three employees,
showed us around his factory. Dr. Pöschl gave us a most entertaining,
informative and original account of the history of the family business,
which had, since it was founded in 1902, developed into the largest snuff
factory in Europe. For several years it has also had a significant share
of the pipe tobacco and cigarette tobacco markets. During the 2-hour tour
through the different rooms and departments, members learnt about the
various raw materials, varieties and blends and about how the classic
Bavarian "Schmalzler" tobacco and other brands were prepared.
In the evening the members of the Society attended a reception in the
Museum's "Schlaraffensaal" given by the town of Ingolstadt.
Mrs. Brigitta Fuchs, Mayoress of Ingolstadt, welcomed the members
and expressed great pleasure in seeing that so many people had accepted
the invitation to come to Ingolstadt. Dr. Beatrix Schönewald
then showed the guests around the Museum, and gave an account of the exhibits
relevant to the industrial history of the town. Another highlight
was a visit to inspect the historic snuff stamp which once belonged
to the firm of Lotzbeck. Ingolstadt Museum was encouraged by the visit
of our Society to renovate the snuff stamp and get it into working order
again with the help of Pöschl & Co. It would then be possible
to demonstrate to museum visitors something about the snuff making trade,
which was also active in this town in the 18th and 19th centuries. During
and after the evening meal we had an opportunity to discuss the day's
events and to present members' clay-pipe and other finds.
The full program of presentations on Saturday began with a talk by Dr.
Gerd Riedel, Ingolstadt, on the most recent urban archaeological finds
in Ingolstadt. Carolingian and Merowingian remains found just north
and south of the town provided further evidence for some known historical
events such as the founding of the town in 806 AD. Discoveries dating
from the 13th and 14th centuries made in the vicinity of the old castle
showed that this imposing building was closely connected with the town.
Investigations in the old part of the town made it possible to reconstruct
several town houses that were associated with different trades, e.g. an
apothecary and various craftsmen's workshops.
Martin Kügler, Görlitz, gave an account of the present
state of clay-pipe research in Bavaria. So far most finds of clay
pipes have come from the places where they were smoked, but increasingly
the "Bavarian clay pipe landscape" is being defined on the basis
of reports of production centres. This of course requires considerably
more research.
This topic was also dealt with by Natascha Mehler M.A., who presented
her recent research results. Historical documentary sources have
helped to increase our knowledge of clay-pipe makers, traders and the
locations of clay-pipe factories in Bavaria in the 17th century. Since
at this time all tobacco growing and trading in Bavaria was leased to
a so-called "appaltor", this man apparently controlled the import
of foreign (Dutch) pipes and commissioned clay pipes to be produced in
Bavaria. This the inscription ISC on numerous different types of clay
pipe can now be interpreted as the initials of the then tobacco appaltor
Johann (A) Senser Compagnie. Documentary evidence permits several production
centres to be localised and provides evidence of trading in clay pipes.
The results so far achieved show that clay-pipe production in Bavaria
was quite independent as far as form and decoration are concerned. The
absence of (heel) marks makes identification of the maker difficult. Normally
marks are only found on imported pipes.
In the next paper Dr. Cordula Brand, Essen, described a clay
pipe find from St. Jacob's Square, Munich, which was dated by means
of the accompanying coins. Excavations on the western side of the square
in 2002/3, in the so-called "Seidenhaus" (silk house) recovered
a large number of stub-stemmed pipes in several different places. The
wide distribution of this type of pipe makes it difficult to determine
the maker and the place of manufacture. Comparison with similar finds
from Munich, Freiburg, Warsaw and the castle of Zips (CZ), this suite
of finds was dated between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the
18th century. The variety of forms of the stub-stemmed bowls shows that
there was extensive trade over considerable distances, particularly with
SE European pipemakers.
Later on in the morning we visited the Deutsche Medizinhistorische
Museum (German Museum of Medical History) in Ingolstadt. Dr. Kowalski
showed us objects, such as a tobacco syringes from the 17th and 18th centuries,
which documented one of the applications of tobacco in medical practice.
A message of greeting from Mrs. Heike Helbig of the Pipe Museum
in Ruhla, addressed to the guests at the meeting, was read by Holger
Haettich. In her message, Mrs. Helbig described how the dispute over
the will of Franz Thiel, the last pipemaker in Ruhla, who died in 1980,
was at last settled. Unfortunately his abandoned workshop was broken into
by thieves several times, and much of the pipe-making equipment stolen.
However, it was possible to acquire a large proportion of the remaining
equipment and it will shortly be on view to the public. In the same letter
Mrs. Helbig repeated her invitation to the Society to hold their 20th
annual meeting in Ruhla in 2006.
Walter Morgenroth, Tutzing, spoke about "Tobacco trade,
pipe marks and smuggler bands in the Electoral Principality of Bavaria
between 1660 and 1740" from documentary evidence. Around 1650
the free town of Nuremberg was the centre of the German tobacco trade.
Several tobacco appaltors, who had leased a monopoly from the state, are
documented in the Electoral Principality of Bavaria. One of he most important
personalities in the tobacco trade was Johann A. Senser, who was active
from 1668 onwards in the Upper Palatinate. It is important to know the
exact history of tobacco-tenure in order to be able to date the clay pipes,
which were inscribed with the name the relevant leaseholder. Thus, apart
from the ISC pipes, which were mentioned above, there are also pipes inscribed
with CBT. These were produced at the end of the 17th century, when administration
of the tobacco trade was in the hands of the state. The initials are those
of the responsible department, the "Churfürstliche Bayrische
Tabakwesen" (Electorial Bavarian Tobacco-Adminstration). From 1732
onwards free trading in tobacco was allowed in the Bavarian region.
Manuel Thomas from Rheinzabern chose a completely different topic
for his paper. He made a systematic/analytical comparison between clay
pipes and Roman terra-sigillata. After an introduction to this important
family of ceramics, he sketched several similarities such as the method
of production using moulds, maker's marks and the similar fine quality
of the clay used. The speaker found it remarkable that clay-pipe research
aimed at setting up a uniform documentation scheme, but that such a scheme
had not been established in terra-sigillata research.
Felix van Tienhoven, Geldrop (NL), concentrated on pipes made
of metal. This type of pipe was very much in favour in the 16th to
19th centuries. Since it is not possible to carry out a chemical analysis
on most of these metal objects, this particular sort of evidence for dating
these pipes is not available. The speaker thought that many of these pipes
were copies of clay pipes and that this might lead to determination of
their provenance and age. Examples of metal pipes from Holland, Britain,
France, Austria, Hungary and even the Far East.
The paper given by Johanna Sendl, Schönau, consisted of an
account of the Lersch family of pipemakers in Höhenberg in the
county of Rottal on the Inn. The history of this family can be followed
through three generations, from the end of the 18th century up to about
the middle of the 19th century. The actual production of the family was
modest - only sufficient to supply the local market. Apart from manuscript
documents, a few tools, pipe moulds and examples of the pipes produced
by the family have been recovered. The speaker brought these with her
and they were examined and discussed by the Society members with great
interest.
Dr. Theodor Straub, Gaimersheim, gave a paper on a village craft,
the making of wooden pipes commercially; he took the old Württemberg
village of Gruibingen as an example. Extensive studies of documents in
the parish archives uncovered details of numerous craftsmen and their
crafts throughout several generations; these have now been described.
Wooden pipe making was a popular second source of income, supplementing
that from a full-time job.
Simon Kraims, Basel (CH), read a paper that showed how clay-pipe
research can provide a marked contribution to interdisciplinary research.
He described the effects of clay-pipe smoking on the teeth of skeletons
of the last few centuries in Basel. On the basis of anthropological material
from two burial places dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, the speaker
gave an account of the effects of smoking on teeth: abrasion, tar covering,
staining, and plaque. This pathological evidence provided data on the
social environment, the consumption of tobacco and age of the clay pipes
found associated with the skeletons.
This lecture was the last of the scientific business of the day. During
supper members had a chance to continue their discussions.
On Sunday the future of the Society was again on the agenda. This was
followed by a paper read by Brigitte Fettinger, Vienna (A), who
dealt with a suite of finds from the ruins of Scharnstein Castle, Upper
Austria. These random clay pipe finds, which were dated in the second
half of the 17th century, were used well into the 18th century. The suite
was dominated by a special type of clay pipe, the so-called boot pipe.
It was possible to show that this material was closely related to other
finds from Austria and Bavaria. The large number of these particular pipes
found at this locality is so far unique and suggests that they were made
in production centres in Bavaria and/or Austria.
In the next lecture drs. Ruud Stam, Leiden (NL) spoke about the
economic state of the clay-pipe industry in the Netherlands in the 20th
century. There was a general drop in clay-pipe production in the 20th
century. From 1920 onwards slip-cast clay pipes were produced in the factories
and sales of clay pipes pressed in a mould became less and less. In the
beginning of the 1930s production of clay pipes made in a gin press was
more or less zero and the slip-cast pipes became increasingly popular.
From the 1920s onwards the clay-pipe industry felt strong competition
from wooden pipes. The cheap wooden pipes almost completely ousted clay
pipes from the souvenir market.
John Rogers, Malvern (GB), gave a fascinating account of his collection
of tobacco boxes and pipe stoppers. On the basis of the different
pieces in his collection he described the evolution of these two important
smoking accessories, which are not only made of a variety of materials
but also depict many surprisingly different forms and types of decoration.
It was interesting to see the historical influences on these objects.
As with clay pipes and other every-day objects, pipe stoppers were made
which recorded historical events of the day, for example figures of Napoleon
as pipe-stopper handle around 1800.
The last lecture was given by Carsten Spindler. He began by talking
about objects from the past and led us into an examination of the future
possibilities of an online forum. He described the technicalities,
the make-up and construction of this kind of facility, as well as its
potential and the possible problems, taking clay-pipe research as an example.
Martin Kügler, who was clearly moved by the occasion, closed
the 19th Annual Meeting of the Society by thanking all those who had
presented papers on their research results. They were responsible
for a program which was full of variety and stimulated an active exchange
of information. Thanks were also due to Dr. Beatrix Schönewald,
Director of the Ingolstadt Museum and Dr. Claus-Michael Hüssen,
who had, unburocratically and at short notice, made it possible to hold
the meeting in Ingolstadt. He thanked Mayoress Fuchs and Dr. Pöschl,
whose kind invitation and fascinating guided tour of the firm of Alois
Pöschl Tabak was certainly the highlight of the meeting. Particular
thanks were due to Natascha Mehler, who made all the preparations
for the Society's meeting in Ingolstadt at the same time as she was organising
the Clay-Pipe Section at the German Archaeological Congress in April.
It was due to her that everything ran so smoothly, for she saw to the
invitations, the program, the meeting rooms, the excursion and all the
meals for the 60 or more participants, a surprisingly and gratifyingly
large number.
After the meeting Dr. des. Ralf Kluttig-Altmann agreed to take over
the organisation of the Society, on a provisional basis, in order
to provide a central contact point until further notice. However, it was
made clear that these measures do not in any way guarantee the future
of the Society or of KnasterKOPF. For this reason all readers of this
report are urgently requested to consider whether they would be prepared
to spend some of their time actively helping the Society. Naturally, Mr.
Kluttig-Altmann would be pleased to hear from anyone who can offer his
or her services, and would gladly answer any queries. The work of the
Society is diverse and could be distributed among a number of people in
a way that no individual person has an excessive load. Lastly, attention
is specifically drawn to the Society's website Forum at
forum/index.php
which from now on will form the backbone of inter-member communication.
Brigitte Fettinger, Wien
Martin Kügler, Görlitz
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