Strange Pottery Pieces

[Headhunter23]

I recently hit up a new site and found tons of pottery. There were a few pieces that kinda made me scratch my head. The first is a piece with a 7? on the back of it. One with a circle, I have never seen this on NC pottery before. And the last is a Pottery Disc? I'm not real good with pottery, so any help is good help. Thanks!

[Steve Valentine]

The "7" is probably a plow mark and not done on purpose. The circles though look like they were a decoration on the Pot. The other one could be a Pottery Disc and then again it could just be a piece that was rounded from erosion and from being rolled around in the field by farm equipment.

[Headhunter23]

Thanks Steve

[dirtscratcher]

I think the 7 may have been an organic stem or grass leaf that accidentally got molded in, then burned out when fired. The circle is pretty odd in that it was impressed after the vertical decoration was done. It looks like maybe a reed or bamboo end that was ground nice and flat was used, but what's odd is that the center is out of line with the outside like it was pressed, twisted, then lifted.

[longtimefree]

Originally Posted by dirtscratcher

I think the 7 may have been an organic stem or grass leaf that accidentally got molded in, then burned out when fired. The circle is pretty odd in that it was impressed after the vertical decoration was done. It looks like maybe a reed or bamboo end that was ground nice and flat was used, but what's odd is that the center is out of line with the outside like it was pressed, twisted, then lifted.

x2 very interesting that the tool was twisted to offset the vertical line, i have several pieces of pottery that have finger prints on the back side of the pieces , thanks for the show

[joshuaream]

Check the depth of the 7, if it's very even and consistent it could be a later piece of crock earthenware. My grandmother has lots of them with numbers that represented sizes, I don't know if they made a number 7 but the numbers are curvy like that (both painted and embossed.)

Did you see any old glass, bits of iron, painted china, or other pieces of historic stuff?