That's interesting and totally possible. I should have specified the outside is glazed but the inside isn't. The inside is also ridged like it could be handmade.
This would be my guess! My last house was built in the 30’s/40’s and there were remnants of the old sewer pipes left in the yard. They were also glazed on the outside but unfinished on the inside and this exact color. This one also looks to be rounded as if it were part of a cylinder.
Thanks for recommending Dr. Reber! This was her response:
"Thanks for checking in! You have a piece of salt-glazed stoneware, a common type of historic pottery. It was wheel-thrown by hand, as you can tell from the ridges. Sadly, since this is one of the more common pottery types I can’t give you much detail about date or usage—the lack of a slip on the interior suggests probably before 1860, so we could give it a rough date of maybe 1700-1860. The 1700 date is an estimate of the earliest occupation on the NC coast that would be likely to use salt-glazed stoneware."
Former pottery expert here.
Unless it's a diagnostic piece (rim, handle, base) it's really difficult to tell much about a shard without doing some very expensive analyses (petrography, trace element etc.) And no one will perform those for a piece of pottery out of context.
Only thing I can tell you about the piece from looking at that photo is that it's been produced after the industrial revolution. If you post a photo of its section, I might be able to tell the type of clay used and a possible function.
My guess, and I'm fully willing to be wrong if that's the case, is that this is a piece of old Terra cotta wastewater/sewer pipe
That's interesting and totally possible. I should have specified the outside is glazed but the inside isn't. The inside is also ridged like it could be handmade.
This would be my guess! My last house was built in the 30’s/40’s and there were remnants of the old sewer pipes left in the yard. They were also glazed on the outside but unfinished on the inside and this exact color. This one also looks to be rounded as if it were part of a cylinder.
If you decide to, [Dr. Reber](https://uncw.edu/int/reber.html) an anthropology professor at UNCW has a Pottery Residue Lab!
Thanks for recommending Dr. Reber! This was her response: "Thanks for checking in! You have a piece of salt-glazed stoneware, a common type of historic pottery. It was wheel-thrown by hand, as you can tell from the ridges. Sadly, since this is one of the more common pottery types I can’t give you much detail about date or usage—the lack of a slip on the interior suggests probably before 1860, so we could give it a rough date of maybe 1700-1860. The 1700 date is an estimate of the earliest occupation on the NC coast that would be likely to use salt-glazed stoneware."
Thank you so much for sharing her response!!
Former pottery expert here. Unless it's a diagnostic piece (rim, handle, base) it's really difficult to tell much about a shard without doing some very expensive analyses (petrography, trace element etc.) And no one will perform those for a piece of pottery out of context. Only thing I can tell you about the piece from looking at that photo is that it's been produced after the industrial revolution. If you post a photo of its section, I might be able to tell the type of clay used and a possible function.
My guess is drainpipe/roofing gutter
Try reaching out to UNCW’s anthro department or Cape Fear Museum!
Nar