Two small 17th century clay salts from an important New York City (New Amsterdam) site, circa 1630-1690

Being offered are some of the remaining items I recently spoke about in an email, they are two early salts. The smaller one measures 1 ¾” x 1 ½” x 1” and the larger 3 ¼” x 2 ¾” x 1 ¼”.  In the 1600s, pottery was primarily made from locally sourced, low-firing, iron-rich clays that fired to buff, red, or brown-tone colors. Common materials included clay, shale, and mudstones, often tempered with grog (crushed pottery), sand, or mica.

In the 17th century, salt was an indispensable and high-value commodity used primarily for food preservation, medicine, and as an emerging industrial chemical. Because refrigeration did not exist, it was the only way to store meat and fish over long periods, making it critical for survival and global trade.

These items were recovered in the late 1960s during the original excavating in New York City for the World Trade Center. One of the operators of a large crane would scour the recently dug ground on his lunch break looking for old artifacts. He said there were hundreds of broken shards and glass from the 16th and 17th century, but he was looking for more complete items. Actually, the Dutch ship “Tijger”, commanded by Adriaen Block, burned in 1613 and was found in 1916 during subway construction in the nearby area.

At the time there were archaeologists on site, but didn’t consider these pieces as important artifacts, so he was usually allowed to keep what he found. Most items were early clay pottery, going back to when New York City was New Amsterdam.  Over the years he acquired a rather large collection of these early pieces.

This substantial collection went to the man’s son, who just recently decided to part with some of these unique finds. They are both in nice condition for their age, showing the crude manufacturing methods.

I was fortunate to acquire some of these objects from this rare collection. They are a very important part of America’s and New York City’s history. A laminated summary card and a Certificate of Authenticity will be included with every piece.