28.05.26 - South Bank

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:54:57 GMT

Date: Thursday 28th May 2026
Area searched: South Bank

Items found: pottery sherds, pieces of glass, two bottles, a Gameboy game, fake leaves, a cowrie shell.

A very hot evening, with many people on the foreshore, sitting on the sand, enjoying the weather.

I like the mysterious Game Boy game that it’s not possible to tell what game it was. I doubt it would still work though.

There’s a piece of a Dudson teapot there, the blue piece. Mosaic ‘pale blue’. https://ridgwaypatternbook.org.uk/other/dudsonpinetp.html

There’s a piece of ABC crockery (Aerated Bread Company), where only the A is visible.

The blue and white words are from G Phillips, Longport, who was in operation from 1834 to 1848. This broken piece of pottery could be almost 200 years old.

George Phillips:
https://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/797a.htm

Edward & George Phillips' Pottery at Longport:
https://www.transferwarecollectorsclub.org/bulletin_previews/articles/09Winter-Longport.pdf

An R White’s bottle.

A Presta bottle.

Presta was made by Apollinaris and they made squashes and other drinks.

Apollinaris date back to 1852 in Germany and became the leading table water. The brand is now owned by Coca-Cola.

Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollinaris_(water)

Presta advert:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vintageads/comments/1qqg13o/ad_poster_for_presta_sparkling_orange_and/#lightbox

Apollinaris company: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp122659/the-apollinaris-company-limited

This article, on page 14 of the PDF, has some interesting information on the Edenbridge Factory:
https://evmt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/32-EVH-Newsletter-2018.pdf

In 1875, Apollinaris were listed at 19 Regent Street in London, originally as wine and spirit merchants, and then also mineral water.

The article says that they became Apollinaris and Presta
in 1932 and then Apollinaris and Co in 1952 until 1955, and they manufactured Presta squashes and table waters at Sardinia House, 52 Lincoln's Inn Fields.

So this bottle is probably at least 70 years old.

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

comments

Mudlark Jodi

28.05.26 - South Bank