The collection also includes examples of figurines, cane handles, wine spittoons, tureens and other speciality items. To date 150 blue painted patterns have been catalogued and we estimate that another 100 will be identified. The sheer number of patterns attest to the variety available to the consumer. The collection also exhibits a difference in the competence and nature of the painting, the fineness of the potting and the quality control exercised with the finished pieces. While variety was the norm, the collection also indicates that some of the inhabitants of Louisbourg had matched pieces or sets.
Several patterns appear on a variety of forms.
The Palace Garden design, for example, exists on plates, platters, a teapot, and cups and saucers. A cache of seven plates with the Pine Tree Pattern from the yard of the colony s financial administrator offers the opportunity to examine the variability in painting in what was clearly a matched set. Included are a number of platters and plates that had been repaired and reused. Fine holes were drilled on either side of the break to enable the fragments to be wired and glued back together. We hold examples of small gaming markers fashioned from the fragments of broken porcelain.