File:Pipe tamper (front) (FindID 588801).jpg

English: Incomplete ceramic pipe tamper in the form of a naive school boy wearing a tunic with a large collar and large buttons, perhaps representing a Blue Coat Scholar. The figure has bent arms with the hands resting on the protruding belly, and the face has chubby cheeks, a narrow rectangular nose, and circular pellets for eyes. The hair is defined by moulded vertical strands, which end at the collar at the side and on the back of the figure. There is a continuous ridge along the side of the body and the head, showing that the figure was made in a two-part mould. The legs of the firgure are missing, as is the pedestal base of the pipe tamper, which would have been used to press the tobacco down inside the pipe bowl. The Blue Coat schools were set up in cities around England, the first being established in Liverpool in 1708, and then another in London in 1709.

Bailey (1992) illustrates figurative pipe tampers in the form of a farmer and a sailor on pages 63 & 65, Figs.15 & 39, which are dated from the mid 18th century to the early 19th century.