Dear Peter,

M.B. Rowlands,  Masters & Men ... (1975), 172-6 prints the contract between
Robert Foley and the Navy Board in 1677 for the supply of ironmongery,
including nails.   The prices ranged between 9.5d per lb. for inch brads to
4.25d for single deck nails, '10d.' brads and probably upwards to 40d. nails
and sheathing nails.   Most have the 'd.' classification (which is sometimes
expressed as '10 penny nails' etc.) weight of 1000,  length in inches,  and
price per lb.   For '10d.' brads 1000 were to weigh 14 lb.,  be 2.5 inches
long and priced at 4.5d per lb. according to the same book p.159 a nailer
asked to make 13lb. nails [i.e. 1000 to weigh 13lb.] in 1785 was supplied
with 120 lb. (2 bundles) of rod iron and expected to return 106lb. of nails
for which he received (net) 9s. 1d.   If he made less from the 120 lb. due
to greater wastage he had to bear that himself,  but if he did better he got
the benefit.

It is most unlikely that any significant quantity of nails were made in
Swansea.   Nails were mainly produced in specialist regions such as the
Black Country and north of Sheffield.   For the most part the nailers lived
near the slitting mills that produced rod iron and worked for ironmongers,
who put out iron to them and then marketed their products.   This
specialisation probably goes back to the days before slitting mills to judge
by the number of nailers in Sedgley.

I have not tried doing arithmetic on the numbers you quote and leave this to
you.   1 million 2 inch brads at 4 lb. per 1000 would weigh 4000 lb.,  or
rather under 2 tons.   These were probably priced at 7d. per lb. in that
contract (the text not being clear),  so that they would have cost £116.

Prices in contracts I have found dated 1712 and 1722 are however somewhat
lower.

Peter King




----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Hutchison <[log in to unmask]>
To: Arch-metals <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 10 November 2000 06:20
Subject: Re: Iron nails


> Peter
>
> I still have my doubts. They bought 2,000,000 or so they said in a month.
I
> think it would take more than 1,000 man days to knock them in working very
> quickly.
> Swansea was a very small town at that time with an estimated population of
> about 2500 including the children. I wonder how many carpenters they could
> get to work on the building..
>
> They paid 11s 2d for them. That is 7463 nails for a penny. Half a century
> before lath nails were 250 for a penny.
>
> Did the workmen know what a million was and that it was perhaps 1000 bags?
> Could they count to 1000?
>
> Did a million mean 1,000,000 or some lesser number, or was it not defined?
> Did people use a million the way my young grandson does to mean a huge
> indeterminate amount. Come to think of it I sometimes.use "millions" that
> way.
>
> Peter Hutchison.
>



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