Iron nails were sold by the thousand or by the 'some' (10000).   The nails
had a weight specification of so many pounds per 1000,  so that the number
in a bag could be determined by weighing the bag.   Whether it was one
million nails (if not this was not wild exaggeration) could be determined by
weighing them.   There was a sophisticated system for classifying nails in
the 18th century by type,  length,  weight of 1000 and in pence.     The
latter may be the original cost of 100 in the days before the slitting mill.
I recall buying nails form a builders merchant,  I suppose in the 1960s,
and being surprised that he sold them by the pound,  not by number.

I think deals were sold in a standard size and were imported in hundreds
(possibly 120 not 100),  so that a quarter hundred is a reasonable
description.

In reply to the original query.  Nails were not normally made by blacksmiths
in England.   They were already being made by nailers by the late 16th
century.   Sedgley parish register records fathers' occupations.   These
include nailers,  hammermen,  and slitters.   The latter were not the
operatives in slitting mills,  which had not then been introduced to the
Midlands.

Peter King
----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Hutchison <[log in to unmask]>
To: Arch-metals <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 08 November 2000 18:03
Subject: Re: Iron nails


> >I am wondering if anyone has a clue about the development of prices of
> iron nails? I mean those done by blacksmiths<
>
> Not quite the period you are looking for but I came across these prices.
>
> In a book of miscellaneous facts called "Swansea before Industry" Gerald
> Gabb quotes a court action for building the Llangefalach copper works. In
> January
> 1718 there are records of two orders for  "A million nails" were which
> together cost 11s 2d.
>
> I know Gerald very well and I have no doubt that this is a fact and that
he
> could show me the record in question.
>
> What I have some doubt about is the number supplied. The possibility of
> physically counting 1,000,000 nails seems remote. In 1717 while I am
> sure everyone could count to some extent (otherwise they would be cheated
> when buying or selling anything) I wonder whether any storekeeper or
workman
> would know what a million was, or be able to do the arithmatic to work out
> how many smaller batches made a million.. I fear that all we can reliably
> say is that two batches containing a huge number (probably quite a few
> thousands) of nails were bought, probably by weight. The other
> possibility is, of course, exageration in a court case.
>
> More reliably from the same source "a quarter of a hundred deale boards"
> were nailed onto a building in 1647 with 1s 6d worth of nails. We don't
know
> how long or wide the boards were but we can have a reasonable guess how
many
> nails
> (2-3 inch perhaps) there were. Your guess is as good as mine but it will
> surely be hundreds not
> thousands.
>
> 1645  - 1 1/2 cwt of nails 1s 1d
> 1659  - 1500 pins (probably lath nails) @ 4d per thousand - 1s 10p.
> Something wrong here - perhaps 5500 pins. I must ask Gerald if this is a
> typo.
> 1718 - 3lbs sprigs 12 pence (this is the copper works again).May be
> non-ferrous. The sprigs I
> know are triangular nails for holding glass in windows and are clipped
from
> sheet. .The 1730 drawing shows windows that look to be glazed.
>
> 1657  - 3 pounds of spikes  1 shilling. The disparity in the price of
these
> large nails suggests to me that they were made by a local smith while the
> pricing of the
> smaller nails suggests that they were bought in from a merchant.
>
> The slitting mill for producing nail rod was in use in England by then and
> the small iron nails were probably produced in nailors shops in the
> Midlands.
>
>
> Peter Hutchison



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