03.25.09

March 25th Webletter

Posted in JTS News at 9:42 am by jtsblog

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

Bell Back Tent TE-83 $250.00	Machine-knit Voyageur’s Cap CA-120 $16.00	Hardy Playing Cards PC-38 $10.00

News

It has been a busy week. We are hard at work on the new catalog and it is coming along nicely. Barring any unforeseen problems it should be out the normal time (late April or early May). The Kalamazoo event this past weekend was very good. We saw lots of old friends and met some new people. We even had time to finish up some youtube videos for your viewing pleasure.

New Youtube Videos

Putting Up a Wedge Tent
Josh with PC-38 Playing Cards
Josh with CA-120 Voyager Hat

A Few Interesting Gleanings

This out of Private Yankee Doodle, J.P. Martin
Being pinched with hunger, I one day strolled to a place where I had the good luck ( or rather bad luck, as it turned out in the end) to find an ox’s milt, which had escaped the hogs and dogs, with this prize I steered off to my tent, threw it upon the fire and broiled it, and then sat down to eat it, without either bread or salt, I had not had it long in my stomach before it began to make strong remonstrances and to manifest a great inclination to be set at liberty again, I was very willing to listen to it requests and with eyes overflowing with tears a parting with what I had thought to be a friend, I gave it a discharge. But the very thoughts of it would for some time after almost make me think that I had another milt in my stomach.A notice in a 1753 Boston newspaper
Notice is hereby given, That for the future none will be admitted to see the new manufactory at Germantown [Braintree], unless they pay at least one shilling lawfull money; and they are desired not to ask above three or four questions, and not to be offended if they have not a satisfactory answer to all or any of them.

A notice in the New-York Gazette and General Advertiser, November 4th 1801
Bakers, Every family must now become their own Bread Makers - the Bakers are displeased with the late regulations of the common council, and almost to a man, have determined to Bake no more under the present regulation.

The Perpetual Motion. from The Spectator, February 18, 1800
In the jail of Goshen, in the state, two men are confined on suspicion of counterfeiting hard dollars. During their imprisonment, without any other instrument than a penkinife, they have fabricated a machine of cedarwood with discovers the Perpetual Motion. The machine consistes of about 30 cog and spar wheels of various dimensions, and is set inmotion by weights. It can be adapted to a clock, saw-mill, grist-mill, or any other peice of machinery that moves by weights, water or wind; and will continue them in motion so long as the machinery will last. By the help of this machine, it is believed, water might be brot into the city with trifling expense. Every friend oto the Arts and Sciences wil lament that the public are deprived of the benefit of this discovery, by the imprisonment of its authors.
(I don’t know about you but I think they very honest folks and should be let out of jail forthwith)

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03.18.09

March 19th Webletter

Posted in Documentation at 6:00 pm by jtsblog

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

British Coin Set CO-514 $16.00	Bilbo Catcher BC-57 $8.00	Hand Blown Onion Bottle GB-214 $34.00

Onion Bottles are Available Again

We have done a little video showing the bottle in action. You can see it right on the product page or you can look on our Youtube channel.

Bilbo Catcher Video

We have a new video on the Bilbo Catcher. OK, we admit it, we are having fun with this video thing. At first it was “Let’s be educational,” then we decided just to have fun.

Informational Coin Video

Along with the article below we have done a video showing original coins and our reproductions. You can see that video on the British Coin Set product page or on our Youtube channel.

Coin Money in 18th Century America

As I pondered different subjects to write about this week, I thought I would touch upon a topic which seems to have taken center stage in the minds of so many people: that being the topic of MONEY. As a courtesy, however, I will limit this essay to 18th-century variety.

As I researched this topic, I quickly discovered just how complicated colonial economics really was. Let me mention first that Jas carries a number of high-quality lead-free pewter reproduction coins. We cast our coins ourselves from original coins with the exception of one or two where originals are simply not available.

Let’s look at some of the reproductions we offer of coins you might see if you could travel back in time to 18th-century North America.

Spanish Coins

Also known as a “Piece of 8,” Jas carries a 1755 and 1783 version of the Spanish Reale. These were probably the most common piece of silver coinage in the colonies, being roughly equivalent to the British crown. With such a tremendous shortage of small coins in the colonies, these coins were sometimes cut into pieces or “bits.” “Two bits, four bits, eight bits, a dollar; all for King George stand up and holler!!!” Another quick note on this coin is that it was considered equal in value with the US silver dollar and was actually legal tender in the US up until the mid-19th century.

French Coins

From France, we have a 1769 Ecu which was roughly equivalent in value to the Piece of 8. It’s interesting to note that during the French Revolution, there was such a strong disdain for the monarchy that coins were often defaced by digging scratches across the king’s likeness as well as across the Fleur de Lis on back. Such defacement is evident on our original coin and is easily visible as well on our reproductions.

We also carry the Sol Marque coin that was supposed to be about a 2-penny coin. In reality, the coin tended to trade much lower. It was not a very popular coin because of its half silver, half copper composition. Consequently, a number of these coins found their way to the colonies where they were more widely used and accepted than in France due to the American shortage in smaller coinage.

German Coins

The only pewter reproduction we carry of German silver coinage is that of the 1778 German Thaler. This coin is from the Hesse-Cassel region. It is similar in value to the Crown or Piece of 8, and was likely used by King George to pay for the services of the Hessen Army…true blood money of sorts.

While the British throne tried to curtail the inflow of british silver into the colonies in order to increase that movement to its own shores, the rapid economic expansion that occurred in the colonies resulted in the steady importation of foreign silver. This made trade and currency exchange extremely complicated.

British Coins

Jas offers an extensive range of reproduction coins of Great Britain. Our British Coin Set includes a 1777 Guinea (gold plated), a 1705 Crown, 1710 Half Crown, 1745 Shilling, 1757 6-Pence, 1718 Half-Penny, 1747 Half-Penny, 1751 Irish Half-Penny, and a 1754 Farthing. The relative value of these coins goes like this:

Gold Guinea = 21 Silver Shillings

Silver Crown = 5 Silver Shillings

Silver Shilling = 12 Pence (early pence were silver while later versions were copper)

1 Pence = 2 copper Half-pennies or 4 copper Farthings

So What Were The Coins Worth?

If you think we have it rough trying to figure out what a dollar is worth today and maybe tomorrow, well I don’t think we have it bad at all compared to our 18th century counterparts. Imagine dealing with coinage from half a dozen different countries and colonies, and massive shortages of coins of all sizes, especially small coins. Then add to the mess: counterfeit coins, trade tokens, bills of exchange on goods like tobacco (which were also used as money), Bills of Credit issued by states that traded like money, checks drawn on foreign banks, and finally “Bill of hand”(IOU’s). I cannot imagine the math skills the typical merchant or even typical buyer of any product might need to do a simple transaction. Obviously, money was a problem. A 1784 advertisement in Maryland offers clocks and watches for sale “all of which he will dispose of on moderate terms, for cash, Bill of Exchange or Tobacco”.

What did things cost?
I have burrowed through some old advertisements and accounts to pull out a few random prices. Notice the cost of food, household spend as much as 50 percent of their income on food compared to today where we spend less than 10 percent.

North America 18th century: (These North American prices are likely price in official colonial shilling which are inflated over the British silver shilling price by 30 to 100%, depending on the year and location.)
1 quart Mug - 1 Shilling -1780’s North Carolina

Potter Teapot - 1.5 Shillings -1780’s North Carolina

1 China Plate - 20 Shillings -1749 Boston

Cream Colored plate - .5 Shilling -1777 Boston

Leather Breaches - 18 Shillings -1738 Boston

India Chints (calico) - 8 Shillings/yard -1743 Boston

Felt Hat from Scotland - 8.5 Shillings -1739 Boston

Paper of Tooth Powder - .5 Shilling -1712 Boston

Sugar - 3 Shillings per Lbs -1724 Boston

Green Tea - 20 Shillings per lbs -1736 Boston

Milk - 2 Shillings per quart -1748 Boston (wow, imagine spending half a days wages on a quart of milk)

Eggs - 5 Shillings per Dozen -1748 Boston (Yikes!, I am buying some chickens)

Charcoal - 3 Shillings per Bushel -1748 Boston

Lisbon Lemons 12 Shillings per Dozen -1768 Boston

Mug of Rum - 1 Shilling -1750 Boston - Listed as “Old Tenor” being undervalued older paper currency.

Great Britain 1745:

1 lbs of green tea - 14 Shillings - sterling

1 lbs of sugar - 1 Shillings - sterling

1 Lbs of Chocolate - 6 Shillings - sterling

Hat - 8.5 Shillings - sterling

leather breaches - 21 Shillings - sterling

pair of shoes - 6.5 Shillings - sterling

Common prayer book - 3.5 Shillings - sterling

Silver watch - 84 Shillings - sterling

Steel Watch - 10 Shillings - sterling

Wool Stockings - 4 Shillings - sterling

How much were people paid?

A quick look at some references can give us a little idea about wages for typical laborers. London, 1765, unskilled laborer might be paid 10 shillings a week (equiv, Approximately 2 silver dollars, I mean silver dollars made of silver not todays dollar coins which have not been made of silver since the 1960’s). Wages in the 18th century America are cited as being 30 to 100% higher. Here are two examples one from North Carolina, 1784: a older apprentice to the potter was paid 15 Shillings (3 silver dollars) a week and a teacher in Virgina, 1759, was paid 24 Shillings (about 5 silver dollars) a week. I do have one question when I look at these numbers, what were these workers in the colonies getting paid in? If they are being paid in goods or bills of credit that were discounted 50%, then maybe their pay was not that much higher. There is also 1760 reference of using soldiers as laborers and paying about 5 Shillings (about one dollar ) a week specifically in New York currency. I wonder how many takers they had at that rate. JP Martin in “Private Yankee Doodle” (Rev war) speaks of being paid only once during the war and then in specie, that being borrowed from a French officer.

For more info, here are just a few website links-

This site is good for comparing todays money with past money.

http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/index.php

This website is huge with tons of info on colonial money.

http://www.coins.nd.edu/title.html

Reference books

The Economy of Colonial America, Edwin Perkins

London Life in the Eighteenth Century, M. Dorothy George

Lady of Fashion, Edited by Natalie Rothstein

Arts & Crafts in New England 1704-1775, George Francis Dow

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03.11.09

March 11th Webletter

Posted in JTS News at 10:02 am by jtsblog

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

Folding Frying Pan FP-248 $58.00	Green Coffee Beans CB-239 $10.00

Article

Sorry for the short newsletter this week. The article I am working on is just too big to finish in time, but I trust you find it interesting and worth the wait. But for now, I will give you something that I’m sure will provide worthwhile material for your consideration. Here is a little advertisement I recently ran across extracted from a 1748 Boston newspaper (Seriously! This REALLY DID come from a 1748 Boston newspaper!).

James Turner Just Published, a Treatise, proving ( a Posteriori ) that most of the Disorders incident to the Fair Sex, are owing to the Flatulencies not seasonably vented. Wrote originally in Spanish, by Don Fart-inhando Puff-indost. Sold by J. Bushell, Printer in Newbury street, Price 2 shillings.

Here is a different advertisement from 1712
To be Sold by Mr. Zabdiel Boyleston at his Apothecary shop, The Royal Honey Water, an Excellent Perfume, good against Deafness and to make Hair grow, as the directions sets forth, 1s.6d. the bottle

Roasting green coffee beans video

It’s a flash back. We did a cooking video about 12 years ago and I have pulled a small piece out of that video on roasting green coffee beans. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpl0In8laI

For those of you clamoring for more video- Yes, we are working on a whole new series of videos, but alas they are not ready just yet.

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03.04.09

March 4th JTS Webletter

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:41 am by jtsblog

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

Sale! Lewis and Clark - Tailor Made and Trail Worn BK-824 $25.00	Brass Telescope in Wood Box BT-774 $50.00

New Product - Brass Telescope in Wood Box

We have added a great new brass telescope to our webpage. We have even done a little video clip for it that you can watch right from the product page. Even if you are not interested in the product you might want to check out the video, it is kind of fun. It is also at the top of our youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/jastownsendandson

Sale Product - “Lewis and Clark, Tailor Made, Trail Worn”

This big hardcover book is a tremendous resource for the Lewis and Clark expedition as well as more general info for the time period just proceeding and just after. The price is incredibly low and when our stock is gone, it’s gone.

Event Announcement - Kalamazoo Michigan Living History Show

Kalamazoo Living History Show is coming right up on March 20 and 21st. We plan on being there, if you are in the area and you need more info you can get it here: http://www.kalamazooshow.com

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Jas. Townsend and Son, Compendium in Progress

03.25.09

March 25th Webletter

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

News

New Youtube Videos

A Few Interesting Gleanings

03.18.09

March 19th Webletter

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

Onion Bottles are Available Again

Bilbo Catcher Video

Informational Coin Video

Coin Money in 18th Century America

03.11.09

March 11th Webletter

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

Article

Roasting green coffee beans video

03.04.09

March 4th JTS Webletter

Jas. Townsend and Son Website Newsletter

New Product - Brass Telescope in Wood Box

Sale Product - “Lewis and Clark, Tailor Made, Trail Worn”

Event Announcement - Kalamazoo Michigan Living History Show

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