Although wire nails were first produced in France in 1819, their use was limited
 to furniture and boxes initially. Wire nails were not produced in significant
 numbers until the mid 1880s. While most sources give 1850 as the intial date
 for wire nails, it was much earlier. For buildings constructed between ca. 1885
 and 1923, the following can be used to provide a fairly accurate estimate of
 the construction date. Count your wire nails and cut nails in an assemblage and
 calculate the percentage of wire nails. For example, if your assemblage
 consists of 30% wire nails, the building was built ca. 1890. These percentages
 apply only to sites in the United States. Sites in the British system will have
 different percentages. The British nail production technology was retarded. The
 figures are based on production. While I can think of many reasons why this
 system should not work, I have plotted scores of sites and it does work rather
 well in most cases. If you would like to email me !
your site information (county, sta
te, historically known ethnicity, historically known socio-economic status, and
 percentage of wire/machine cut nails) I can include your site in my master plot
 which I am readying for publication. Be sure and include a FULL citation for
 reports. Also, if you would like to tell me the reasons why you think this
 system cannot work, I would like to hear them too. My first reaction to the
 idea was skeptical, yet it appears to be as accurate as anything, other than
 historical documents. If you are interested in reviewing the manuscript article
 prior to publication also contact me.
 
1880    Q
1886    6.8
1887    15.3
1888    18.8
1889    29.5
1890    35.7
1891    45.1
1892    51.2
1893    62.6
1894    69.6
1895    73.3
1896    74.6
1897    81.0
1898    85.1
1899    83.4
1900    82.9
1901    86.4
1902    87.1
1903    87.0
1904    90.3
1905    88.9
1906    90.6
1907    91.4
1908    91.8
1909    92.0
1910    92.7
1911    93.3
1912    93.8
1913    94.2
1914    94.1
1915    95.0
1916    95.7
1919    97.9
1921    97.3
1923    97.4
 
 
 
 
 
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