Mo,
Those pewter screw caps (called 'vices' in the C17) are a
Dutch phenomenon. Hugh Willmott (Early post-medieval vessel
glass in England c. 1500-1670, CBA Research Report 132,
2002) claims that not one has been found in England. We have
lots of them from our excavations of James Fort, established
by the English in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.
Bly

Beverly A. (Bly) Straube, FSA
Senior Archaeological Curator
Jamestown Rediscovery
1365 Colonial Parkway
Jamestown, VA 23081
757 229-4997 x103

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Maureen Brown
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Case Bottle & Pewter Screw Cap Refs?

Hello everyone,



Since my companion, Marybeth, had such a great response to
her request
for faience references from everyone, I thought I'd make a
small request
to the group as well.



I'm researching glass from the La Belle shipwreck, which was
one of the
La Salle's, the French explorer's vessels that wrecked on
the Texas
coast in 1686. The majority of glass recovered includes
three sizes of
case bottles and associated pewter screw caps, similar to
the ones found
on several VOC (Dutch East Indiamen) merchant vessels. In
addition,
there were a few onion bottles and hour glasses/sand clocks
found as
well. I'm interested in references, information, and/or
comparative
underwater and terrestrial sites that have found 17th - 18th
century
case bottles and/or pewter screw caps/tops.



Thanks a bunch and hope everyone is cooler than us in
Austin!

Mo



Maureen Brown

Collections Manager/Archeologist III

Archeology Division

Texas Historical Commission

P.O. Box 12276

Austin, TX 78701-2276

(512) 927-7876 office

(512) 927-9797 fax

[log in to unmask]