Bly,

If none of the pewter screw caps for case bottles have been found in English
contexts, are you positing that the abundance of them at Jamestown had
something to do with the way the project was supplied/outfitted (e.g.,
purchases from Amsterdam warehouses or the like?)?

Mary

On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 2:26 PM, Bly Straube <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> 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]
>