Part 2 — Trade

Some interesting objects recovered at Jamestown relate to early trade. These include items used in trade with the Indians, as well as an excellent assortment of lead bale clips. These clips are decorated discs which were often attached to bales of goods (especially woolen cloth) imported from England. One object, the heaviest unearthed at Jamestown, relates indirectly to trade. It is a 1,300-pound iron piledriver which was once used to build wharfs and piers.

Indian Trade

One reason why the colonists selected a site for Jamestown some miles up the James River was to develop the Indian trade over an extensive area. During the early years of the colony, trade with the natives was encouraged. It is clear from the early records that the settlers bartered such items as beads, cloth, penny knives, shears, bells, glass toys, whistles, hatchets, pots and pans, brass casting counters, and similar objects in exchange for Indian corn (and other vegetables), fish, game, fruits and berries, and furs.

Many examples of English trade goods used for bartering with the Indians have been found on the island, but these can be described only briefly.

Beads.

—The majority of glass beads were shipped from England, although some may have been made in Italy, probably in Venice. As no glass beads were found at or near the site of the glass factory, it is doubtful whether any were made there. Most beads in the collection are round or oval, a few are cylindrical having been cut from colored glass rods. All beads excavated are of one or more colors, with the exception of 2 or 3 that are colorless. After three centuries the attractive colors still persist; and looking at the colorful beads today you can understand the charm they held for the Indians.

Knives.

—Small, inexpensive knives called penny knives, were often used for trading purposes during the years at Jamestown. A few folding knives and blade fragments (which may also have been penny knives) have been recovered.

Shears.

—Several shears and scissors, highly prized by the Indians, were found on the island. A few are almost complete.

Bells.

—Brass and iron bells of types which were used for bartering with the Indians have been excavated. A few days after the colonists reached Jamestown one of them recorded that “our captaine ... presented [to an Indian chief] gyftes of dyvers sortes, as penny knyves, sheeres, belles, beades, glass toyes &c. more amply then before.”

Brass casting counters excavated on Jamestown Island. Many were made in Germany before 1575 for use by merchants on counting boards. In the New World they were used for the Indian trade.

A few objects unearthed at Jamestown which were used for trading with the Indians. Shown are glass beads, scissors, iron knives, a hatchet, and bell fragments.

Hatchets.

—Many fine specimens of handwrought hatchets have been found. These were valuable items during the early years of the settlement, and much sought after by the Indians, so that a large number were used in trading with them. But hatchets were used primarily by the carpenter, cooper, and other artisans.

Pots and Pans.

—A pot or pan made of brass or copper was almost worth its weight in gold for trading purposes. A few complete examples, together with numerous fragments, have been recovered.

Brass Casting Counters or Jettons.

—Most of these thin brass tokens or counters (similar in appearance to coins) were made in Germany during the second half of the 16th century. In Europe they were used on counting boards for making mathematical calculations, but in the New World it is believed that they were used in the Indian trade. Approximately a dozen have been found at Jamestown. Three were also found on Roanoke Island (site of Raleigh’s ill-fated “Lost Colony”) and one was recovered in an Indian shell mound near Cape Hatteras, not too distant from Croatoan Island (known today as Ocracoke Island). Many of the counters in the Jamestown collection were made by Hans Schultes and Hans Laufer of Nuremberg, who manufactured such jettons between 1550 and 1574, at which time Nuremberg was a center for the making of casting counters. Some of the counters have holes punched through them, indicating that the Indians may have worn them around their necks like pendants, suspended from leather thongs.

Miscellaneous Items.

—Other objects which the English used in trade with the Indians were colored cloth, glass toys, and whistles; but no examples of these have been recovered during archeological explorations.

A wharf scene—arrival of a ship from the mother country. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)

English and Foreign Trade

During the 17th century, active trade was carried on between the Virginia colony and the mother country. Local commodities of timber, wood products, soap ashes, iron ore, tobacco, pitch, tar, furs, minerals, salt, sassafras, and other New World raw materials were shipped to England. In exchange, English merchants sold to the colonists, tools, farm implements, seeds, stock and poultry, furniture and household accessories, clothing, weapons, hardware, kitchen utensils, pottery, metalware, glassware, and certain foods and drinks.

There is also good evidence that some trade was carried on with Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, and the West Indies. Many artifacts unearthed (especially pottery) were made in the countries mentioned. It is believed that certain commodities were acquired by direct trade with the country where made, in spite of the strict laws by which the Colonial Powers sought to monopolize the colonial trade for the benefit of the mother country.

Lead Bale Clips.

—A series of decorated lead clips which relate to 17th-century trade have been found at several places on Jamestown Island. As their name implies, these lead clips, or seals, were attached to bales of English goods, usually woolen cloth, to attest that the goods were of an approved quality and length, and of a given amount. Each clip usually consisted of two discs connected by a narrow band, and when used for marking cloth the name or initials of the maker of the material was often incised on one of the discs. The clips, too, were often embossed with a decorative device such as a coat of arms, crest, crown, name or initials of a king, numerals, king’s head, royal arms, animal, or flower. Over a dozen of these small lead clips have been unearthed, and serve as reminders of a past day when majestic English merchantmen sailed to Jamestown laden with bales of goods from the mother country.

Lead bale clips used for sealing bales of woolen cloth and other goods. Once a clip had been attached to a bale it attested that the goods were of an approved quality and length or amount.

This 1,300-pound iron piledriver used for driving piles in the building of small wharves was found at Jamestown.

Building a wharf, about 1650. (Conjectural sketch by Sidney E. King.)

Piers and Wharfs.

—In order to accommodate such large sailing vessels, piers and wharfs had to be built at Jamestown. A 1,300-pound iron piledriver was found in the basement of a 17th-century building in 1955. It was probably used three centuries ago for driving piles in the James River during construction of a small wharf.