Archaeology. Tin Cups & A Wire Bail.

Some time ago I wrote an article about some tin cup fragments that had been found without handles, and that also a wire bail was found with these same fragments (http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/early-to-mid-18th-century-tin-cups.html). Based on this information I made myself a tin cup with a wire handle, but I was never sure whether the wire bail was like a bail on a kettle, or whether it meant a wire handle. Anyway I have since then used my cup in the field, and as I was trying to lighten my pack, I decided to try and use the tin cup with the leather wrapped wire handle for cooking as well as drinking. This did not work. Firstly it was difficult to heat water in the cup without burning the leather on the handle, secondly I found it inconvenient to only have the one vessel. I could not drink and eat at the same time.

Having given this problem further thought I decided to make a second cup with a wire bail, but this time I would make a wire bail such as found on kettles, so I could hang my tin cup over the fire. Given the primary evidence of the two cups found and the presence of the wire bail, this seems to me to be a reasonable thing to do. I used an old spare ball mould as a pair of pliers and constructed the bail without punching holes in the tin.

Original tin cups shown as found. Taken from the PDF.

1 ¼ pounds of iron and brass wire, both thick and thin.
Ft Pontchartrain 1747.
http://www.timothyjkent.com/pontchartrainexcerpts.htm

http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?keywords=fur+trade&startat=61&irn=10295819

Examples of gold and silver jewellery dating back to early Egyptian times exist which incorporated hand woven wire meshes, but the earliest evidence of the development of wire weaving on looms for industrial purposes appears to be in the early part of the 18th Century. Wire drawing had existed prior to this for many hundreds of years on a simple scale. Iron ingots were beaten to a flat sheet which was then cut into strips, hammered round, and pulled through a stone die and many products were made from hand wrought wire.

http://www.lockergroup.com/history-of-wire-weaving.asp

Twisted wire forks have been unearthed at several 18th-century military camp sites.1 These may have been available through the army sutlers, but more than likely were fashioned out of scraps of wire by the soldiers themselves. 

http://www.nwta.com/courier/11-96/forks.html

The east well at Bloomsbury yielded two moderately well preserved tin cups and some flattened tin. A wire bail handle (Figure 94, page 239) appeared to belong with the tinware. As the pieces of tin were sorted, it became apparent that the flattened tin included a damaged bottom and part of a side of a tapered vessel. The cups and fragments were taken to Richard Haddick, a historical tinsmith in Wyoming, Delaware, for interpretation and replication. Haddick concluded that there were three fully reproduceable vessels: two cups and a basin. As nearly as possible, the construction methods of the eighteenth-century originals were duplicated, using hot-dipped tinplate of the type that was available to the original maker.

http://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/Bloomsbury/19__0013.pdf

My Tin Cup Project.

You will recall that I posted some information on the 18th century tin cup, and that the remains of original tin cups had been found. The handles had been soldered on, yet the cups were found without their handles. It was thought reasonable that the owners had probably put the cups on the fire to boil water or cook food, and the solder had melted and the handles had fallen off. A wire bale handle was found with these cups, so the owner had obviously made a new wire handle for his cup.
Based on this information I set about making a tin cup out of a modern food can. Modern tin cups do not have soldered handles, they are crimped into the top and bottom edges of the cup. I did the first circle and twist fine, but when I came to complete the bail handle on the bottom of the cup, the wire broke! Rather than scrap it and start again, I decided that it could have happend to anyone and cut my losses and finished with what I had. No matter what I did I was going to finish up with two ends of the wire having sharp edges, so I bound the bail handle with leather. If I ever use it on the fire, the leather will burn, but I can do that if I have to. Actually if I only place it on a rock on the edge of the fire it will still work and the leather will not burn.

Early to Mid 18th Century Tin Cups.

Apparently up until 1740, all tin plate used in the New World was imported from England. I had great difficulty in tracking down any information on tin cup use in the 18th century, and was starting to look for alternative vessels, but then I found this PDF http://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/Bloomsbury/19__0013.pdf

It sais that handles on these cups were soldered on, and not an integral part of the cup. Samples found had no handles, so it is likely that these cups may have been placed on the fire to boil water or for cooking, and the heat melted the solder and the handles fell off. This point is important, because (1) it means that modern made tin cups are not the same as 18th century cups, and (2) if you are going to use your cup on the fire, there is no point in adding a handle in the first place.
This means if you can find a modern tin which is about 4 inches in diameter by 3 inches high, you have youself a tin cup. ( I note that the tuna cans in our pantry are about that size!).

"A wire bail handle appeared to belong to the tinware" (quote in above PDF). This is refering to the two tin cup remains that were found without handles. So was this a wire bail as in a bail on a kettle, or was it a bail as in a makeshift handle? Either would seem appropriate and something that could/would have easily been done given that the cups had probably previously been used on a fire, and that the handles had fallen off.

 You can see what appears to be a tin cup in his right hand. 17th century.

Late 16th century found on the Mary Rose.

Three 17th century drinking jugs, courtesy the Museum Of London.

Leather Black Jack.