[Bell Historians] Re: Cost of 1669 Bell Metal.

[Anne Willis]

>It will be interested to see how the cost of bell-metal varies through
>time, but surely there is another factor to take into account. Giving the
>cost of transport in pre-railway days, I would expect the Devon & Cornwall
>founders to change less for metal readily obtainable on their doorstep.
>Will this be so, I wonder
>Phil Lucas


One thread I would like to pursue is the relationship between bell founders
and pewterers.

Tin commanded a high price, which was fixed by the Stannery Companies (I am
not sure of the correct name).  Pewterers were able to buy their tin at a
discount through their trade guild, and in Warminster there seems to have
been a working relationship between the Cockey family and the bellfounder
John Lott senior.  The Cockeys were, among other occupations, pewterers, and
perhaps let John Lott have cut-price tin.  I believe there was also a
founder in Worcester who was also a pewterer.

Another interesting thread to follow would be the impact of the opening of
the copper mines in the Lake District 'the mines Royal' around the end of
the 16th century.  Also the arrival on the market of 'second hand' copper
from broken-up ships after copper bottoming had been introduced, I think at
the end of the 18th century.


Anne