Trade: Making Sense (or Pence!) of Bull's Trade

Getting Started | Gunsmithing | Economic Downturn | Bull's Trade | Bull's Competition

John Partridge Bull's trade covered a range of goods and services. In order to understand how he spent his time and how his profits were derived, we will need to examine compilations of data from Bull's account book.

Examine these compilations of data with the following question in mind:

NEW GOODS	ENTRIES	TOTAL GOODS	INCOME (pounds/ shillings/ pence)
BRASS	15	59	0/16/11
BUTTONS/BUCKLES	126	147	8/13/8
FARRIER	18	18	0/19/1
GUNS	3	455	4/19/0
LOCKS/KEYS	35	93	3/4/7
MISC. IN SHOP:	1184	1957	.
nails	627	.	57/4/4
hardware	169	.	9/16/6
kitchen implements	50	.	12/15/2
knives	91	.	7/10/8
knives/forks	34	.	2/3/3
MISC. (snuffers, bridle bits, curb chains, stapels, ink pots, etc.)	213	.	1/11/9

TOTALS	1381	2729	108/3/2

New Goods

Which types of goods reflect the majority of items produced out of Bull's shop?

Which types of goods are produced in the smallest amounts out of Bull's shop?

Which items command the highest prices and the lowest prices? Why do you think that this is the case?

MENDED GOODS	ENTRIES	TOTAL GOODS	INCOME
BRASS	44	59	4/1/9
BUTTONS/BUCKLES	21	147	0/18/3
FARRIER	0	18	0
GUNS	452	455	73/16/3
LOCKS/KEYS	58	93	2/1/8
MISC. IN SHOP:
nails	0	627	0
hardware	37	206	2/14/2
kitchen implements	229	279	12/14/2
knives/forks	17	51	0/13/6
agricultural tools	284	.	11/4/3
craft tools	47	677	1/11/9
textile tools	46	.	1/5/6
MISC. OTHER (trusses, mend furniture, cast ink pots, etc.)	87	.	3/9/6

TOTALS	1348	2729	115/15/6

Mended Goods

Which types of goods reflect the majority of items mended out of Bull's shop?

Which types of goods are produced in the smallest amounts out of Bull's shop?

Which types of mends command the highest or lowest prices? Why do you think that this is the case?

NEW GOODS	50.604% of Total
MENDS	49.395% of Total

Percentages of Goods

Are these numbers that you would have predicted? Why or why not?

GOODS FROM OUTSIDE SHOP	ENTRIES	INCOME
AGRICULTURE	44	59
TEXTILES	21	147
'PAID TO' INCOME	0	18
OTHERS (errands, etc.)	452	455
		.
IN SHOP NEW & MENDS	2729	.
OUTSIDE SHOP ENTRIES	377	.
TOTAL	3066

	% of TOTAL
AGRICULTURE	6.751%
TEXTILES	1.532%
'PAID TO' INCOME	0.978%
OTHER (errands, etc.)	1.728%

OUTSIDE ENTRIES	10.991% of total Entries in Book

Goods outside of the Shop

Are you surprised at the types of shop entries listed from "outside the shop"? Why do you think that Bull included these entries in his account book?

Total Lifetime Production

If you could characterize Bull's trade for someone who had never studied it, how would you do so? Would you use the same categories that we used in our research? Why or why not?

-- data compiled from the account book of John Partridge Bull, collections of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association

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