What are some popular items that would have been sold in the American Revolution time ie;watches, books, etc?

Answer 1

There was no disposable society then. Things like watches, Bibles, chairs and tables lasted for a lifetime, and were hand made during that period. Books were very prized as they were expensive, so many people only had a few. Clothes were usually hand made except for rich people living in cities. For most of the colonists, life was harsher than we could ever realize, and as you got away from the cities it got even harsher.

Farm tools and implements would have been very important to most people, and some people had guns, but they were generally owned by the militia. People didn't buy building supplies (again except rich people and city dwellers) as wood was made from trees felled for the purpose, and bricks were made by hand.

Answer 2

Practical things. Food, tools, yardage for clothing. Possibly pocket watches but they were still trying to perfect the works so it would keep time in the pocket. It was more likely a sundial. Probably very few books also. They are heavy and take up a lot of space in the ships coming over. Most people were too busy trying to survive to read books anyway. They had to grow their own food. Build their own houses. Wash their own clothes, etc.

Answer 3

Ben Franklin invented the pot belly stove; the only stove that sits in the middle of the room so that would have been real popular. He wore eye glasses so you can expect a lot of that being sold.

Simple tools like a crowbar and a hammer would have been popular; but not screw drives because the screw didn’t exist. Back then nails were all made one at a time and by hand so they were expensive. Most smiths had horseshoes and since horse was the major means of travel that would me saddles, track and riding harness would have been real popular.

Hair was hard to groom so most people wore wigs and in the English fashion a lot of them used powder in them. Handkerchiefs were very popular, in fact in France they were often scented and the nobles would hold them to their nose when walking in the streets. That’s because the streets were usually open sewers with chamber pots (clay) being tossed right out the window into the street.

Fresh baked bread was a major part of the diet as were potatoes because they were easy to grow and store. Samuel Adams traces its micro brewery back to this era, so beer and ale were popular as were the tankards and mugs that they were drunk in.

Parchment (sheep skin) was still in wide use and it was often written on with ink from a goose quill pen. Accountants wore special collars on their sleeves to soak up the extra ink and prevent them from staining their shirts. You can see this in the old play A Christmas Carol on Bob Cratchet’s arms, and that would have been true in this era.

Most furniture was hand carved and pretty simple stools, tables and chairs, but the French were famous for the chest of drawers made in this time and Queen Anne furniture. King Louis 16 loved mirrors and had his palace covered with them. Drapery was common as well as metal or wood poles to support them. There were no blinds or shades only shutters. Most windows were made with individual pieces of glass in each pane, so glass would have been very common as would the higher quality crystal.

This was before electricity and gas was that common so most lighting was either by torch, candle or oil lamp. The North East was famous for its Whales who got whale oil for most of those lamps. At this time natural oil was still considered to be crude and wasn’t even used as tar except on boats. Instead streets were paved with cobblestones. Wood has always been a major building material as would bricks. Shingles would be too hard to make so most roofs had tile on them.

Clockwork watches were expensive so almost every town center had a clock tower. Bells were in almost ever church and bell makers often made cannon as well. That means black gun powder, cannon balls and muskets would have been the common weapons of the day. Of course a sword never has to be reloaded and most rifle muskets used by the military had bayonets attached to them.

There was no such thing as zippers so clothing was all fastened with pins (not safety pins), buttons and buckles. Skirts were known to use whale bone supports and were worn over tightly fitted corsets. You normally only think of women wearing corsets but that garment was popular up until the American Civil War.

Just go to this Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1776
and you can see what was going on back then and that will give you clues as to things that were used. Ben Franklin sold his Farmer Almanac and used the offset press as did all the newspapers. Most books were too expensive to be owned so pamphlets were published for the masses.

England ruled the seas with wooden ships and America was a trading nation. The rum and sugar trade formed two sides of the slave trading triangle. This means you need barrels to carry it bags to hold the sugar, as well as ships sails, needle and thread to sew it up.

You need to specialize in what you are interested in because so many things were used back then. Everything from shears to knives would be used in the household along with porcelain china and wooden servers. Iron cook pots were used in the open hearth to cook and steel soup ladles were very common as were pokers. Then just to get the wood for the fire you would need spikes, axes, and saws; no chain saws of course, just the hand powered ones.

Metal coins were common as well as change purses to hold them. A lot of gentlemen used a cane. Just look at what a man would wear from a the triangle hat to the linen shirt, pants, stockings and boots or shoes. Women wore a lot of cloth and covered up from neck on down to the floor. They used aprons in the kitchen and had fur coats as well as mittens and gloves for when it got cold.

Answer 4

wigs, silverware, pewter, horse hooves, gowns, chemises, shoes, food, books, playing cards, new papers, tea, hot chocolate, beds, bed sheets, fabric...

Answer 5

candles, candlesticks, wool blankets, buttons, thread, sugar