Williamsburg Update #11
Josh Rachita, Historical Interpreter
*Josh is interning for the summer at Colonial Williamsburg.*
August 2, 2021
Hello All!
Wow! The summer is certainly flying by. Congratulations to all the Bearkats that graduated this past weekend! I’m at a point now where I have to start thinking about my last projects that I want to wrap my internship up with. I’ve been bouncing around a bit more quickly now in an effort to learn as much as I can.
This last week I worked on a touchmark
or maker’s mark. It is a stamp used to mark your work, so people know who made
it. It was based on 18th century styles, though domestically made ironwork is seldom marked in this time
period. This makes a lot of ironwork difficult to date or attribute makers too
or even decide authenticity. Many styles persist through out centuries which
can make identification difficult. Many of the reproductions we make are
indistinguishable from original pieces. When made with the historic materials
and used in the same manner, they will wear like the antique pieces had. So
today, it is an important principle in museum ethics to indicate that the
pieces we make are not original. In the Anderson shop, they mark each piece
with the year, the shop mark “WMSBRG,” and often their personal mark.
In the period, the number of marks can also
indicate the weight of an object. Three marks would indicate three pounds. In
an era where goods are sold by the pound this is an important distinction. It
also tells historians today the original weight of an object. Many tools wear
with use, which are most likely to have weight stamps. As they wear and age
with time, they can become only traces of their original form. Often, the
largest section of the piece survives which just so happens to be where the
marks are most often located. We then can calculate the probable proportions of
the original piece by calculating the mass of the iron needed to add back. This
technique is extremely important in replicating true copies of original pieces.
This week I also went over to the tinsmith
intern’s house to do some woodworking. Tom Goldstein taught me how to make
dovetails. I am pretty happy with how my first one went. Afterwards, we went to
a neat antique shop, and I found a pair of 18th/19th
century dividers. They are in great condition and have some neat welds exposed
to indicate how it was made. They unfortunately do not have a maker’s mark but
are beautiful regardless.
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This week’s pictures are the maker’s mark I made with the impression in the metal, my first dove tail joint, and the dividers that I found. They are abnormally large.
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