Artifact: Tar
Materials: Tar
Dimensions:
Date:
Origin:
Collection: Alf Inge Myhre Tunheim via WikiMedia Commons
License: CC BY 2.5
Ledger Entry: Tar
Department: Building
Customer: Brigantine Alexandria
Ledger Page: 351
Imported From:
Product Description
Early on, tar was used as a weather-proof coating for external walls. With increased wealth and more advanced building techniques, tar became less necessary and certainly less common among the homes of elites. All of the purchases of tar in the Ramsay databases were either by captains or on the account of a ship, this tar was likely used for weatherproofing and sealing ships.
Citation: "Tar." In The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea, edited by Dear, I. C. B., and Peter Kemp. : Oxford University Press, 2006.; Gabrielle M. Lanier & Bernard L. Herman, Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997).
Historical Price: 12 pounds, 6 shillings per barrel; Modern USD: $2433.36
Product Variations
The databases record five purchases of tar in quantities of one to three barrels. It sold consistently for twelve pounds six shillings per barrel.
