I’m off celebrating my wedding anniversary today (36 years!) so I’m sharing a brief post with a few more of my pictures from Colonial Williamsburg: 

The Tinsmith Shop

In The Counterfeit Lady, I had my characters running around the Yorkshire coast carrying lanterns. I agonized a bit about this particular bit of research, and so I was excited to visit the Tin Shop at Colonial Williamsburg.

The Tin Shop made (and makes) tinware such as cups and dishes suitable for colonial military use, but they also make lanterns, like this one, pictured above. Our tinsmith reported that this type of lantern was the least expensive to make and to buy. Small holes throughout the metal emit light.

The Pricier Model

This lantern would have been more expensive. The metal looks to be more substantial, and light was emitted through inserts made from, if I’m remembering correctly, horn.

 Here’s one of the tinsmiths hard at work, and you can see in the picture the pots, pitchers, and cups made right there in the shop (as well as my finger, my apologies).

A Sea Captain’s Essential Device

One item that needed some explanation was this one:

The tall black cylinder is a speaking tube, used on vessels to shout out orders to the crew.

Do you have any good resources for historical lanterns? Please share them in the comments!

All images are the authors, fingers and all.