'Polite' side of door in Argyll's Lodging, with bell-headed nails (Photo Author) I blogged about this project previously though pressure of work has meant it has taken longer than expected to finalise it.
Some of my friends have smiled at the whole idea though most are half converted by my enthusiastic rant about nails; the rest usually at least admit that, if Adam Smith thought they were important, then they are worth a second thought.
If fact, without a vast supply of nails, the industrial transformation of the eighteenth century could not have happened; nails secured the new, architect-designed buildings, the navies, the colonial development - the log cabin and the White House, if you will.
Smith, who was brought up in Kirkcaldy, knew what he was talking about when he saw the nail trade as a paradigm of the benefits of specialisation since one of the main centres of the Scots nail trade was on his doorstep, as readers will see.
I have put this work here in the hope of comments and that someone else will take the study forward - there is lots to do and I would be happy to help with thoughts and references.
Some of my friends have smiled at the whole idea though most are half converted by my enthusiastic rant about nails; the rest usually at least admit that, if Adam Smith thought they were important, then they are worth a second thought.
If fact, without a vast supply of nails, the industrial transformation of the eighteenth century could not have happened; nails secured the new, architect-designed buildings, the navies, the colonial development - the log cabin and the White House, if you will.
Smith, who was brought up in Kirkcaldy, knew what he was talking about when he saw the nail trade as a paradigm of the benefits of specialisation since one of the main centres of the Scots nail trade was on his doorstep, as readers will see.
I have put this work here in the hope of comments and that someone else will take the study forward - there is lots to do and I would be happy to help with thoughts and references.
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