Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Ferreting
John Gillespy purchased one and one-half yards of fereting (ferreting) from the Colden Store on this day, 205 years-ago. Ferret was a close cousin of 'tape' and 'binding.' One of Webster's three definitions for 'ferret' in 1828 included 'A kind of narrow woolen tape.' Caulfield defined it as 'a kind of tape, narrower than ordinary bindings, and made of silk, cotton, or worsted.' [Caulfeild, 1882 Dictionary of Needlework p. 204]
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| 7/8' Dark Indigo Blue Worsted Tape (synonymous with ferreting?) Image courtesy of wmboothdraper.com |
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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Colden sold ferreting on sixteen different occasions at the store, totalling about thirty yards. It must have been more elegant than normal binding and tape as it normally sold for six pence per yard compared with three pence for binding and one or two pence per yard for tape. In one instance, it was described as 'White Fancy Ferreting' which sold at a whopping two and one-half shillings per yard. That was more expensive per yard than Osnaburg fabric.
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