Abstract:
This paper reviews the earliest records of metal nails in New Zealand, and then provides a
comprehensive New Zealand review from the 1840s to 1910s of nail imports, published newspapers, trade catalogues and patents. It concludes that while there may have been a small scale hand-made nail industry, it was not until the late l880s that the first wire nails were manufactured in New Zealand and not until after 1910 that the industry became established to any extent.
