Curation

These disks were made from fragments of Puebla-style majolica vessels, smoothed into circular shapes. Similar artifacts have also been found elsewhere at other presidios; they are most commonly interpreted by archaeologists as gaming pieces. Can you imagine what kind of games were played by people living at El Presidio?

This earthenware ceramic, also known as losa de olor (fragrant pottery), has been produced in the Mexican town of Tonalá since the early 1600s. Its distinctive surface decoration is created through a combination of special clay slip that is applied to the body and then burnished bruñida. These fragments are probably from a vessel that was used for storing and pouring liquids.

Look closely and you can identify trees and a boat on water in the decoration on this fragment of Chinese export porcelain. This class of Chinese-produced ceramics is called export porcelain because it was produced specifically for overseas markets rather than for local use in China. Along with spices and other products from Asia, these ceramics were brought to New Spain by the Manila galleon trade.

This is a single bone from the paw of a grizzly bear, Ursus arctos. Although no longer present in California, grizzlies were abundant on the San Francisco peninsula during the Spanish-colonial era. This large predator may have been killed in defense or for sport, but early colonizers also relied on the grizzly for fur and, perhaps surprisingly, meat.

First popularized by French military officers in the 1850s, the Miníe ball outperformed round shot when used in rifles. Technological advancements included the conical shape, a hollow base where gunpowder was loaded, and grooves that expanded upon firing to fit rifling more effectively. Widespread adoption of Miníe technology by the United States Army during the Civil War was responsible for many severe casualties; not only was the Miníe more accurate than its predecessors, but its large caliber easily shattered limbs.

The initials “CM” visible inside the Maltese cross stand for Charles Matthews & Brothers, proprietors of Standard Soda Water Works at 1474 Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. In a report to the second session of the 53rd Congress in 1893-94, the company was producing “about $30,000 worth of soda waters, ginger ales, and all kinds of nonalcoholic drinks” annually.

This incredibly detailed toy car is made of die-cast metal using a system called “slush molding” where part of the molding is left open. It was manufactured by the Barclay company in West Hoboken New Jersey sometime between 1923 and 1930 and its wheels still roll! Is this the kind of thing you would expect a soldier to have?