ABSTRACT
The Daudiron family claimed to be producing high-quality English hardware, also in Paris. The extent of the contraband was such that when ideas about a possible commercial treaty for improved trade with England were advanced in the 1760s and later, the French were ready as a bargaining counter to sacrifice their prohibition on hardware. The hardware trade was one where there was a successful transfer of British technology to France, if at a qualitatively lower level than that of the country of origin. France was very deficient in non-ferrous metals, particularly tin and copper. The transfer of Birmingham technology to France is largely associated with one man, Michael Alcock. As his operations have been discussed in detail, they need only be summarized, and its espionage element brought into focus. He was born about 1714 and probably into a prosperous brass-founding family.
