Hi,

I have purchase an antique piece on ebay and now I have grave doubts
about its being antique. It's a tea kettle and the claim is that it
was made in the 1800's. However, the pieces are being held together by
nuts and bolts. I have (low quality) picture that I took with my
camera phone he

http://freeboundaries.com/bolt.jpg

Now I'm sure that the nut has been replaced, but the "bolt" part is
actually part of the handle - the threads are on the piece itself. And
the threads on the "bolt" part are a modern gauge and thread count.
Now, my question is this: can one tell when the contemporary thread
sizes were finalized? Was it in the 1800's or was it more like in the
1970's. And by looking at the picture that I provided, can one put a
lower bound on the time period in which this piece was made.

Many thanks in advance!

Aaron