The Sheffield List started out at the beginning of the 19th century as a list of the tools that could be obtained from Sheffield - it was used by factors or agents, today we'd call then travelling salesmen, who would visit towns and villages to collect orders, then return to Sheffield and have the tools made, or buy them off the shelf, and then take them to the client on the next visit, or have then sent by carrier/stagecoach/wagon - and later by rail...