The English relied heavily on their trade with the native Algonquian population to provide food for the colony in the first years of settlement. We see that trade reflected in Indian-made pots used for cooking and storage and, perhaps, to deliver corn. But what did the English have to give in return? Captain John Smith mentions "sky blue beads" among other things. Archaeologists have found a variety of glass beads at Jamestown, including blue ones, which were brought from England for trade with the Indians. There is no evidence that the beads were produced in England. Most were probably procured in Venice for the purpose of trade. Venetian glass makers working in Amsterdam could have produced some of the beads.

Perhaps even more interesting to the local Powhatan Indians were copper beads and ornaments. The Powhatans prized the copper as the English did gold, but were at war with the Monacan tribe to the west — their main trade source for copper. A jeweler was among the craftsmen listed as coming to Jamestown. He must have been busy making copper items to trade judging by the amount of copper scraps he left behind. More than anything else, copper may have saved Jamestown from destruction by the Indians in those first years.