brothers, appears to have had a more adventurous streak than his older brother. In the 1820s, during a period of national economic euphoria, he speculated in a number of concerns which often had little connection with the company's core business. In some of these his brother was also a partner, but probably only in a passive capacity. The first of these was the Real del Monte Company which was formed in 1824 by John Taylor (1779–1863), the mining engineer and entrepreneur, to operate silver mines in Mexico. Shears was closely involved and one of the directors of the company. Another company formed by Taylor later in the same year was the British Iron Company: Shears was one of three managing directors, together with Taylor and Robert Small, until 1826 when he was obliged to resign as a result of dissatisfaction among the shareholders at the management of the company. Also in 1824 Shears formed the Llangennech Coal Company to work the coal under an estate to the east of Llanelli in south Wales. This estate had been leased from Edward Rose Tunno (1800–1863), a rich young man whose income was derived from British and Welsh real estate purchased from his inheritance from his father, John, and uncle Adam, traders of South Carolina. In this concern Shears was joined by his brother and by two London merchants, Thomas Margrave and William Ellwand. The property included the derelict Spitty copperworks which the Shears brothers (on their own) proceeded to re-open in 1824. The following year, on the opposite bank of the river Llwchwr, they built a new zinc works at Loughor (or possibly re-activated an existing one) where they intended to produce zinc using the recently granted patent of 1824. These two enterprises were obviously intended to be complementary to one another in providing the materials required for the manufacture of brass, part of the core business of James Shears & Sons. Shears, Margrave and Tunno further collaborated in acquiring mining property in Cornwall in 1825; Shears is also believed to have had interests in copper mining in north Wales. The copper and zinc works proved unsuccessful. The zinc works was offered for sale in 1825 almost as soon as it had been completed and the copperworks closed in 1831. Copper prices had fallen steeply since 1825 and the Llangennech Coal Company was proving more costly than had been expected since difficulties