SC -

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Hullo, list!

TOTAL SPECULATION MODE ON:

I wonder if there exists, anywhere, records of trade in spice
futures/options. We do have records of such ventures being insured, and
I would not be at all surprised if people were trading stock in
corporations created for such ventures, formally or otherwise. If, say,
Cedric were able to buy "call" options on grains of paradise scheduled
to arrive in Bristol by ship in July, he'd be guaranteed the right to
purchase them from this ship at a previously agreed-upon quantity and
discounted price. Such options were probably transferable. Wouldn't that
amount to almost the same thing as trading in spices as a medium of exchange?

TOTAL SPECULATION MODE OFF...

Adamantius 

"Kappler, MMC Richard A" wrote:
> 
> Ras wrote:
> 
> I am unsure myself. I know that Master Adamantius' student, Puck, was
> researching the area of trade in the middle ages extensively a while back
> but
> have not heard any results of that research lately. He was trying to find
> shipping manifests and other documents. Although his focus was on non-Middle
> 
> eastern traders, I am sure he covered all areas with equal interest. Puck,
> have you progressed in this area to a point where any basic conclusions can
> be drawn?
> 
> <snip>
> 
> al-Sayiid A'aql ibn Rashid al-Zib
> 
> As is most of my best research, this paricular vein stemmed from a
> discussion with Ras and expanded radically due to a heated arguement with
> him.  Strange how we sometimes do our best learning, isn't it?  Well, as for
> my research, it has grown exponentially as most of my projects do (imagine a
> puppy following a scent and getting distracted by a thousand others along
> the way).  The original research was to try to prove via manifests or other
> documentation that coffee made it into Europe in period and I have thus far
> had no success there.  It exploded when Ras and I had our "spirited
> discussion" over the emimnece of the Venetian Traders and the Hanseatic
> league.  I have learned one helluva lot in other areas tracing this elusive
> thread though.  I have found many references to spices being used literally
> "in trade", eg, "hey Cedric, I'll trade ya a handfull of grains of paradise
> and two sticks of cinammon for your Charlemagne rookie card...." but nothing
> comes to mind that I could use to document spices used as currency.  That
> doesn't of course mean they are not out there, just that I haven't gone off
> looking for them.  Awe hell, I needed something else to do anyway, sleep is
> highly over-rated.  Currently I'm digging my way through Pounds' _An
> Economic History of Medieval Europe_ and, based on previous research and
> what I'm getting from this particular work I would rather think you need to
> refine your question.  Yes, currency did exist, has for millennia in the
> form of coinage.  Was it common though?  Hmmm... not particularly, and here
> we get into another of the great SCAdian arguements.  We're all supposed to
> be Nobles in theory, so we would commonly have currency.  Would the
> commonality commonly (yes, I'm working on a half cup of coffee here!) have
> currency?  Not neccessarily.  Depends on where and when your talking, but
> the odds of Odo the ploughman ever having a coin of his very own,
> particularly in the Feudal era, are pretty long.  Think barter.  Spices were
> used for barter/trade, yes.  So in that respect they were 'currency.'  Have
> I found any evidence that in any given place and time spices had specific
> defined value for use in trade such as metal and inked paper now do?  No I
> have not.  Now I'm off to the IV caffeine drip.
> 
> Feeling like the dog Lycos, Puck
> ============================================================================
> 
> To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
> Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".
> 
> ============================================================================


- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com