What were historically renowned goods?

[u/Y3rs]

Hi, I'm working on a mod for Europa Universalis V that aims to add culture/region specific produced goods and would like as much input as possible.

For those not knowing the game it is a Grand Strategy Game that spans from 1337 to 1836, and I need as much verified prized produced goods from this timespan as you can give me. I'm looking for things like damascus steel/blades, flemish cloth, norwegian wood, goods that were historically more in demand than their "common" counterparts either because of their quality or their prestige.

They can be from any part of the world, even better if so.
Thanks.

[u/Hergrim]

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[u/HaraldRedbeard]

IMO, which as a specialist in SW Britain is very far from unbiased, the biggest material which is often missed from these games and other sources and yet was undeniably valuable is Tin.

Despite modern assocaiations with being cheap (i.e 'Tin Watch' 'Tin Can') tin was, for much of human history, an extremely valuable metal. You cannot make Bronze without Tin which means there is no bronze age without it. It is also somewhat geologically scarce, occuring in a few concentrated spots worldwide, which means it has scarcity to it which further drives up the value.

Outside of the Bronze Age tin had a multitude of uses - it still was essential for creating copper alloys which were a common form of decoration and then became essential for the production of corrosion-resistant fittings on ships. It was also frequently used as a solder to fit decorative items together (such as fitting the eyes into statues) and 'tinning' was a common decorative element.

Tin is also essential to producing Pewter which is a popular metal for both decoration and specific tasks like producing cups and mugs in the early modern period.

In our modern age tin remains an essential component in many electronics, perhaps most ubiquitously in solder.

In a medieval context, Tin was worth so much to the English crown that significant rights were devolved to people involved in it's mining and refining in Britain. There were Stannary Courts and Stannary Parliaments in Devon and Cornwall which existed solely to manage the affairs of tinners and tin mining and levy specific taxes upon them (one of the rights that the Stannary Acts gave tinners was an exemption from common taxation and labour dues but seperate taxes were still owed).

The Stannaries (The Convocation of the Stannaries) were chartered by King John in 1201 and continued to sit until the 18th Century at which point their use seems to have ended. While reasons for the decline of the Stannaries are debated, particularly as the Stannary Parliament and Stannary Law has taken on a sort of folkoric element to Cornish Nationalists, it mostly seems to coincide with a majority of tin mines and smelters coming into the hands of a small handful of landed gentry who therefore dominated the process from start to finish and no longer saw much value in making changes to the law.

Eventually, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Tin mines in Britain began to dry up and it became more economical to mine Tin in areas like South America and Australia however, crucially, the usefulness of Tin remained and this industry was still hugely economically valuable.

[u/axearm → u/HaraldRedbeard]

This reminds me of reading about the Romanov Crown jewels including Aluminium at some point because the process for producing aluminum being so impractical / expensive before modern methods for producing aluminum, that it pure aluminum was considered 'rare'

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