Why weren’t tallow or beeswax the most valuable trading commodities in ancient times?

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I've been reading The Origin of Capitalism by Ellen Meiksins Wood, and she describes pre-capitalist trading as being almost entirely for goods that were bought by the wealthy. The peasantry would just have to make do with what they could grow/find/make etc. So from that point of view there's no mass market for anything like that and the feudal lords were probably able to get what they needed locally, unlike with salts and spices etc.

 

[Funky_monks]

What Cloo said, also you get tallow every time an animal is killed for meat and leather, so it was plentiful.
Most candles would have been made from animal fat. (Non-smelly beeswax ones would I imagine be more expensive and used by the wealthy).
Mediterranean areas used oil lamps that burned olive oil.
Lots of different solutions to create light tbh.

Cattle were definitely a measure of wealth.

The Anglo-Saxon feoh (cattle) is where we get the modern English word "fee" from.

 

[redsquirrel]

I've been reading The Origin of Capitalism by Ellen Meiksins Wood,

Enjoying it?
Great book, and writer

 

[JimW]

Cattle were definitely a measure of wealth.

The Anglo-Saxon feoh (cattle) is where we get the modern English word "fee" from.

I did Tibetan for a couple of years and their word for cattle is also a word for wealth, "nor" nor - Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Enjoying it?
Great book, and writer

Yeah definitely. It's very accessible given the subject matter, I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested.

 

[platinumsage]

(Outside of precious metals or jewels, I mean)

As most people know, salt was such a valuable commodity it was used as currency. But given that indoors illumination would have been one of the most essential everyday needs for the best part of two millennia in civilisations across the globe, I would imagine candles or wall torches, and the raw materials required to make them, would have been as crucial to anyone with a roof over their heads from humble villagers to kings as electricity/ gas is to mankind now.

Yet the impression I get from my limited knowledge of human history is that salt and spices were what most peoples around the world valued the most.

Weren’t tallow fat/ beeswax merchants the Shell & BP of their day, and candlemakers the most lucrative and best paid professions? It feels to me that for most people the commodity they offered would have mattered far more than bloody salt or paprika.

Light mostly needed labour and could be produced locally, whereas spices, salt and petrol come from far away places.

Why the falling cost of light matters

Once too precious to use, now too cheap to notice – the significance of the light bulb is profound.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Cid]

Cattle were definitely a measure of wealth.

The Anglo-Saxon feoh (cattle) is where we get the modern English word "fee" from.

In a localised sense they're a measure of land, influence, control (of labour in their production, of distribution etc). But that's something very different from wealth accrued in trade I think, or the ability to buy products that are traded. Of course there's plenty of crossover, we're talking about several thousand years of history here, but yeah. Animal products represent something that is consistently available and renewable locally I suppose. Of course to an extent applies to beeswax, but it's just inherently limited and an extremely useful, stable (and therefore tradable) product; Waterproofing (ceramics, cloths etc), sealing produce, lost wax casting, early wax seals (as in personal stamp seals), as a binder in paints etc etc.

 

[Funky_monks]

In a localised sense they're a measure of land, influence, control (of labour in their production, of distribution etc). But that's something very different from wealth accrued in trade I think, or the ability to buy products that are traded. Of course there's plenty of crossover, we're talking about several thousand years of history here, but yeah. Animal products represent something that is consistently available and renewable locally I suppose. Of course to an extent applies to beeswax, but it's just inherently limited and an extremely useful, stable (and therefore tradable) product; Waterproofing (ceramics, cloths etc), sealing produce, lost wax casting, early wax seals (as in personal stamp seals), as a binder in paints etc etc.

Livestock are the original commodity.

Even now, lots of tennant farmers will see (especially cattle) herds as their pension - build the herd, maintain it by keeping young animals coming in and old ones going out, sell it when you retire.