Second-hand consumption as a way of life: Public auctions in the surroundings of alost in the late eighteenth century

Continuity and Change

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 275-305

  Damme, Ilja Van ^a   Vermoesen, Reinoud ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR; EIGHTEENTH CENTURY; EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS; RECYCLING;

NETHERLANDS;

EID: 72549092885     PISSN: 02684160     EISSN: 1469218X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0268416009007188     Document Type: Article

References (125)

1. See especially the influential contributions in J. Brewer and R. Porter eds., Consumption and the world of goods (London, 1993).
2. More spedifically, see L. Weatherill, Consumer behavior and material culture in Britain 1660-1760 (London, 1988);
3. C. Shammas, The pre-industrial consumer in England and America (Oxford, 1990);
4. D. Roche, Histoire des choses banales: naissance de la consommation dans les sociétés traditionnelles (XVIIe-XIXe siècle) (Paris, 1997);
5. A. Schuurman, J. De Vries and A. Van Der Woude eds., Aards geluk: de Nederlanders en hun spullen van 1550 tot 1850 (Amsterdam, 1997);
6. M. Berg and H. Clifford eds., Consumers and luxury: consumer culture in Europe 1650-1850 (Manchester, 1999);
7. and M. Berg and E. Eger eds., Luxury in the eighteenth century: debates, desires and delectable goods (Hampshire and New York, 2003).
8. Exceptions to the rule are D. Woodward, 'Swords into ploughshares: recycling in pre- industrial England', Economic History Review 38 (1985), 175-91;
9. R. Reith, 'Recycling im späten Mittelalter und der frühen Neuzeit - eine Materialsammlung', Frühneuzeit-Info 14 (2003), 47-65;
10. and the monograph of S. Strasser, Waste and want: a social history of trash (New York, 1999), which focuses primarily on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
11. See for instance M. Ginsburg, 'Rags to riches: the second-hand clothes trade 1700-1978', Costume 14 (1980), 121-35;
12. J. Styles, 'Clothing the North: the supply of non-elite clothing in the eighteenth-century North of England', Textile History 25 (1994), 139-66;
13. E. Sanderson, 'Nearly new: the second-hand clothing trade in eighteenth century Edinburgh', Costume 21 (1997), 38-48;
14. M. Lambert, 'Cast-off wearing apparel: the consumption and distribution of second-hand clothing in northern England during the long eighteenth century', Textile History 35 (2004), 1-26;
15. and (recently) H. Deceulaer, 'Second-hand dealers in the early modern Low Countries: institutions, markets and practices', in L. Fontaine ed., Alternative exchanges: secondhand circulations from the sixteenth century to the present (New York, 2008), 13-42.
16. B. Lemire, 'Consumerism in pre-industrial and early industrial England: the trade in second-hand clothes', Journal of British Studies 27 (1988), 1-24
17. 'Peddling fashion: salesmen, pawnbrokers, tailors, thieves and the second-hand clothes trade in England, c. 1700-1800', Textile History 22 (1991), 67-82
18. 'Second-hand beaux and "red-armed belles": conflict and the creation of fashions in England, c. 1660-1800', Continuity and Change 15 (2000), 391-417;
19. and recently her 'Shifting currency: the culture and economy of second-hand trade in England, c. 1600-1850', in A. Palmer and H. Clark eds., Old clothes, new looks: second hand fashion (Oxford and New York, 2005), 29-48.
20. B. Lemire, 'The theft of clothes and popular consumerism in early modern England', Journal of Social History 24 (1990), 255-76;
21. M. Vanbellinghen, 'Diefstal en heling van kleding en textiel: Antwerpen, 1775-1785', Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 21 (1995), 385-405;
22. P. Allerston, 'Le marché d'occasion a Venise aux XVIe-XVIIe sièlcles', in J. Bottin and N. Pellegrin eds., Echanges et cultures textiles dans l'Europe préindustrielle (Lille, 1996), 15-29
23. and 'Reconstructing the second-hand clothes trade in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Venice', Costume 33 (1999), 46-56;
24. H. Deceulaer, 'Urban artisans and their countryside customers: different interactions between town and hinterland in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent (18th century)', in B. Blondé, E. Vanhaute and M. Galand eds., Labour and labour markets between town and countryside (Middle Ages-19th century) (Turnhout, 2001), 218-35;
25. C. C. Frick, 'The Florentine "Rigattieri": second hand clothing dealers and the circulation of goods in the Renaissance', in Palmer and Clark eds., Old clothes, new looks, 13-28;
26. and I. Van Damme, 'Changing consumer preferences and evolutions in retailing: buying and selling consumer durables in Antwerp (c. 1648-c. 1748)', in B. Blondé, P. Stabel, J. Stobart and I. Van Damme eds., Buyers and sellers: retail circuits and practices in medieval and early modern Europe (Turnhout, 2006), 199-223.
27. See, however, the recent volume of Fontaine ed., Alternative exchanges.
28. See also two recent articles in Blondé et al. eds., Buyers and sellers
29. J. Stobart, 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages: second-hand dealing in eighteenth-century England' (pp. 225-44)
30. and B. Lemire, 'Plebeian commercial circuits and everyday material exchange in England, c. 1600-1900' (pp. 245-66).
31. Similar remarks are to be found in S. Pennell, 'Consumption and consumerism in early modern England', The Historical Journal 42 (1999), 557 and 560
32. and in I. Kopytoff, 'The cultural biography of things: commodification as a process', in A. Appadurai ed., The social life of things (Cambridge, 1986), 64-94.
33. It is interesting that aspects of reuse and repair of goods were hardly touched upon in influential accounts such as F. Mendels, 'Proto- industrialiation: the first phase of the industrialisation process', Journal of Economic History 32 (1972), 241-261
34. or in H. Medick, 'The proto-industrial family economy: the structural function of household and family during the transition from peasant society to industrial capitalism', Social History 1 (1976), 291-315
35. or in P. Kriedte, H. Medick and J. Schlumbohm, Industrialization before industrialization: rural industry in the genesis of capitalism (Cambridge, 1981), 64-73.
36. E. Thoen, 'A "commercial survival economy" in evolution: the Flemish countryside and the transition to capitalism (Middle Ages-19th century)', in P. Hoppenbrouwers and J. L. Van Zanden eds., Peasants into farmers? The transformation of rural economy and society in the Low Countries (Middle Ages-19th century) in light of the Brenner debate (Turnhout, 2001), 146.
37. See, however, H. Deceulaer, 'Between medieval continuities and early modern change: proto-industrialization and consumption in the Southern Low Countries (1300-1800)', Textile History 37 (2006), 133-136
38. Thoen, 'A "commercial survival economy" in evolution', 116
39. and R. Vermoesen, 'Entrepreneur versus spinner: spinsters, hun plaats in de markt en het huishouden: Regio Aalst, 1650-1800', Het Land van Aalst 58 (2006), 293-301.
40. See for instance L. Fontaine and J. Schlumbohm, 'Household strategies for survival: an introduction', in L. Fontaine and J. Schlumbohm, Household strategies for survival 1600-2000: Fission, faction and cooperation, supplement to International Review of Social History 8 (Cambridge, 2000), 1-17;
41. and M. Overton, J. Whittle, D. Dean and A. Hann eds., Production and consumption in English households, 1600-1750 (London and New York, 2004).
42. See G. Libbrecht, 'Materiële cultuur in het 18de-eeuwse Aalst: een verkenning op het terrein van slaapcultuur, eet- en drinkcultuur, keukengerei, meubilair, decoratie, hy giëne, verwarming en verlichting', unpublished Master's dissertation, Free University of Brussels, 1997, 10-27. Different from the timing of probate inventories, however, public auctions could also take place after a bankruptcy or simply on the demand of an individual seller (of wood, paintings, trading stocks, household belongings, and so on). For this article, we have analysed only the public auctions of the goods of deceased. A possible additional research strategy, comparing wills, was unfortunately not possible: only those in the upper rural class made wills and only a few of these survive to today.
43. See Costumen van de Twee Steden ende Lande van Aelst, bij haer-lieden Hoogheden gedecreteert den 12 Mey 1618, ende in desen druck van vele Decreten en Reglementen verrykt (Ghent, 1771), 125 and 129.
44. Compare with J. De Vries, 'Between purchasing power and the world of goods: understanding the household economy in early modern Europe', in Brewer and Porter eds., Consumption and the world of goods, 104-106
45. Buyers had to pay the '20e penning' or a 5 per cent tax on all items sold. Goods bought by heirs, on the other hand, were listed in the probate inventory and were tax-free.
46. A general study on all the intricacies of the bequeathing system in Flanders is lacking for the moment. See, however, L. De Kezel, 'Grondbezit in Vlaanderen 1750-1850: bijdrage tot de discussie over de sociaal-economische ontwikkeling op het Vlaamse platteland', Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geschiedenis 14 (1988), 61-102.
47. See also A. Matchette, 'To have and have not: the disposal of household furnishings in Florence', Renaissance Studies 20 (2006), 701-716
48. These are located in the Municipal Archives Alost (MAA), Oud Archief Erembodegem, Staten van goed, nrs 1369-78 and 1404-13. Note that in the rest of this article we refer to the periods 1750-1759 and 1785-1794 as 'in the 1750s' or 'around 1790' as a form of shorthand.
49. See the Appendix at the end of this article for fuller methodological coverage.
50. For instance see J. De Vries, 'Peasant demand patterns and economic development: Friesland 1550-1750', in W. N. Parker ed., European peasants and their markets: essays in agrarian economic history (Princeton, 1975), 205-66;
51. or B. Blondé, 'Cities in decline and the dawn of a consumer society: Antwerp in the 17th-18th centuries', in B. Blonde, E. Briot, N. Coquery and L. Van Aert eds., Retailers and consumer changes in early modern Europe: England, France, Italy and the Low Countries (Tours, 2005), 37-52.
52. The small product category 'others' included one rudder and eight (fire?)locks or guns (around 1750) and, around 1790 three auction lots of books and again three sorts of gun.
53. In absolute numbers we noticed a decrease from 1,249 auction lots in this period around 1750 to 895 at the end of the eighteenth century; the total value of all transactions was also declining: from 1960.25 guilders to 1304.25 guilders around 1790.
54. The total population of Erembodgem was continuously increasing during most of the early modern period. Around 1600 it was a small hamlet with 835 inhabitants but a century later Erembodegem boasted some 1,538 people. Around 1750, the total population figure was 1,900, and at the end of the century 2,215. See Vermoesen, 'Entrepreneur versus spinner', 293-301.
55. At the middle of the eighteenth century, these items were already widespread in the nearby urban areas of the southern Netherlands. See for instance H. Soly, 'Materiële cultuur te Gent in de 18e eeuw: een terreinverkenning', Oostvlaamse Zanten 63 (1988), 3-15;
56. and B. Blondé, 'Tableware and changing consumer patterns: dynamics of material culture in Antwerp, 17th-18th centuries', in J. Veeckman ed., Majolica and glass, from Italy to Antwerp and beyond: the transfer of technology in the 16th-early 17th century (Antwerp, 2002), 295-311. (A 'chimney cloth' was a piece of cloth used to decorate a mantelpiece over a fireplace.)
57. See for instance D. Helmers, 'Gescheurde bedden': oplossingen voor gestrande huwe-lijken, Amsterdam 1753-1810 (Hilversum, 2002).
58. For instance MAA, Oud Archief Aalst, Staten van goed, nr. 1372: 'Actum binnen Eerembodegem' (dated 9 May 1753): 'Conditien op de welcke men wettelyck ende publicquelijck aende meestbiedende ... sal vercoopen de naervolghende meubilaire ef-fecten' ('Conditions regarding the legal and public sales of the following moveables'). The highest bidder was the person who received a clearly audible signal (klopslagh) from the auction official. In case of a dispute, the local authorities would judge the case. Buyers had to pay for their purchases in current currencies within a period of six weeks; a local 'policeman' (the meyer or bailliu) would collect the money. Furthermore, the highest bidder was obliged to pay immediately, 'on the table', some small local taxes (such as a twintighsten (20e) penninck or the wijngeld). Also he had to declare the names of familiar and trustworthy guarantors within the local jurisdiction (goeden ende souf-fisante borgen ... binnen desen vierschare justiciabel). If a financial dispute should arise, the auctioned item would be confiscated and resold. If, as a consequence, the same product fetched a lower price in a subsequent auction, the guarantors had to pay the difference.
59. For more information about this office, see Costumen van de Twee Steden ende Lande van Aelst, 42.
60. Originally the local auctioneer earned a fixed salary for his activities (XII schellingen parisis van 't pond groot, or 3.6 guilders). In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, however, the local authorities had probably farmed this office out. This arguably gave the stockslager some freedom in settling his earnings, probably a fixed percentage on the value of the auctioned goods.
61. I. Van Damme, Verleiden en verkopen: Antwerpse kleinhandelaars en hun klanten in tijden van crisis (Amsterdam, 2007), 176-177
62. We devised these economic categories of household based on the median value of the tax lists (1750s=10.75 guilders and around 1790=7 guilders). In the 1750s, household category I: 0-5.374 guilders; II: 5.375-10.74; III: 10.75-16.124; IV: 16.125 and more. Around 1790, I: 0-3.4 guilders; II: 3.5-6.9 guilders; III: 7-10.4 guilders; IV: 10.5 and over.
63. To give an idea of the economic activities of the households studied, we analysed the capital goods and the accounts mentioned in the probate inventories of the deceased. These indicators reveal to a certain degree the professional activities of the late owners. Every single household was more or less active in agriculture. In both samples, only a few households possessed horses, carts and ploughs: 16 per cent in the 1750s and 12.5 per cent around 1790. On the other hand almost 90 per cent in the 1750s and 92 per cent around 1790 had some cattle. Around 68 per cent in the 1750s and 67 per cent around 1790 cultivated hops and only 41 per cent in the 1750s and 54 per cent around 1790 grew flax, both commercial produce. Flax-processing and -spinning were quite popular activities; in both samples more than 9 out of 10 households contained capital goods involved in the processing of flax, and 96 per cent in the 1750s and 75 per cent around
64. The setting of 1789 mentions 460 households.
65. Stobart, 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages', 230;
66. Van Damme, Verleiden en verkopen, 68.
67. N. Gregson and L. Crewe, Second-hand cultures (Oxford and New York, 2003), 3-4.
68. See also Stobart, 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages', who uses the same motivations in his analysis (pp. 232-6).
69. Stobart, 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages', 234.
70. B. Lemire, Fashion's favourite: the cotton trade and the consumer in Britain, 1660 - 1800 (Oxford, 1991), 62.
71. Unpublished database, based on MAA, Oud Archief Erembodegem, Staten van goed, nrs 1369-78 and 1404-1413
72. See D. Donald, The age of caricature: satirical prints in the reign of Geoge III (New Haven and London, 1996), 82-83
73. I. Van Damme, 'Zotte verwaandheid: over Franse verleiding en Zuid-Nederlands onbehagen, 1650-1750', in R. de Bont and T. Verschaffel eds., Het verderf van Parijs (Louvain, 2004), 187-203.
74. Expensive 'older' products like paintings, books, and antiquities were bought as a result of relatively new, emerging motivations such as building a prestigious collection of 'things'. Buying these 'second-hands', however, also links to categories of constructing self-identity and social status through consumption; see S. Nenandic, 'Romanticism and the urge to consume in the first half of the nineteenth century', in Berg and Clifford eds., Consumers and luxury, 208-227
75. See also Stobart, 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages', 233.
76. J. Savary, Le parfait négociant ou instruction générale pour ce qui regarde le commerce des marchandises de France & des Pays Etrangers (second edn, Paris, 1749), vol.1, 111.
77. Only in urban centres did the wealthy few began to refurbish their homes in frequent succession, a task executed by increasingly important professionals, such as the upholder or marchand mercier. For more context, see B. Blondé and I. Van Damme, 'Een crisis als uitdaging? Kleinhandelsevoluties en verbruiksveranderingen te Antwerpen (ca. 1648-ca. 1748)', Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis 4 (2007), 76-81;
78. C. Sargentson, 'The manufacture and marketing of luxury goods: the marc-hands merciers of late 17th- and 18th-century Paris', in R. Fox and A. Turner eds., Luxury trades and consumerism in ancien régime Paris: studies in the history of the skilled workforce (Aldershot, 1998), 112-113, 116-17 and 120-1;
79. M. Craske and M. Berg, 'Art and industry - the making of modern luxury in eighteenth-century Britain', in S. Cavachiocchi ed., Economia e arte secc. XIII-XVIII (Florence, 2002), 833;
80. and C. Edwards, 'The upholster and the retailing of domestic furnishings 1600-1800', in Blondé et al. eds., Retailers and consumer changes, 53-69.
81. Also remarked by Stobart, in 'Clothes, cabinets and carriages', 242.
82. In this respect, the model described in P. Stabel, 'Town and countryside in the Southern Low Countries in the late 15th-early 19th century: preliminary reflections upon changing relations in the pre-industrial economy', in R. Ni Néill ed., Town and countryside in Western Europe from 1500-1939 (Leicester, 1996), 1-27, should be modified.
83. For more information about retailers from Alost, see S. De Schryver, 'De Aalsterse ambachten vanuit een sociaal-economische invalshoek (achttiende eeuw)', Het Land van Aalst 54 (2002), 113-152
84. Unpublished database based on MAA, Oud Archief Erembodegem, Staten van goed, nrs 1369-78 and 1404-1413
85. MAA, Oud Archief Aalst, Staten van Goed, nr 1868, Margerita Geldof 1752;
86. Huisgelden, nr 273.
87. See P. Clark, The English alehouse: a social history, 1200 - 1830 (London, 1983);
88. G. Rooijakkers, 'Opereren op het snijpunt van culturen: Middelaars en media in Zuid-Nederland', in P. te Boekhurst, P. Burke, en W. Frijhoff eds., Cultuur en Maatschappij in Nederland, 1500 - 1850: een historisch-antropologisch perspectief (Heerlen, 1992), 249;
89. B. Kümin, 'Useful to have, but difficult to govern: inns and taverns in Early Modern Bern and Vaud', Journal of Early Modern History 1 (1997), 153-75;
90. R. Britnell, 'Markets, shops, inns, taverns and private houses in medieval English trade', in Blondé et al. eds., Buyers and sellers, 109-23;
91. Van Damme, Verleiden en verkopen, 85-6;
92. MAA, Oud Archief Aalst, Winkeliers en kramers, nr 217.
93. See also S. De Schryver, 'Aspecten van sociale mobiliteit binnen de 18de eeuwse Aalsterse ambachtswereld: een prosopografische benadering', unpublished Master's dissertation, Ghent University, 2002;
94. and De Schryver, 'De Aalsterse ambachten', 113-152 The four remaining buyers from Alost were probably related to the deceased owners of the auctioned possessions.
95. More information about ambulant tradesmen in the Low Countries can be found in H. Deceulaer, 'Dealing with diversity: pedlars in the Southern Netherlands in the eighteenth century', in Blondé et al. eds., Buyers and sellers, 171-198
96. For this early industrial activity in and around the nearby city of Aalst, see L. De Rijck, 'Kenmerken van de industriële ontwikkeling te Aalst (1795-1875)', Handelingen der Maatschappij voor Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde te Gent. Nieuwe Reeks 18 (1964), 1-19
97. and Vermoesen, 'Entrepreneur versus spinner', 293-301.
98. Gregson and Crewe, Second-hand cultures, 11.
99. G. McCraken, Culture and consumption: new approaches to the symbolic character of consumer goods and activities (Bloomington, 1988), 87-8;
100. Gregson and Crewe, Secondhand cultures, 155-163
101. R. Sarti, Europe at home: family and material culture, 1500 - 1800 (New Haven, 2002), 45-8 and 119-123
102. See also Shammas, The pre-industrial consumer, 197-223.
103. Woodward, 'Swords into ploughshares', 176.
104. From his The theory of moral sentiments, quoed in Berg and Clifford eds., Consumers and luxury, 10.
105. See C. Shammas, 'The decline of textile prices in England and British America prior to industrialisation', Economic History Review 48 (1994), 483-507
106. and more generally P. Musgrave, The early modern European economy (New York, 1999), 61-66
107. See for instance J. Styles, 'Manufacturing, consumption and design in eighteenth- century England', in Brewer and Porter eds., World of goods, 543: 'goods that missed the latest fashion trend could not be easily sold';
108. or S. Nenadic, 'Middle-rank consumers and domestic culture in Edinburgh and Glasgow 1720-1840', Past and Present 145 (1994), 134, who stresses the declining marketing potential of the second-hand for similar reasons.
109. See De Vries, 'Between purchasing power and the world of goods', 101
110. and Blonde and Van Damme, 'Een crisis als uitdaging?', 83-86
111. D. Roche, Le peuple de Paris: essai sur la culture populaire au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, 1998), 222-3;
112. also P. Verlet, 'Le commerce des objets d'art et les marchands ́ merciers à Paris au XVIIIe siecle', Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations 13 (1958), 28: 'Les ventes publiques prennent au XVIIIe siecle de l'extension.'
113. R. Vermoesen, 'Markttoegang en commerciële netwerken van rurale huishoudens', unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Antwerp, 2008 (publication forth coming). Use of earthenware goods in the kitchens of rural households around Alost was gradually disappearing. Around 1750 80 per cent of all households owned earth enware products; half a century later this percentage had dropped to 68 per cent.
114. In the kitchens of rural households around Alost too, the percentage of pewter goods dropped but less significantly, from 43 per cent around 1750 to 37 per cent at the end of the eighteenth century. See again Vermoesen, 'Markttoegang'.
115. See, however, N. Coquery, 'The language of success: marketing and distributing semi-luxury goods in eighteenth-century Paris', Journal of Design History 17 (2004), 87;
116. K. De Vlieger-De Wilde, Adellijke levensstijl: dienstpersoneel, consumptie en materiële leefwereld van Jan van Brouchoven en Maria Livina de Beer, graaf en gravin Van Bergeyck (ca. 1685-1740) (Brussels, 2005), 126-46;
117. C. De Staelen, 'Levenswijze en consumptiepatroon van een Antwerpse weduwe. Het huishoudjournaal van Elisabeth Moretus (1664-1675)', unpublished Master's dissertation, Ghent University, 2002, 136-137 and 139.
118. See N. McKendrick, J. Brewer and J. H. Plumb, The birth of a consumer society: the commercialization of eighteenth-century England (London, 1982).
119. See C. Campbell, The romantic ethic and the spirit of consumerism (Oxford, 1987).
120. As is, indeed, confirmed by research stressing the so-called paradox of demand in confronting probate inventories with the evolutions of prices and wages. See, most importantly, J. De Vries, The industrious revolution: consumer behaviour and the household economy (Cambridge, 2008).
121. See note 18, above. See also H. Van Isterdael and F. Caudron, Aangiften van nala-tenschap, kavelingen en wezenrekeningen van de meierij Erembodegem (Erembodegem, Welle, Iddergem en Teralfene), daarna de heerlijkheid Erembodegem-Teralfene (1580- 1798), Rijksarchief te Beveren: toegang in beperkte oplage, 281 (Brussels, 2004), 158-68 and 277-288
122. See also Meert, Gezinstoestand, and D. Meert, Alfabetisch repertorium van de families te Erembodegem 1591-1880 (Erembodegem, 1999).
123. MAA, Oud Archief Erembodegem, Settingen, nrs 251 en 255.
124. MAA, Oud Archief Aalst, Huisgelden, nrs 264-282
125. R. Vermoesen, 'Welvaart en ongelijkheid in een achttiende-eeuwse kleine stad', Het Land van Aalst 60 (2008), 54-63.