Sekundäre Märkte?

Few historians have followed the entire "life-cycle" of a product; especially "secondary" forms of use, transfer and alteration - for example repair works or the trade in used goods - often have been neglected. This exclusion of secondary markets and secondary product cycles seems problematic, since they were - regarding the factors of production - of a specific importance for pre-modern economy and society: for many craftsmen especially in the textile branch repair works formed a significant part of their daily business, in addition numerous people found possibilities to earn a living in fields that specialized on trading with second-hand ware or the collecting and reprocessing of scrap materials. Especially metals or glass, but also textiles (rags for paper making) were recycled to a considerable extent, since raw material was often scarce or expensive; therefore many consumers (especially members of lower urban strata) were reliant on the use of second-hand commodities and materials until the nineteenth century. My study focuses on the retail of second-hand commodities during the seventeenth and eighteenth century in the towns of Salzburg and Vienna, but it also discusses findings from other European cities. The empirical part of the study is primarily based on archival sources, but also other forms of tradition were taken into consideration. The rather fragmentary record and the (partial) "invisibility" of market actors necessitated the combination of different types of sources (e.g. contemporary literature or depictions) and methods of reconstruction (qualitative as well as quantitative), which allowed to broaden the analysis - for example to locate individuals within their everyday socioeconomic contexts. Second-hand trade - in shops, stall or on institutionalised market places - formed an important source of income for the urban labouring poor being a temporary (supplementary and occasional) or a middle- or long-term activity, especially for females and members of ethnic or religious minorities. Formalisation and regulation within urban second-hand trade, also high entrance fees or numerical limits tended to exclude several actors from engaging in authorized second-hand trading. These exclusions evoked informal engagement that means activities of licensed and partially licensed as well as of unlicensed dealers - these informal trading activities don`t seem marginal, but of a specific relevance for urban second-hand trade. Second-hand trade was undoubtedly dominated by less affluent elements that were often considered only barely respectable, problems like trading with stolen or infected goods fostered ambivalent or negative contemporary perceptions. Nevertheless, second-hand markets and traders formed a substantial and vital part of the urban economy during early modern times - their utilities with respect to household strategies and daily consumption were multiple: Used goods could usually be purchased at significantly lower prices than new commodities, at the same time the second-hand trade helped to convert "unnecessary" or dispensable belongings and commodities from bequests or insolvencies into cash. But second-hand trade was not just a necessity; it also created possibilities for economic management - "cheaper" second-hand goods could be purchased instead of newly manufactured commodities, in addition material belongings that were of a stable value and easily resold functioned as a non- monetary saving strategy. The consumption of used goods was very flexible and adoptable and formed - especially for members of lower urban strata - a basal element of everyday economy. Second-hand markets offered a broad range of products that were immediately available: especially clothing (since textiles embodied quite a high exchange value during the pre-industrial period), furniture and other goods of everyday use, but also scrap materials. Second-hand markets and traders were closely connected (both personally and spatially) to numerous other aspects of the urban economy: to handicraft workers (by repair works and the supply of old materials), but also to pawnbrokers and traders in new products.