The alnage was first ordered in 1196, during the reign of Richard I, that “woollen cloths, wherever they are made, shall be of the same width, to wit, of two ells within the lists, and of the same goodness in the middle and sides.” This ordinance is usually known as the Assize of Measures or the Assize of Cloth. Article 35 of Magna Carta re-enacted the Assize of Cloth, and in the reign of Edward I an official called an “alnager” or “aulnager” was appointed to enforce it. His duty was to measure each piece of cloth, and to affix a stamp to show that it was of the necessary size and quality.
“It is in this manner that money has become, in all civilized nations, the universal instrument of commerce, by the intervention of which goods of all kinds are bought and sold, or exchanged for one another.”
“Nothing is more useful than water; but it will purchase scarce any thing; scarce any thing can be had in exchange for it. A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.”
Excerpt From
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
What immediately occurred to me was the value of water on a desert? Testing and evaluating is a complex process. It is however an undertaking in which we routinely engage, often without the expertise of an assayer. As frequently we are prepared to accept our evaluation with or without the scrutiny or the analysis. There are some for example who prefer the weight and feel of sterling silver to the look and substance of gold. Determining value isn’t always about cost or price. When the more generous mining of gold in North America was discovered, the value of it in Europe declined commensurately. Talking about Bitcoin far surpasses anything explicable but just because it is electronic doesn’t mean it is any less worthy than a copper penny once was. Cryptocurrency is effectively just another exchange/barter vehicle for the popular savants. Until however it graduates to a more controlled environment (such as we now have for banks) I am steering clear of it.
Meanwhile my interest in measurement and value is confined to everyday exploits – once those affecting my merchandising of legal opinion, now surrounding matters of more common acquisition. Strangely I have always been drawn to stamps of authenticity – some of which (like precious metals and exotic foods) relate directly to ascertainable weight and cost of production – others of which (like vehicular engineering and accessories) are more personal and ambivalent. For the even less transparent realm of intellectual perspicuity (everything from religion to accounting) there are a myriad of symbols adapted and adopted to portray the intended worthiness of the product. Once again the ultimate value of the product is aligned with the inscrutable weight of personal choice.
It is useful to keep in mind when assessing the accuracy of the evaluation that the party advancing the value has often a material interest in the outcome. This influence – frequently called advertising – varies in significance from balderdash to science. The regularity of the testing process is itself an added measure of success or failure in the final outcome. Obviously nothing in this world has an irreconcilable or incontrovertible substantive value; the final measure and determination of content and quality is subjective. In daily practice we accept the conveniences of wealth and value; but it is a reminder that underlying those determinations are not flawless rules, rather cooperative choices.
In the result it “pays” to recognize the guiding principles in the measurement of each pice of cloth. Wool – clearly a foundation of the British economy for generations – has for many been replaced by synthetics. Attacking the less demonstrable assessment of things and ideas remains open to a limitless array of features affording a happy consequence. Some of the assessments drive sustainability and environmental advantages. The Chinese are producing an inexpensive electric vehicle of commendable character – far removed from the North American “land yacht” vernacular.
But the ultimate matter of interest is that value emanates from within. This is not to diminish a diamond. It merely highlights that the inherent value of anything is what each of us considers it to be independently of others. Assaying our own lives is a combination of weigh scales and personal choices. Just as there is no one calculation of value for anything, there most certainly is no arbitrary determination of ourselves and the choices we make in the fulfillment of the barter of our time on this planet.