Page 250 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 250
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
In a further attempt to read the reality reflected by the Karst peasant
real-estate market, we may verify the value of purchases and sales of not
only arable land and meadows, but also other kinds of plots and rural build-
ings. In this case we have a sample of 182 transactions that include informa-
tion about the price of the assets, and at first sight they seem to confirm the
apparently small value of the deals. The average traded value is of about 225
Venetian lira, with around 70% of the transactions remaining below the av-
erage and half of them under 150 lira (Graph 10.3 shows very clearly this sit-
uation).7 But such transaction values were not that scarce if we take a clos-
er look. In fact, on the Karst at that time for 150 lira one could buy a peasant
house with a courtyard, while 250 lira was the possible price of a house with
an upper floor, a stable, and perhaps a wine cellar or several trees in the
courtyard. This means that half of the transactions amounted to the value
of a house with courtyard. The cumulative gross value of all purchases and
sales in our set amounted to the not very modest sum of 41,182.35 lira, and
the prices of land itself were not low at all either. In fact, the average price
of ‘old holding’ arable plots on the Karst (Table 10.3) was comparatively just
a bit lower than the high prices in the Carnia mountains, but higher than
the prices on the fertile Friuli plain (Fornasin 1998).The same may be said
about the prices on the fertile Friuli plain on the Austrian side of the bor-
der in the same period: in the Gradišče/Gradisca area one “arable field with
vines” (campo arativo vitato – mixed culture) was worth “about 50, 70 and
even 100 goldinars” (Šorn 1984, 44). Reduced to hectares and Venetian liras
these values mean from about 713 to 1,426 lira per ha of arable land – and
that’s fairly low compared to the average price on the stony Karst highland
(1,714 lira per ha, Table 10.3). The best land on the Austrian Friuli plain was
actually worth as an average arable plot of reclaimed common land on the
Karst (1,426 versus 1,358 lira per ha respectively).
3.2 The dimension of holdings
The transactions in our data-set comprise a series of farm units, but in or-
der to get a picture of the dimension of holdings based on a bit more nume-
rous examples, we have to include all kinds of transactions, besides purcha-
ses and sales, also inheritances and hereditary divisions. In some cases we
reassembled the holdings by summing the hereditary units. Such reassem-
bling makes sense because we do not have any information about other
7 Although the Karst pertained to the Austrian Habsburg lands, in this bordeland the
use of the neighbouring Venetian account currency (lira) was widespread.
248
In a further attempt to read the reality reflected by the Karst peasant
real-estate market, we may verify the value of purchases and sales of not
only arable land and meadows, but also other kinds of plots and rural build-
ings. In this case we have a sample of 182 transactions that include informa-
tion about the price of the assets, and at first sight they seem to confirm the
apparently small value of the deals. The average traded value is of about 225
Venetian lira, with around 70% of the transactions remaining below the av-
erage and half of them under 150 lira (Graph 10.3 shows very clearly this sit-
uation).7 But such transaction values were not that scarce if we take a clos-
er look. In fact, on the Karst at that time for 150 lira one could buy a peasant
house with a courtyard, while 250 lira was the possible price of a house with
an upper floor, a stable, and perhaps a wine cellar or several trees in the
courtyard. This means that half of the transactions amounted to the value
of a house with courtyard. The cumulative gross value of all purchases and
sales in our set amounted to the not very modest sum of 41,182.35 lira, and
the prices of land itself were not low at all either. In fact, the average price
of ‘old holding’ arable plots on the Karst (Table 10.3) was comparatively just
a bit lower than the high prices in the Carnia mountains, but higher than
the prices on the fertile Friuli plain (Fornasin 1998).The same may be said
about the prices on the fertile Friuli plain on the Austrian side of the bor-
der in the same period: in the Gradišče/Gradisca area one “arable field with
vines” (campo arativo vitato – mixed culture) was worth “about 50, 70 and
even 100 goldinars” (Šorn 1984, 44). Reduced to hectares and Venetian liras
these values mean from about 713 to 1,426 lira per ha of arable land – and
that’s fairly low compared to the average price on the stony Karst highland
(1,714 lira per ha, Table 10.3). The best land on the Austrian Friuli plain was
actually worth as an average arable plot of reclaimed common land on the
Karst (1,426 versus 1,358 lira per ha respectively).
3.2 The dimension of holdings
The transactions in our data-set comprise a series of farm units, but in or-
der to get a picture of the dimension of holdings based on a bit more nume-
rous examples, we have to include all kinds of transactions, besides purcha-
ses and sales, also inheritances and hereditary divisions. In some cases we
reassembled the holdings by summing the hereditary units. Such reassem-
bling makes sense because we do not have any information about other
7 Although the Karst pertained to the Austrian Habsburg lands, in this bordeland the
use of the neighbouring Venetian account currency (lira) was widespread.
248
