Chapter 178: The 1207 Season Accounts

The accounts started that night and spread over the weeks, from the notaries’ leaves to the Barozzini books, one buyer after another, while carts rolled across the harbor and silver changed hands on the benches.

By the time the last leaf was sanded and put away, the sea was almost ready to close for the winter.

Fantin had brought the venture’s strongbox home aboard La Contessa with 107,144 grossi inside. That sum represented the silver the fleet had sailed with, plus the money four ports had paid for everything it sold, minus the expenses of the goods bought for the return voyage and whatever fees the ports had taken.

The thirteen naves had carried 780 tons, the limit of what they could manage.

The biggest buyers came first. Marina Badoer was the middleman for 6 tons of raw silk at 4,600 a ton, paying 27,600, and 3 tons of figured silk at 6,000, paying 18,000. She took 4 tons of Azerbaijan carpets at 7,600, for 30,400, and 0.3 ton of sable and marten at 90,000, for 27,000.

Lapis, turquoise, and saffron came in smaller measures of a tenth of a ton, priced at 36,000, 24,000, and 60,000 a ton, costing her 3,600, 2,400, and 6,000 respectively.

It amounted to 13.6 tons and 115,000 grossi, and she also claimed her twentieth of the broker fee, as she had every right to do and no intention of forgetting.

The furriers bought 1.9 tons of gray squirrel at 32,000 a ton, paying 60,800, because the winter gowns of the Great Council needed lining and the gentlemen wearing them were unlikely to go without it.

The goldsmiths paid 8,200 for 0.4 ton of amber at 20,500 a ton.

The comb-makers took 0.8 ton of walrus ivory at 15,500, for 12,400, and 15 tons of boxwood at 1,100, for 16,500. Between the two lots, they bought 15.8 tons for 28,900 grossi.

The narrow trade route from Soldaia had kept supplies of fur, amber, and ivory limited, so every buyer went away with less than he wanted. That was the trouble with scarce goods, everybody wanted more, and no one could make them appear by asking.

The church and the apothecaries came next. Father Ambrogio bought 6 tons of gums at 2,900 a ton, for 17,400, along with 15 tons of wax at 440, for 6,600, and 0.2 ton of camphor at 16,000, for 3,200.

His purchases came to 21.2 tons and 27,200 grossi, and he also submitted a separate bill for blessing seventeen hulls, charging by the splash.

The Procurators of San Marco bought 20 tons of wax at the same price of 440, paying 8,800, while the chandlers took 30 tons for 13,200.

That brought the total wax sold to 65 tons, worth 28,600 grossi, at a price slightly above last year’s 420. Venezia had buried one Doge and lit the candles for his successor within the same autumn, so the city had found plenty of uses for wax.

The apothecaries bought 0.1 ton of musk at 200,000 a ton, paying 20,000, then 0.3 ton of camphor at 16,000, for 4,800, and 1.5 tons of rhubarb at 5,500, for 8,250.

Their total was 1.9 tons and 33,050 grossi. Musk came from a dead deer, and the apothecaries bought it with the same expression they wore when buying rhubarb, apparently untroubled by whatever difference there was between the two.

The dyers came after them. Ginevra Frescobaldi bought 55 tons of alum at 680 a ton, paying 37,400, then 60 tons of madder at 470, for 28,200, 4 tons of indigo at 5,200, for 20,800, and 1.2 tons of crimson dye at 10,000, for 12,000.

That gave her 120.2 tons of goods worth 98,400 grossi for the vats of the Arte della Lana.

Ranuccio Salimbeni bought another 45 tons of alum at the same 680, paying 30,600, and struck his cane against the floor once for every ton.

Between the two cities, the buyers had taken 100 tons of alum, compared with 80 the previous year, while the price had fallen from 720. There was more alum to go around and the merchants were charging less for it, neither fact requiring a speech.

The tanners bought 15 tons of oak galls at 440 a ton, paying 6,600.

The inkmakers took 30 tons at the same price, for 13,200, and the black dyers another 25 tons, for 11,000.

Venezia had a Doge to mourn and wanted a great deal of black cloth to do it properly, so the three trades bought 70 tons for 30,800 grossi.

The Scotti brothers then bought 26 tons of pepper at 2,400, paying 62,400, along with 40 tons of flax at 380, for 15,200, and 20 tons of cotton at 330, for 6,600.

Their purchases came to 86 tons and 84,200 grossi, with the pepper and flax destined to travel north over Mont Cenis on mules.

The Lombard and German merchants of San Bartolomeo bought 50 tons of cotton at 330, paying 16,500 for the Lombard looms.

The weavers of the lagoon took 120 tons of flax at 380, for 45,600.

The larger quantities had brought the price of each bulk good down a little, and buyers liked a discount, especially when someone else had paid to bring the goods to market.

The spicers bought 130 tons of sugar at 280 a ton, paying 36,400. Last year the price had been 300, when the fleet sold only 70 tons, yet this time there was more sugar and a lower price, which suited the buyers well enough.

The fish-curers took 10 tons of salt at 70, for 700, and not a single grain passed over the Republic’s scales. The promise made at Chioggia had been kept to the letter, more than could be said of some promises.

The Barozzini house came last. It bought 4 tons of raw silk at 4,600, paying 18,400 for the frame in the millpond, and 40 tons of ash at 220, for 8,800, to feed the furnaces of Murano.

Its purchases came to 44 tons and 27,200 grossi.

The house paid the venture the same price charged to the city’s buyers, and the venture entered the sale in the books. In the end, a transaction was a transaction, even when the money moved between two purses belonging to the same house.

All 780 tons had been sold. Buyers from the city had taken 736 tons for 638,350 grossi, while the Barozzini house had bought the remaining 44 for 27,200.

Together, the sales brought in 665,550 grossi. Added to that was the 107,144 Fantin had brought home in the strongbox, bringing the total to 772,694.

The expenses came out then.

Wages for the crews and the company’s soldiers amounted to 80,250 grossi for 1,810 men, paid on the pier as the Republic required. By nightfall, most of the silver had found its way into taverns, stews, and dice tables.

Customs took two in every hundred on the cost of the goods, which came to 8,457. Refitting and caulking seventeen hulls cost 10,200, berths and porterage took 2,360, Marina’s twentieth came to 5,750, and Ambrogio’s blessings cost another 850.

The expenses totaled 107,867 grossi, leaving 664,827, with the money in and the bills paid, plenty still left to divide.

Next came repayment of the principal, 430,000 grossi in all. The patrician houses received 350,000, the fraterna’s chest took 30,000, and the Barozzini strongbox recovered its 50,000.

That left 234,827 grossi in profit. The usual division followed, half to the houses and half to the Barozzini, giving the houses 117,414 and the Barozzini 117,413.

The houses recovered 467,414 grossi on their original 350,000, a return of a little over thirty-three for every hundred invested.

The Barozzini’s own 80,000 came back as 197,413, and after deducting the 27,200 the house had paid the venture for its silk and ash, 170,213 remained in the strongbox.

The last leaf was sanded, and the season’s results fitted into eleven lines.

?? [SEASON CLOSE —1207]

Route : Venezia > Constantinople > Soldaia > Phasis > Constantinople > Venezia

Goods Sold : Sable and Marten, Gray Squirrel, Amber, Walrus Ivory, Beeswax, Carpets, Lapis, Turquoise, Saffron, Musk, Camphor, Crimson Dye, Rhubarb, Boxwood, Raw Silk, Figured Silk, Pepper, Indigo, Madder, Alum, Oak Galls, Gums, Sugar, Flax, Cotton, Salt, and Ash

Revenue : 772,694 Grossi

Expenses : 107,867 Grossi

Net Income : 234,827 Grossi

Investors’ Share : 117,414 Grossi

Merchants’ Share : 117,413 Grossi

Colleganza Obligations : 430,000 Grossi

Total Treasury : 170,213 Grossi

Fleet : Four War Galleys, Thirteen Naves (Refitting)

Contacts Established : Soldaia (Charter Accepted), Phasis (Meeting Promised)

By any measure the Rialto cared to use, the season had been a success. Every hull had returned, every cargo that went out had been sold, every cargo that came back had found a buyer, and every house had received its money in full, with silver left over.

Fantin’s name had proved worth the wax spent on him, since the strongbox he brought home held more than the one he had taken out. The treasury could now afford to pay a mason at Soldaia in the spring, should the next season’s accounts allow it, and the spirit, which people had doubted all winter, had paid for its own two tons first.

The Barozzini had contributed a little less than a fifth of the venture’s capital and taken half the profit. Their 80,000 grossi had returned as 197,413, while the patrician houses had earned a return no merchant on the Rialto would turn down.

The distillery, the yard, the silk frame, and the furnaces at Murano all had more money to work with. Silver brought in more silver, and a house that paid its backers in full rarely lacked for new backers or friends in the Great Council.

Before the sea closed for the winter, houses that had stayed out of the season were already crowding the Barozzini door, eager to learn what a place on the next leaf would cost.