Circular Economy and “Circular Expertise”: The Second-Hand Market and Professional Estimators in Fifteenth-Century Florence

Making use of statutes as well as of a particular group of corporate sources, two registers entitled deliberazioni e statutaria, both promulgated in florence by the arte dei rigattieri (secondhand dealers) in the late middle ages, this essay explores a crucial facet of circular economy, that of the regulation of the second-hand market in the 15th century. Control was operated through the activity of appraisers, sellers themselves, whom the arte entrusted with the task of undertaking all necessary assessments of used garments that might have been required during daily transactions by different parties. By shedding light on key information like the fabrics and the fashion of secondhand clothing, this essay analyses all aspects of circular trade, from those prohibited by law, such as counterfeiting, to those adopted to facilitate business, such as the presence of officially appointed estimators.